Bovada Poker Review

Bovada. It’s a name that anyone who’s been a part of the online poker scene in America will have heard of, for it is, put frankly, one of the biggest names in the US poker market. It is one of the best real money poker sites, thanks to its willingness to innovate and deliver a top-tier player experience.

It’s no shock that I’ve already played on Bovada in the past, but this time I truly wanted to do a deep dive and give it the full, top-to-bottom review. I tried everything: the anonymous cash game tables, the jackpot Sit N Gos, and the vast tournament offerings.

As well as game testing, I looked at other important areas of the site, like bonuses, promotions, customer support teams, and available banking options. Everything that I thought you would want to know is here.

I’ve been in the poker industry for over a decade, and through it all, Bovada has remained a name on my “list,” and for a good reason.

Bovada Poker Room is a popular online platform for playing poker that was launched in 2004, during the early stages of the poker boom. Although it faced challenges after Black Friday, Bovada made a comeback after being acquired by Ignition in 2016 and reintroduced in the following year with its own proprietary software that is well-known for its visually appealing black and red design.

The poker room has earned a reputation for its player-friendly policies and soft games, making it an attractive option for recreational players seeking to improve their skills and potentially win big. Overall, Bovada Poker Room is a trusted and enjoyable platform for poker enthusiasts of all levels.

Bovada Poker offers three poker variants for its cash games and tournaments – Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Omaha Hi-Lo. While this may seem limited compared to some other sites, Bovada more than makes up for it in other areas.

The quality of the games is top-tier, both in terms of traffic and how easy it is to make bank. Thanks in part to Black Friday, American operators have been shut off from the rest of the world. As a result, their games play much softer than their more international counterparts.

Moreover, the site was one of the first–and still one of the only–poker rooms to offer fully anonymous tables. As such, there’s no danger of being exploited by players who have built up a significant hand sample on you (among other benefits).

CASH GAMES

Bovada offers for cash games are Hold ’em, Omaha, and Omaha Hi-Lo. Those games are available in No-Limit Hold ’em, Limit Hold ’em, Pot Limit Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. The games have three different table sizes: heads-up, 6max, and 9-handed games available. The games run in size from $0.02/$0.05 to $10/20 for the big-bet games such as NLHE and PLO, whereas the fixed limit games will go as high as $30/$60. Larger games can be opened on request, but action rarely runs higher than these limits.

Unlike other poker operators, Bovada doesn’t feature a traditional poker lobby. Instead, players simply choose the game, stakes, and table size and are seated at a table via the “quick seat” feature. They will then automatically be seated at a table that meets those requirements. This is an effort to eliminate the practice of “bum hunting,” where professional players only play at tables with weaker players or whales. This is a great addition and improves gameplay immensely. You do not have to wade through a long list of tables to find an open seat, but you avoid constantly running into sharks.

Bovada also has its own version of fast-fold poker called Zone. Instead of playing at a single table, you play with a pool of players that are constantly moving tables. When you join a game of Zone, you are randomly seated with 5-8 other players and immediately dealt a hand. Once you have folded or the hand reaches showdown (whichever comes first), you are moved from that table to another random table with different players. I love this format as it allows you to play upwards of 200 hands an hour, compared to around 50-80 you would play at a regular table. Action junkies rejoice!

SIT AND GOS

There are various sit-and-go formats at Bovada, including Turbo, Heads-Up, Regular, 6-player, 18-player, Double-Ups, and Triple-Ups. While these are mostly comprised of No-Limit Hold ’em games, there are Omaha options, although they run less often. The buy-in level for sit and gos varies from as low as $1 up to $200.

The site also offers a special type of sit-and-go called a Jackpot sit-and-go. Made up of three players, these feature a prize pool determined by a multiplier, which can range from 2 to 1200x your buy-in. The buy-in levels for the Jackpot sit & gos are $0.50, $2, $7, $15, $30, $60, and $100 – meaning that you can win a potential $120,000 if you hit the biggest multiplier! I put in a ton of volume in these games; the massive potential payouts for beating just two players are way too good to pass up.

POKER TOURNAMENTS

One of Bovada’s strongest assets is its extensive tournament schedule, with over $2m offered in guaranteed prizes every week. The majority of tournaments exceed this guarantee, meaning it’s likely closer to $2.2m in prizes each week! The jewel in its crown is the weekly Sunday tournament that has a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000 and a buy-in of $162. This is by far one of the most popular poker tournaments on the site, and it has a guaranteed first-place payout of at least $20K!

With entry fees ranging from $1 to over $400, Bovada has tournaments for everyone and all bankrolls. In addition, all tournaments have guaranteed prize pools that are repeated multiple times throughout the day, so regardless of when you play, you’ll be able to hop into a tourney. These tournaments include the Lucky Sevens tournament, a $22 buy-in with a $7,777 guarantee; the Crazy Eights tournament, a $16.50 buy-in with an $8,888 guarantee and a $22 6-handed tournament.

Along with these repeating tournaments, there are also staples of the Bovada tournament schedule. These are limited to once a day/week and always have fantastic guarantees for their buy-in. Tournaments that fall under this bracket are the $55 Turbo tournament (up to $30,000 guaranteed), the $82 Knockout tournament (up to $10,000 guaranteed), and the $325 High Roller tournament (up to $75,000 guaranteed). You can easily find these tournaments in the schedule as they are highlighted in different colors.

Players have the option to try and earn a seat into these prestigious tournaments by participating in the many satellites that Bovada Poker offers. Buy-ins for these satellites can range from $1 up to $82 for the high-roller tournaments.

When depositing, you should be mindful of fees. The first deposit with one of Bovada’s accepted credit cards is free. Still, subsequent deposits will incur a hefty fee of 15.9%. In addition, your bank may charge an International Service fee of up to 3% on any transaction made with an international merchant. There are no fees charged by Bovada for cryptocurrency deposits.

*Issued in increments of $9500 until you are fully paid out.

Depending on the method you use to withdraw, you may incur withdrawal fees. Bovada will cover the fee for your first non-Bitcoin withdrawal every 90 days. Every additional withdrawal in those 90 days will incur a $100 (!!) processing fee. There are no fees charged for cryptocurrency or voucher withdrawals.