Update: At this time we suggest US players avoid Bodog Poker as they’re under heavy scrutiny with the US department of Justice and have long payout delays. We believe Bodog is likely to work through these issues and will update this review when they do.
Bodog Poker used to be known as one of the internet’s most underrated online poker rooms. This was largely because their company chose to spend their marketing dollars marketing to fish rather than attracting poker pros. This resulted in Bodog having some of the absolute softest games online.
Bodog recently began balancing their marketing efforts and while there are still plenty of fish and ultra soft ring games, there is also a lot of bonuses and promotions for the serious player to take advantage of. For instance, Bodog now offers frequent reload bonuses, a “Cash for Poker Points” loyalty program, and WSOP freerolls to go along with their impressive 110% up to $550 sign up bonus.
Bodog Poker gladly accepts American Players. To claim your 110% up to $550 sign up bonus and to learn more about what Bodog Poker offers, use this special link to the Bodog Poker website.
Bodog Corporate Details and History
Bodog was founded by Calvin Ayre in 1995 and has grown to be one of the internet’s top success stories. Ayre managed to parlay his $10,000 start up into a $200+ million dollar a year entertainment company whose flagship products are an online sportsbook (1995) an online casino (1999) and an online poker room (2004). In addition to these products, Bodog has involvement in the music, mixed martial arts, news media and other entertainment industries.
In 2006, Bodog moved its operations from Costa Rica to Antigua and in 2007, after a domain dispute, the Bodog website was re-branded from Bodog.com to Bodoglife.com.
According to Bodog founder Calvin Ayre, the Bodog Life is all about high stakes, hot women and killer parties in exotic locales. Ayre was never afraid to flaunt the Bodog lifestyle as he appeared in numerous magazines including Forbes in 2006, and in 2008 his Costa Rica homes were featured in an episode of MTV cribs.
Calvin Ayre retired from Bodog in April 2008, but the legacy he established remains closely tied to the Bodog brand. To fill in the void his departure left, Bodog began hiring poker professionals they feel best represent the Bodog Life. This group, called Team Bodog, is currently represented by David Williams, Evelyn NG, Jean Robert-Bellande and Justin Bonomo.
Bodog Poker is now operated from Antigua, owned by the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group in Canada, and is licensed in both the United Kingdom and Antigua. Their North American business is also licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada. They are widely praised for their unparalleled customer service and convenient and prompt banking methods.
More details about Bodog Corporate and Bodog History can be found on this page of their website.
Detailed Bodog Poker Review
Bodog Poker has lots of great features, bonuses and promotions we’ll discuss further in this review, however the primary reason to play at Bodog is their ultra soft ring games. In fact, the games are so soft new players might find themselves checking to make sure they hadn’t mistakenly sat at a play money table. Such soft games are likely attributed to the fact that players with little to no poker experience migrate from the Bodog casino and sportsbook over to the poker room regularly. As a result the window of profit potential is much greater at Bodog than at most online poker sites.
Software: Ask anyone what they think of Bodog’s software and they will most likely tell you that it’s lightening fast. Bodog brings one unique approach to their online poker software. The graphics are clean and crisp with no excessive graphics from avatars and cartoon characters. Players can modify the colour and brightness of the tables, which is a very neat feature that no other online poker room offers.
Their latest software update (August 2008) really improved the game play and added options to customize table play efficiency. Players now have the option to view their tables in either a full sized view or mini view and the option to custom size their tables (re-sizeable tables) which really improves the multi-tabling functionality.
From within the table players can create notes, tag players, custom player profiles, and you can see statistics of your own play. The statistics that Bodog provides you with are flop seen percentage, win percentage and much more. The only real downfall is that only 3 tables can be played at a time, but this also helps keep the games moving quickly which highlights the fast speed in which the software operates.
Ring Game Traffic: Bodog’s ring game traffic is solid with up to 2,000 real money ring game players during American peak hours. Games pretty much run around the clock; even at odd hours such as 5AM on a weekday, 500+ real money ring game players can be found.
Tournament Traffic: Bodog does an excellent job of attracting tournaments players. They currently offer Guaranteed Prize-pool tournaments (which often have massive overlays), WSOP qualifiers, frequent freerolls and much more. During peak hours 10,000+ tournament players can be found playing simultaneously.
Bodog Tournament Leader Board Details
Game Variety: Bodog offers Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omah Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo and 5 Card Stud. About 70% of their traffic is at No Limit Texas Hold’ em Games, while Fixed Limit Hold’ em (20%) and Omaha + Omaha Hi/Lo (9%) make up the majority of their additional traffic.
Sign up Bonus: The Bodog Poker bonus is a 110% initial deposit match up to $550 free. For full details on this bonus, see the bottom section of this review.
Promotions: Bodog offers poker point promotions such as freerolls and has other promos based on sporting events. Also, we dedicated an entire page of our site to the Bodog Tournament Leader Board Promotion where the top point earners win generous prizes. One of their most popular promotions is the $100,000 Weekly Guaranteed Tournament: Every Sunday afternoon you have the chance to play in the #100k GTD tournament. There are four different ways to get into this tournament. You can win your way via a satellite for $1, use your points to play a satellite, $10+1 satellite, $22+2 satellite or you can buy in directly for $100+9.
Update: Bodog recently started offering frequent reload bonuses and is also offering a VIP points for cash program.
Customer Support: Bodog has great customer support available through phone and email.
Banking Options: Funding options include Credit Card, Money Transfer, Click2Pay and eWalletXpress. Payouts are limited to check by courier and WU/MG cash transfer.
$550 Bodog Poker Sign up Bonus Details
The Bodog sign up bonus is a two part bonus which equates to a 110% up to $550 sign up bonus. The first part of this bonus is a 10% initial deposit match which is paid in cash, meaning it is immediately available to play with. In order for this bonus to become cash out eligible, players must earn 3 poker points per bonus dollar.
The second portion of the bonus is based on a 100% match of players initial deposit and on the amount of poker points earned during the first 30 days of play. For each 10 points earned, players will be issued one bonus dollar, up to the $500 maximum. For these additional bonus dollars to become cash out eligible, players will then need to earn the standard 3 poker points per bonus dollar.
Note: If you’re unfortunate and bust your poker account, no further rollover will be required.
3 ways to earn Bodog poker points:
#1 Ring games: Each time a player contributes any amount to a pot they’ll earn poker points based on the table below.
| Rake | Points |
| $1-00-$3.00 | 1.00 |
| $0.50-$0.95 | 0.50 |
| $0.25-$0.20 | 0.25 |
| $0.05-$0.20 | 0.10 |
#2 Tournament Fees: Each dollar a player pays in tournament entry fees earn them 3 point points. For example a $22+$2 tournament is worth 6 point points.
#3 Time Played: Players are issued 1 point for each hour they play at Bodog Poker. This applies to both real and play money games (and tournaments).
