Bodog Poker

In 1994, Calvin Ayre scrounged together $10,000 and launched Bodog, an online casino and sportsbook. By the turn of the century, Bodog was an industry leader and a multi-billion dollar company. Then, in 2004, on the heels of the Texas hold’em phenomenon, Bodog expanded its repertoire to include an online poker room. Within the year, Bodog Poker was one of the largest and most successful poker rooms online. During the process, Bodog earned a great deal of attention for being one of the few online poker services to offer a Web-based client for the Mac platform.

Bodog Poker offers new players a lucrative first deposit bonus: 110% up to $1,100. So the player who starts his or her Bodog career with a $1,000 deposit will immediately be awarded a $100 bonus that can be wagered (but not yet withdrawn), with an additional $1,000 bonus that must be earned. Bodog Poker bonus payouts are reward by earning Bodog poker points: $10 at 100, $40 at 500, $100 at 1,500, $150 at 3,000, $300 at 6,000, and the final $400 at 10,000 total points accrued.

So the new player must earn 10,000 Bodog Poker points to earn the full $1,100 bonus.

1 Bodog Poker point is earned for $1 to $3 of rake contributed to the pot. Fractional points are awarded for lesser rake contributions. And 3 points are awarded for every $1 paid in tournament fees.

So for the tournament player, the player would need to pay around $3,333 in tournament fees to earn the full $1,100 bonus which is basically a 3:1 ratio. This is a standard ratio in the online poker industry.

But there are some aspects that set the Bodog Poker bonus above the others. It’s the only online poker site (that we know of) that offers the 10% bonus up front. All other poker sites require you to earn the entire bonus. This 10% immediate bonus instantly pads your bankroll, allowing you to manage the swings inherent in playing poker.

Bodog takes an unusual approach in that it caters its software and all of the system to the casual poker player. For the casual player, this approach has a number of dividends: The client is intuitive and designed to provide the ultimate one-table poker experience. This setup does alienate some pros, however, especially those who make their money by playing numerous tables at the same time. The software does allow playing several tables simultaneously, but it is not well suited to any more than three.

For the recreational player, one of Bodog’s best features is “Quick Seat.” As the name suggests, this feature seats you with a single button click and a series of quick options: select a limit, select a game type, select the stakes and so forth.

The Bodog client also has a sophisticated system that lets you find the perfect game, but Quick Seat is ideal for those times when the player is short of time or simply wants to play hassle-free.

Bodog has an attractive interface, it’s very clean and simple. They don’t bog the visual experience down with chairs, tables and other unnecessary graphics. There are also some neat features, like “Spotlight,” which help to draw your attention to the action.

Spotlight is particularly useful when playing multiple tables, but it also convenient on a single table when the player is out of the hand. This way, if the player’s attention drifts to the latest craze on YouTube or whatever, they don’t miss out on any new opportunities.

The Bodog client also has a highly customizable interface. The playing area is resizable, and the user can move key elements around so that it perfectly suits them. The client also boasts a color picker, which the player can use to choose the color of the “felt” they play on. A notes system allows the player to record information about their opponents, and those notes persist between sessions, which make them very valuable in the long run. Player can add friends, block on chat, hide avatars and so forth.

You can follow these step-by-step instructions on installing the Bodog Poker download here.

Please note that if you reside in the US, Bodog will automatically redirect you to their sister site, Bovada Poker, which is US-friendly!