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Visit Bodog
Poker
INSTANT BONUS:
Visit Bodog
through any of our links and receive a 10% instant cash bonus plus
another 100% bonus earned as you play.
U.S. players can use e-wallets like NUCharge or eWalletXpress at
Bodog. I
have personally made a credit card deposit using NUCharge and feel
comfortable recommending their service to other players. The funding
process took about 10 minutes. If you have any issues, I recommend
calling your bank and requesting that the charge be approved.
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. If you have any questions about deposits, please
don't hesitate to contact us or the
poker room.
Overall:
5/5
In my opinion,
Bodog
is one of the most underrated poker rooms and one that I certainly
commend for sticking to their rebellious guns and continuing to
accept US 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, I also give
Bodog
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 plus 10% instantly) and Promotions:
5/5
Bodog 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. New players simply make a deposit and get a
little boost to their bankroll. In addition to the instant bonus,
our visitors now receive an extra 100% bonus, good up to $500.
New
players will need to use one of our links to
Bodog and
deposit $20 or more to be eligible for the full 110%. The 10% bonus
money will show up in your account immediately, allowing you to use
it on at the tables or as a tournament buy-in. The extra 100% is
dispersed as you play.
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
Bodog 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 "Bodog
Points" as you participate in ring games and tournaments. Points can
be used to enter daily freerolls and other promotional
tournaments.
Fish: 
5/5
What
is unique about
Bodog 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 Bodog, 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
Bodog 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:
4.5/5
Bodog is
still a fairly new poker room 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.
Bodog 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.
Bodog 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:
4.5/5
The recent Bodog
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 Bodog
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
Bodog
layout to be the most logical and easiest to see.
US Payouts:
5/5
Bodog 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 receive paper checks
from them within about 7-10 days using this method. Checks are drawn on US banks for
hassle-free deposits into your personal bank account.
If you're
withdrawing a substantial 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:
5/5
Online poker rooms that give telephone support score high points
with me. Bodog publishes 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
Bodog 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,
Bodog 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
Bodog. 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
Bodog.
Visit
Bodog Poker
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4.5/5
