Bovada.lv Poker Review – Sign up Bonus & Promo code – Ultimate Guide

Bovada Poker Review

I’ll be honest and say that Bovada has been a platform that I’ve played at for some time now – I just haven’t yet written a review of it for you all to check out. That’s now all changing, because here it is; my complete review of the Bovada.lv poker room. Now, some people may wonder why it’s taken this long to review the site if I’ve been a player there for so long. Well, there isn’t really an answer for it, other than I wanted to discover some other platforms and compare them with my Bovada experience.

As far as Bovada is concerned, it’s really nice to know that it has been operating for multiple years now, first starting out back in 2004 and continuing on with its services right into 2016. We’ll skip the short time period that its doors were closed, because there was a triumphant re-opening of the poker room in 2017 and Bovada soared to the top of the US rankings once again upon doing so. That’s right, it’s America’s number one ranked poker room, and once you find out about its features, you’ll understand why.

Prior to me signing up to the poker site, I already knew a little about Bovada, thanks to its reputation for offering a great online sportsbook and casino. I kind of instantly knew that I wanted to try the poker offerings out upon first visiting the Bovada.lv website, though. There’s just something that stands out about it when you load it up. A professional site design with high-quality graphics and an easy-to-use layout all combine together to form quite the appeal. It hooked me, in any case.

If I’m even more honest, I was a little bit skeptical about it being the best in the United States. I mean, I was almost certain that there couldn’t be anything so overwhelmingly more exciting about Bovada than various other poker platforms. I sort of wanted to disprove the theory of it being the number one ranking poker room. Needless to say, I didn’t get to prove that!

Is Bovada Poker Legit?

There’s definitely something in the water at Bovada, because it consistently outdoes any other online poker room as far as US traffic is concerned. And even if you turn to the worldwide rankings, Bovada often appears in the top 5 platforms. This is most likely because it provides players not only with poker, but a sportsbook and casino as well. So, players tend to leak over from all three main gambling sites into each other, providing quite the conglomerate of members.

Bovada has managed to make a name for itself thanks to several factors, although one of the main ones is the fact that it has consistently delivered on being a dependable site for payouts. While several other US-facing sites lagged behind, Bovada.lv was proceeding with a secure and much-loved service for US gamers being able to withdraw. This is a policy that it stays true to even today, offering up speedy transactions.

That’s why I was quite surprised to learn that Bovada doesn’t actually hold a gambling license. I knew this from the moment that I signed up to play there, but for such a high-ranked site, it did come as a shock. And Bovada isn’t really shy about confirming its unlicensed status, either. Things took a turn for the worse back in 2016 when it was stripped of its former license, which it held from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Little details emerged on why this was, but Bovada hasn’t made any kind of effort to replace that license.

This hasn’t stopped it from remaining as a prime figure in the poker world, though. Speaking of myself, I have never had any trouble with the legitimacy of this site. Yes, it’s not licensed at all today, but it still provides a high-quality service and ensures that your money is safe.

Will I Be Able To Play Bovada Poker In The US?

US gamers are actually front and center at Bovada.lv, so they’re definitely welcomed and able to play the poker games that are available. I registered from my home state of Nebraska a couple of years ago and had no problems with the sign-up or being able to deposit. Plus, the download and installation of the software to my desktop was a breeze, too.

Now, it’s definitely key to note that certain states cannot register to play at the Bovada site. These include New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Nevada. However, if you’re residing in a state outside of those, then Bovada allows you to sign up without any problems. It’s actually one of the sites that covers most US states, whereas others will block players from locations like New York and Washington from signing up. That’s not a problem at Bovada, though.

As I mentioned, I had no issues with registering from Nebraska and have continued playing from within various other states throughout my time as a member of Bovada. Bovada is also one of the few poker sites that doesn’t really cater to anywhere else other than the supported US states. So, even from locations like Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Brazil and others, you cannot register at Bovada.

Bovada Poker Software & Games

Bovada.lv utilizes the PaiWangLuo Poker Network for all of its operations, and this has undoubtedly led to its success as well. Now, I do tend to have personal preferences towards the type of poker software that platforms use. As long as they’re modern and providing a good selection of games and tournaments, they’re usually fine for me to access. It’s quite often the case that at least one of those is missing though. This is not the case when it comes to Bovada.lv, which is one of the main reasons that I’ve stayed at the poker room as a player for so long.

Everything about the Bovada software speaks to me, with its darker colour scheme, easy-to-use lobby layout and various table customization options. Just speaking personally, I have quite the affinity with adjusting the aesthetics of the tables that I access, and this means the background colour and card detailing. Bovada.lv provides me with this customization ability, so from a visual standpoint, I’m very well satisfied.

Bovada Poker Game Type	Minimum Stakes	Maximum Stakes
Hold’em No Limit	$0.02/$0.05	$10/$20
Hold’em Fixed Limit	$0.05/$0.10	$30/$60
Omaha	$0.02/$0.05	$10/$20
Omaha Hi/Lo	$0.02/$0.05	$10/$20

Now, I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn’t change one or two things about the software at this poker room. First of all, I’d like to be able to see some figures from the cash games, like you always could beforehand at Bovada. Not solely for traffic reasons, but just so that I know for my own personal gameplay what I’m getting into before I proceed to access a table. Without such, it does feel like I’ve just be dropped into the middle of proceedings without really knowing why.

The only other issue that I have with it, is that tables seem to take a lot longer to load up than many other poker sites. That’s not specifically a huge gripe, because I never access poker games when I’m specifically in a rush anyway, but there’s nothing worse than sitting there and watching a percentage loading screen when you’re wanting to start betting. This could be the price we, the gamers, pay for accessing high-quality software, naturally. Yet, loading times do stand out as being that much longer than what could be considered the norm.

Turning my attention to the actual poker games that the platform offers, you’ll find that the popular additions are there. This means you’ll be able to play Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo. Sit & Go Tournaments are also available to enter, while Zone Poker provides you with another alternative, which is also a great perk of the software. 7 Card Stud and its offshoot game 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo are also available to play at Bovada Poker and one other variant which you will also find on offer is the older, yet much loved and often played game of Five Card Draw.

Various stakes are available for each of the different poker options as well. For example, Hold’em is accessible from $0.02/$0.05 stakes up to a maximum of $10/$20 stakes. While this is a decent enough range to select from, it doesn’t really provide high-stakes players with much on the whole. Obviously, this caters well-enough to recreational players – especially those who are leaking over from the casino and sportsbook and don’t really have much poker experience behind them.

Was I Able to Play Anonymously at Bovada Poker?

I’m not going to lie – I do enjoy being able to access anonymous poker tables. It’s one of those features that seems to give me much more of a sense of security when gaming. I know this way that I can’t be targeted by anyone looking to take advantage of my lower skillset. Not that I’m specifically bad, but there are definitely some players out there who are infinitely better than me at playing.

Anonymous tables very nicely get rid of any need to feel worried over this, because nobody can see who I am, and I can’t see who they are. Therefore, they can’t track me from one table to another and set upon me like a pack of wolves (or potentially like a lone wolf, as is usually the case). And while some poker rooms only have this available in half-measures (and others not at all), Bovada has this throughout its range of games.

So, regardless of if you’re playing Pot Limit Omaha or No Limit Hold’em, the details of who you are cannot be seen by other players at the same table as you.

I understand some people’s need to play non-anonymous poker, and I’ve experienced this at other poker sites. But really, there’s very little that can come from accessing such tables when you compare it to anonymous gameplay. You’re ultimately safer and it leaves little room for the predators to latch on to someone else. I would always recommend an online poker room that offer anonymous table gaming over one that doesn’t even have it as an option.

Windows and MAC Downloads

Downloading the Bovada.lv poker software is quite the easy process. I’ve experienced downloads from some other platforms where the whole process of downloading and installing the software has been quite the nightmare. There’s nothing worse than waiting around for something to complete installing, but this wasn’t an issue with Bovada. Even though the tables themselves can take a bit of time to load up once you select such, the actual installation of the software was painless.

I appreciate the fact that Bovada has three steps to inform you on how to install the poker software, although it’s not something that’s really necessary considering that it’s just a matter of downloading and pressing on the installation button to do it. After registering for an account, you can log straight into the software and proceed with funding it and playing.

I assume that the process of this is exactly the same when it comes to downloading the software to a MAC computer. Different links are provided depending upon your computer’s operating system, but the file sizes can’t be all that different.

Bovada Poker Bonuses

I’ve come to terms with the fact that most online poker sites will provide welcome offers and ongoing bonuses to their players. It’s one of those things that’s just become quite commonplace now. While I may not have chosen to claim them in my very early days of poker gameplay, when I signed up to Bovada a couple of years ago, I did opt to go ahead with its welcome offer that caters to new players.

The welcome offer that the poker room provides consists of a 100% bonus on top of your initial deposit. This has a maximum value to it of $500, and if you’ve ever played at online poker sites before, you’re probably aware of how poker bonuses work. This isn’t a figure that is released to you all in one go, but you basically unlock portions of it as you continue playing at Bovada.

Basically, what typically happens with this, is that you need to click on the “Deposit” button underneath the bonus that you want to receive. This will then be added to your bonus selection, and you can proceed with making your qualifying deposit for it.

Afterwards, you need to start buying into poker games and entering tournaments. From doing so, you will earn Poker Points, depending upon how much rake you contribute to the pot in cash games or the fees that you pay to enter a tournament. The more Poker Points you earn from this, the more of the bonus money you’re able to unlock and release. You’ve got 30 days from the activation usually to clear as much of the bonus as you possibly can through gameplay.

The bonus can be released typically the following way:

• $5 when you earn 15 Poker Points
• $20 when you earn 85 Poker Points
• $25 when you earn 185 Poker Points
• $50 when you earn 500 Poker Points
• $150 when you earn 1,500 Poker Points
• $250 when you warn 5,000 Poker Points

If you’re intending to play at the online casino or sportsbook as well, then you can claim bonuses for these, while cryptocurrency users have specific rewards to benefit from at these Bovada sites, too.

Bovada Poker Rewards System

I’m always happy to find that an online gaming site provides a rewards scheme. This is especially true when it comes to poker rooms. That’s why I was so impressed by the Bovada.lv offering, which gives you reward points as you play – not only at the poker room, but also if you place bets in the sportsbook or casino sections of the site. The points that you earn are able to be redeemed at any time for cash bonuses. And as you continue earning these, you will also ascend up the Bovada Rewards Tier ladder. As you access a new tier, you’ll unlock greater rewards.

Different games and betting options will provide you with a different number of points for every $1 that you spend on such. By automatically becoming a member of this, you will rise up through the Starter, Rookie, Pro and so on levels, until you reach the highest level of a Hall of Fame player. You’re able to receive increased amounts of cashback as you ascend up these levels, and each of them comes with three levels (other than the lowest and highest).

I actually found it quite easy to amass the 2,500 points necessary to climb up to the Rookie level. Then I continued on through the three levels of this tier before just about managing to get into the Pro tier. Naturally, the level of points that you need to attain to access even higher levels is quite high. Then again, I’m still a player at Bovada.lv’s poker site, so I’ll continue on in the same way and hopefully get to become a Hall of Famer one day!

Bovada Poker Tournaments

Poker tournaments are a real favourite of mine, and so I’m always on the lookout for platforms that provide multiple options to players for such. With the Bovada.lv platform utilizing the PaiWangLuo poker network, you’re not going to be let down in this area. Tournaments are on offer from morning to night, and you can enter into these at various different levels to suit your own balance and player skill.

Now, it’s true to say that all platforms tend to provide their own varieties of tournament options, including Bovada. It’s quite unique in that respect. However, you’re not likely to go without, considering that just about all of them come with guarantees, offer 9 or 10-seated tables and utilize the freezeout format of games to heighten the experience. When you also add in the fact that Bovada incorporates the slow blinds function, you’ve got quite the recipe for tournament options success.

Speaking personally, my main focus is on the type of guarantees that tournaments can provide, and 9/10 options at this poker room come with clear guarantee information or operate as satellites that you can gain entry to other guarantees through.

The tournament lobby is easy to navigate around too, thanks to the modern setup and design of such. You can clearly see the name of the tournament, the poker game taking place in it, the limit and the buy-in of them all. You’ll also get to see information on the status of the tournaments and how many players have already enrolled in them.

I’m a big fan of how Bovada works its tournaments too, because when you open one up to register, you’ll be able to see the current prize for first place, second place and so on, as well as the number of players already enrolled in the tournament. It also gives you details on when the event will start and the total prize pool, amongst other tidbits of insight.

What’s more, when you click on the “Tourney Info” button, you’ll be given extra information. I like being able to enter tournaments without re-buys and add-ons, which Bovada provides in quite large numbers. In fact, just about all of the tournaments don’t allow re-buys and add-ons at this poker room, which is quite the appealing scenario for me.

Bovada Poker Player Traffic

I’m not going to beat around the bush here, because I feel like Bovada still doesn’t really get enough credit for how well it does with traffic today. Ever since the Black Friday scenario of 2006, the online poker scene in the United States has been suffering. That doesn’t really seem to have had an effect on Bovada, though. My main thoughts on this is that because Bovada didn’t really let up on providing its casino, sportsbook and poker room to the US market when so many sites pulled out of the market, it has garnered a strong following of fans.

Of course, the fact that it has an absolutely clean reputation in terms of pay-out times, no scandals and the like, has helped to maintain its standing in the US market. So much so that most people today don’t even care about the fact that the site doesn’t possess a gambling license anymore.

Unfortunately, it’s quite difficult to understand the kind of traffic that Bovada.lv is experiencing today, because with the more modern interface of the game lobby, it’s no longer possible to view the number of people that are accessing the cash games. So, the only information that is available is the numbers displayed on the tournaments tab.

This does paint quite a nice picture of traffic levels at Bovada, though. In short, it has a nice stream of people who are all too happy to play the range of poker options on offer there. And this has pretty much always been the case with the site. It has grown throughout the years to become the number one ranking platform that it is today. As far as a worldwide status is concerned, it’s usually ranked at somewhere around number 5-8, although I’m inclined to believe that it sits at the higher end of this spectrum.

Bovada Poker Mobile

I’ve been known to engage in mobile poker gameplay from time to time. It’s quite a handy perk of certain online poker sites, and it’s one that Bovada.lv also offers. In fact, the platform provides you with the possibility of accessing such from your Android or iOS device, simply by entering the website’s address into your device’s browser.

While some of you may prefer to download a mobile app, this is not something that Bovada.lv provides. Yet, I always find it to be a bit easier when it comes to mobile gaming to access such through the web browser on my Android. It means that I don’t have to use up space on my phone itself to cater to any sort of app. Using the device’s web browser to access Bovada.lv poker is very simple anyway, so it’s not like I’m missing out on anything.

The great thing about mobile gaming at Bovada.lv, is that you won’t lose out on quality (or indeed, the quantity of games and tournaments that are available to you). The graphics and gameplay are very smooth on your mobile device’s screen, meaning that it’s exactly as if you were playing from your home computer. You’re also able to deposit and withdraw through your handset, should you so wish to.

Bovada Poker Deposits & Withdrawals

Speaking of depositing and withdrawing; the process for both of these is very simple at Bovada. Naturally, you’ll need to do one before you’re able to complete the other, but there are several payment methods available for you to utilize for depositing purposes. This includes the cryptocurrency methods that not all online poker sites provide support for.

Other than cryptocurrencies, anyone choosing to play at Bovada can use a Visa, Mastercard or American Express card, as well as Chase Quickpay. Now, one thing to make note of here, is that I would always recommend using cryptocurrencies for depositing at online poker rooms. I’ll explain a little more about them soon, but they just make things so much easier.

The reasoning behind using cryptocurrencies over any other method, is because for both depositing and withdrawing purposes, they won’t have any additional fees attached to them in the same way that card transactions could. Now, accessing the Visa deposit page does display the information that your first deposit at the poker room with this method is free, where a fee of 5.9% would normally be added. However, I’ve deposited a couple of times with my Visa card and found that the fees were waivered each time. Potentially, the same will be true if you’re using a card to make a deposit into your account.

Deposit Method	Minimum Deposit	Maximum Deposit	Fees	Approx. Success Rate
Bitcoin	$10	$5,000	Free	100%
Bitcoin Cash	$10	$5,000	Free	100%
Visa/Mastercard/American Express	$20	$1,000	5.9%	100%
Chase Quickpay	$10	$5,000	Free	100%

One other thing to make note of as well, is that making a deposit with a card doesn’t allow you as much breathing space as far as maximum limits are concerned. Cryptocurrencies are much better for this, because you will find that you can both deposit and withdraw more than other payment methods.

Regardless of which, when using both my Bitcoin Cash and my Visa debit card to transfer money into my Bovada account, I didn’t suffer any problems. Deposits through both of these were instant and allowed me to start playing poker right away.

Withdrawals Are Speedy Through Bitcoin, Longer Through Check

I’m always enticed enough by online poker rooms to check out all the different payment methods, if I possess such means to do so. That’s why when I deposited through Bitcoin Cash and made a withdrawal through such, I took the opportunity to deposit through Visa the next time and withdraw through check by courier.

Method	Minimum	Maximum	Frequency	Time to Deliver
Bitcoin	$10	$9,500	One every 3 days	Instant
Bitcoin Cash	$10	$9,500	One every 3 days	Instant
Check by Courier	$100	$3,000	One every 7 days	Up to 15 business days

Now, the main differences between these two withdrawal methods is that cryptocurrency transactions are not only instant once the request has been approved, but that they’re also cheaper than check by courier. You’ll also need to ensure that you’re taking out at least $100 if you’re withdrawing via check, and you’re able to do so once every 7 days, whereas this is reduced by Bitcoin to one per three days.

It’s quite the shame for card depositors, because things aren’t really so grand for them. However, that’s why I tend to often suggest using Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash as a first route – because they’re just a lot easier to utilize for both depositing and withdrawing.

Something else to remember about making a withdrawal through the check by courier method, is that you’ll only be covered by Bovada.lv for your first withdrawal per 90 days. Anything else that you opt to withdraw within this time period will be subject to a $100 processing fee, which is also why the minimum transaction through this method is $100. Doesn’t Bitcoin just stand out to you on such a higher level now?

Bovada Poker Player Support

I have actually had very few dealings with the customer support team at Bovada, because things seem to run so smoothly there. I’ve used the help center more than I have the support team, and that’s quite the standout point to be making about Bovada. If I’m not needing to speak with a support agent to chase up a withdrawal or find out the answers to certain queries, it can only be a good thing.

In saying that, if you do ever need to speak with an advisor, there is a dedicated support team on hand for this. Live chat is available to utilize, as is an email address. All responses will be sent to you within 24 hours through this, while telephone calls can also be made to speak to someone directly.

My experiences with customer support have always been positive ones. They’re usually very quick to reply, they’ll help you to the best of their knowledge and, judging from the past occasions where I have spoken to someone, that’s been more than enough. I’m not looking for someone to have a chat with me about how the weather is and if I’m having a nice day – I’m looking for assistance when I speak to support. Bovada gives me that straight away, and that’s a great service for me.

Bovada Poker Rating

It’s fair to say that when I arrived to start playing games at Bovada’s poker room, I had no idea how loose things would be there. While you can’t really see any stats about tables, other than those on display for Zone Poker (which aren’t altogether that helpful anyway), once you begin playing poker there, you’ll come to realise that it’s one of the easiest platforms in many ways.

Bovada has apparently been quite a loose poker room for the majority of its existence anyway, and I recall thinking this of it when I first began playing a couple of years ago. Today, the site doesn’t display anything with regard to flop and average pot figures, but reports seem to suggest that when it did, it was averaging around 30-40% at 9-seat tables for the flop. That’s insane considering that 20% would have been considered quite a good level back in the day.

Even for 6-seater tables, this percentage could climb to the dizzying heights of 50% and average pots would come in at somewhere between 30-40x the big bling. There’s little wonder that this was (and most likely still is) the case, because Bovada has always had a strong connection with its playing audience. It knows what poker players are looking for and, subsequently, the site has brought in games and offerings to satisfy that.

It’s quite clear though, that this is a running thing with online sites that cater to not only the poker market, but casino gamers and sports bettors. Bovada.la has the appeal of being a great place to gamble on the whole, which is why gamers from the sports and casino worlds can slide on over to play poker for bigger thrills, without really knowing what the game is all about.

Final Thoughts

To put things simply – Bovada is one of the best poker rooms to exist online. I wouldn’t have been playing there for so long and it wouldn’t have risen to the top of the pack in the United States if it was providing a bad platform, would it?

Not only does it have a professional outside appearance, but the way that it operates internally is also cause for celebration. The level of dedication that the brand has to providing such a welcoming and friendly and exciting gaming space is what appeals the most.

Then, when you get to access the games on the PaiWangLuo poker network, there’s little doubt that you’re in for a treat from the get-go. Yes, it’s very much a shame that Bovada lost its license a few years ago, and that it no longer provides table stats in the lobby. Yet, at the end of the day, these things are minor gripes. You’ll still get to play some of the best and easiest poker games ever at the site, and that’s not something that can be said about a great deal of brands.

Plus, with the support that’s on hand for cryptocurrency deposits, Bovada offers quite the haven for those players who possess such. Mobile poker is also available, allowing you to take the site and its games with you on the road, while there’s quite the wonderful set of table customization possibilities, too.

It’s one of my favourite (if not my all-time favourite) poker rooms, and I think if you’re able to register from your location, then Bovada is definitely one you should try out.

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