Bovada Pokerroom allows all players from every country https://joythesheep.com/ in the world. U.S. players can use the growing e-wallets eWalletXpress at Bovada, which links directly to your checking account. Another quick alternative is the cash transfer service, which allows you to send cash electronically. Transfer centers are located in virtually every city in the country and automated machines are now available in many 7-11 stores. Be sure to call the poker room to receive proper transfer information. Also accepted are paper methods like money orders or cashier’s checks.
In our opinion, Bovada is one of the most underrated poker rooms and one that I certainly commend for sticking to their rebellious guns and continuing to accept U.S. players. In terms of the competition you’ll face at the poker room, this site earns a top Fish Rating due to the consistently awful ring game play. In fact, I went through a period where I was playing here almost exclusively – the players were just that bad and I was just doing too well. If you adjust your style of play to combat the multitude of maniacs you’ll be facing at almost every table, you should be able to do very well here with a tight-aggressive style.
Besides having insanely loose and beatable ring games, we also give Bovada high scores because of their quality software and good customer service. It’s also refreshing to see them stick with their “No BS” instant cash deposit bonus in addition to the new 100% play-through offer for our players. There are no raked hand requirements for the instant bonus and no bizarre terms and conditions. Just cash… upfront. In terms of banking, they’re also one of the best with many deposit alternatives and free express check withdrawals.
Bonus (100% up to $500 free) and Promotions:
Bovada has always had a valued first deposit bonus at 10%. While modest in size it was one of the few truly instant bonuses in online poker but now the bonus is increased and an amazing rewards program that players will actually benefit from!
New players will need to use one of our links to Bovada and deposit $20 or more to be eligible for the full 100%. Most middle-stakes players can earn $10 or more of the bonus per hour making it a fairly easy bonus to cash out. The combination of the instant bonus, the large play-through bonus, and fairly easy requirements now puts Bovada into the top tier of online bonus offers. As for other promotions, they offer regular satellites into big live events as well as a weekly $100,000 guaranteed tournament. You also earn “Bovada Points” as you participate in ring games and tournaments. Points can be used to enter daily freerolls and other promotional tournaments.
What is unique about Bovada is the fact that the table stakes seem to have little correlation with player skill. I mainly play no-limit ring games, and I often found that my opponents would play almost as badly at the $5/$10 games as they would at the microlimits. These tables feature some of the weakest players online, and if you protect against draws, you can do very well. Expect to run into plenty of trash hands and opponents that chase every possible draw so do not count out any holding when you see a ragged flop.
The flop percentage is typically higher than normal at Bovada, which means that you should raise your premium hands more than usual to thin the field. I recommend using the “Pot” raise button or manually raising 5-6x the big blind at this site. It isn’t unusual to run into 60-70% seeing the flop at the low stakes, and up to 50% at the higher stakes. The pots here seem to grow very large very quickly.
Most of the action is concentrated to no-limit hold’em, although you can occasionally find a game of 5-card stud or Omaha going on. I mostly attribute the loose play to the fact that Bovada is a combination Sportsbook/Casino/Poker Room. The site is highly marketed to egomaniacal young guns so they attract a lot of inexperienced crossover traffic.
Tournaments:
Bovada is still a fairly new poker room overall but their tournament traffic is growing pretty quickly. They do offer a good weekly tournament on Sundays with a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. You can actually earn your way into the biggie by advancing a few steps from their $1 buy-in satellites.
The Sit and Gos have also improved with the addition of multi-table SnGs. Their freerolls are also better than average as they are limited to players with enough player points to buy in. Bovada seems to be generous in terms of their guaranteed prize pools, as they often fall short of meeting the minimum guarantee. For example, I recently played in a $10 tournament that had a $1,000 guaranteed minimum prize pool. Only 50 players showed up, so the extra $500 was just added to the prize pool resulting in higher payouts.
Bovada has also added a new Tournament Leader Board, which rewards points leaders each week who’ve done well in their multi-table events. The overall traffic has been receiving a big boost lately so I expect their tournaments to continue to grow both in frequency and attendance.
Software:
The recent Bovada software upgrade has really made this package excellent. The previous software always felt a bit disjointed with no set areas for avatars or cards. Now, players are clearly separated, table graphics flow very smoothly, and a spotlight on the active player helps everyone follow the action. Each player is able to upload their own avatar, which gives the game an individualized touch.
The Bovada player stats window also keeps up-to-the-hand details on your progress and you can reset these at any time. This site also has a pretty detailed hand history option, allowing you to see every player’s hole cards in a showdown situation. For me personally, a big positive of the software is the extremely quick game pace. You can usually get in 60-70 hands per hour at full NL tables.
A big plus will also come for multi-table players as the software has a “table-in-table” view. Players can see up to 3 tables on one screen instead of clicking around between multiple windows. Unlike the clunky mini-table views at most sites, I found the Bovada layout to be the most logical and easiest to see.
US Payouts:
Bovada is a very well-established casino and sportsbook so you won’t run into any financial problems when dealing with them. Firstly, they offer a free express check payout system, which is convenient. I used to receive paper checks from them within about 7-10 days but I’ve had to wait up to a month or more recently.
Checks from Bovada are drawn on U.S. banks for hassle-free deposits into your personal bank account. If you’re withdrawing a sBovada Pokerstantial amount of money, the site sends checks through Fedex. You can also withdraw once per week for free using cash transfer for local pickups at thousands of locations.
Customer Service:
Online poker rooms that give telephone support score high points with me. Bovada Poker has their support telephone number right in the lobby window. If I’m too impatient to wait for an e-mail response, I’ll just call in and get an answer right away.
If you choose to use e-mail customer service, responses are very fast. I once wrote to them about a player that I suspected was abusing the all-in feature, and they sent back a personal reply within a few minutes saying that they would look into the account in question.
Player Traffic
While Bovada has mostly been thought of as a niche poker site, they’ve been aggressively advertising in order to expand the poker room. Besides that, US players have been flocking here since the corrupt legislation bumped them off of major sites.
During peak hours, you’ll find plenty of no-limit ring games all the way up to the highest limits, and you’ll still find a few games going at each limit during the wee hours. Tournament traffic is lower, but has been picking up steam. Their guaranteed events are their best tournament offerings as they typically fall short of the guaranteed number of entrants.
Best Features
Extremely loose and beatable competition. I really like the action you can get here on your strong hands. A good number of these players are absolutely clueless.
High-stakes ring game action. They have a neat idea for $3/6 NL tables, which are called “Josh Arieh”, “David Williams”, or “Jamie Gold” tables. When any of these pros are online they’ll be sitting here. The tables at this site are still busy up to $10/20 NL.
Fast software. Not a lot of frills, but gets the job done and looks unique.
Growing traffic. I’ve been impressed with the number of active ring games lately.
Game Selection: Hold ’em, Omaha, 7 card stud, 5 card stud
Limits: Limit: 5c/10c up to $20/$40 No-Limit: 5c/10c up to $10/$20
Deposit Methods: Please see the top of the page for “Easy U.S. Deposits” for more information. In short, Bovada now accepts NUCharge, eWalletXpress, cashier’s checks, money orders, and money transfer for US players. I’ve personally used NUCharge and funded my account in a few minutes. International players can also deposit using Click2Pay, Moneybookers, and credit cards.
Minimum Deposit: $20
Tips: Similar to many sportsbooks or casinos that also have poker rooms, the games tend to be wild at Bovada. Don’t try to be Doyle Brunson or Daniel Negreanu at these games – have a hand if you’re going to be in the pot. I wouldn’t recommend bluffing at these players often as they’ll call you down most of the time with middle or bottom pair. Raise your strong hands, and don’t forget to keep an eye on the active pot.
There are routinely 5 or 6 players seeing the flop, which means you’re getting great pot odds to play suited connectors or marginal hands from late position. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to have the strength to release those hands if you don’t flop at least 2 pair or a monster draw. Overall, players who know how to handle calling stations and the assorted maniac should do very well at Bovada.
Download:
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Conclusion:
Furthermore, considering its using the same online poker platform, you shouldnt expect a very different experience. Speaking of the Bovada software platform, the best way to explain it would be to say its state of the art. The graphics are decent, and it is easy to navigate yourself around the poker and online casino lobby.
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