Bovada Poker Review

Review last updated on March 21, 2023

It can be difficult to find the right online poker site, but Bovada allows US residents to play on a Kahnawake-licensed site that gives them a great gaming experience. At peak hours, there can be over 30,000 players on the site, meaning that there are a lot of fish waiting to be gobbled up. They're also one of the few sites offering a Mac download of their software, opening up their potential player base even further. With a focus on the casual player, Bovada is a great place to learn your way around the game and to take on higher stakes.

Games

Like every online poker room, Bovada offers both free and real money gaming to their players. The free games are of the usual quality for these sorts of sites: all aggressive and no real play, but they let you get used to the software without risking any money. As far as real money poker goes, they've got a table for pretty much every player out there with stakes going from Micro (starting at $.02/$.05) to higher stakes ($30/$60). The site offers the usual game assortments: Texas Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi and Omaha Hi/Lo, along with 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo.

Bovada also hosts both regularly scheduled and sit & go tournaments for players. Just like their cash games, Bovada's tournaments start with freerolls and go all the way up to their weekly $100,000 events. The site also seems to constantly offer up various tournament series that gives players access to bigger events, such as the WSOP. There are over $4,000,000 in guaranteed events hosted by the site every month.

One controversial move the site has made is to start using anonymous poker tables that hide individual player identities. While it takes some getting used to, it seems to be one of the fairest ways to balance tables out. It is perhaps the best way to eliminate data mining sites that many people feel give players an unfair advantage.

VIP & Bonuses

Placing a deposit at Bovada is a snap. They allow you to make a deposit directly using your Visa credit card or debit card, a Money Transfer or the Rapid Transfer system. There is a $100 minimum on your initial deposit for Bovada. Withdrawals can take up to 21 days, but their player support is easy to get in touch with and they can update you on the status of your payout at any time.
As of this writing, Bovada is offering new players a 100% bonus of up to $1,000 on their first deposit. There are some terms and conditions related to the receipt of the funds, but they're less restrictive than what we've seen at many other sets. They also regularly offer events like twice-monthly $7,500 freerolls and promotions designed to get you to try out the site's other offerings, like their massive online casino.