Bodog Poker
One of the trusted sportsbook and poker rooms on the net still accepts American Poker online players. Bodog.com, also known as BodogLife, is one of a few rooms still welcoming US-based poker players since the UIGEA was passed in 2006. Bodog was started in 1994 and has struggled through some difficult times in the past but still managed to keep their casino, sportsbook, and online poker room open through these setbacks.
A lot of poker sites and casinos were faced with a very tough decision when the UIGEA attempted to curb American poker online in 2006. Thankfully for players from the USA, Bodog was one of a few sites that decided to stay open to their American player base. Had it not been for these bold sites online poker may not exist for American players today. Bodog has seen some nice benefits by choosing to stay open for American Online Poker, including an increase in player traffic.
Bodog is delighted to offer one of the most popular deposit bonuses found on the internet today. Their 110% up to $1,100 welcome bonus also comes with an extra 10% up front in cold hard cash! You don’t need to enter a sign-up code, just install the Bodog download, deposit funds, and your account will be credited with an additional 10%. From that point on you have two months to acquire the actual bonus which is 100% up to $1,000. In order to clear the deposit bonus you must collect 10 points per $1 of the sign-up bonus. Players collect points by creating rake in cash games or paying fees in tournaments or Sit & Gos. To obtain the entire $1,100 sign-up bonus you are required to earn 10,000 points by playing poker hands in real money games.
Bodog does not have as many players as PokerStars.com or Full Tilt Poker, but it still has a large enough player base for small and mid-stakes grinders. The most popular games are their small stakes Hold ‘Em ring games which on average have plenty of full tables up to $300NL. Whether you enjoy playing 6 Max or FR there will be plenty of tables to pick from starting at $5NL. Bodog offers stakes up to $10/$20 for NL cash games and $30/$60 blinds for Fixed Limit cash games. Besides Hold’em, Bodog also offers Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 5-Card Stud, 7-Card Stud, and 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo.
Bodogs’ MTTs and Sit N Gos are also a big hit, predominantly at the lower-stakes games. Most of the Sit & Gos going off at Bodog.com will be at the $20 entry fee or below while the higher buy-in levels are generally of the heads-up variety. Bodog does offer Omaha and Stud SNGs as well as versus and two table formats. Their MTT schedule is highlighted by the weekly $100k Guaranteed which is scheduled to run every Sunday. The $150+$12 buy-in MTT rarely gets enough players to reach its $100,000 guarantee which is fabulous news for those who take part in the tournament, as Bodog shells out a heap of overlay. There are a plethora of less expensive guaranteed MTTs going off every day including multiple R&A MTTs.
One of the first things players notice about Bodog is how their poker client is free of lag. This produces fast game play which translates into more hands per hour than other online poker software. The Lobby is fairly easy to use, with tabs to navigate between games and stakes. Bodog.com’s poker client has a few unique aspects, including the lack of a player clock at the table. Instead, players have a status bar which slowly works its way down while a player chooses his/her course of action. This greatly affects the pace of play, demanding players to implement strategy faster. The one major downside to their poker client is they cap the number of cash tables players can partake in at once to four. Unlike other major sites, who allow 12, 16, or even 24 tables, this steers multi-tablers away from Bodog to other sites. While increasing this number could result in more traffic, it would actually make the games more difficult.
Bodog also offers a great frequent player program or VIP program, which equates to a solid Bodog rakeback program!
