Poker News – What Is Bovada Poker
Bovada Poker has been in the headlines at the major poker news sites very often thus far in 2012. I can’t visit a poker forum without seeing a large, ongoing thread about this new poker room and some of the unprecedented changes they have made to their fledgling poker network. I hesitate to use the term “network” when talking about Bovada Poker because it has little in common with other online poker networks (i.e. Merge, iPoker, OnGame…ect). I will provide a brief history of Bovada Poker and a look at why this poker room is making headlines. I will also explain how to claim the best Bovada Poker bonus available in 2012.
Bovada Poker & The Bodog Poker Network
Bovada Poker has only been online for around a month. Their brief history is riddled with misconceptions and inaccurate rumors. Where to even begin? Let’s go back 9 months to 2011. The US government basically hi-jacked the domains for the 4 largest US poker rooms: Pokerstars, Full Tilt, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Once the dust settled Pokerstars was the only US poker room left standing, but they could no longer accept American players. Bodog was the only large US friendly company that wasn’t affected. They did experience a huge growth spurt but they were also put on notice.
They needed to do something soon to protect themselves. As a multi-million dollar company that operates the largest US bookmaker and a huge casino they didn’t want to jeopardize everything for a medium sized poker room that isn’t even their top revenue generator. They also didn’t want to simply pull-out of the poker industry because regulation and legalization seem imminent. Their solution was Bovada Poker. Bodog Poker has always been a stand-alone poker room and they have done well. Networked poker rooms have largely failed and are prone to scams, cheating and failure.
Bodog basically decided create a new poker room for US players and kept the original room for international players. Since these two rooms share software and traffic they are essentially a network, but they are nothing like the other networks. If they have legal problems regarding Bovada Poker they can simply cut it loose and still offer their international customers a place to play poker.
This separation coincided with a major software upgrade so both Bovada and Bodog are truly new room. New features include reduced rake at heads-up tables, a rabbit cam, anonymous tables, the addition of Blackjack the poker client and an increase in speed. They have also improved security and accessibility.
Bovada Poker Bonus In 2012
Bovada Poker is offering a bonus that is twice as large as the typical $500 bonus commonly found at other poker rooms. They will give you a 100% match bonus up to $1,000. This bonus and the scarcity of US poker rooms have caused significant growth at Bovada and Bodog. They are also running$15,000 monthly freeroll. Bovada Poker’s new player bonus is easier to clear compared to other large bonuses. The increments start off small and increase as you clear them. You do so by playing in real money cash games and/or real money poker tournaments and sitngos.