"Experts" who predicted the demise of Bovada were WRONG - Largest US Facing Site?

WEC

WEC

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"Experts" who predicted the demise of Bovada were WRONG - Largest US Facing Site?

Many on poker forums and poker news articles predicted the eventual demise of the bodog/Bovada model for recreational players saying it could not be sustained.

Looks like the so called experts were wrong, as Pokerfuse says Bovada is about to overtake Revolution and Merge as largest US-Facing poker site

Bodog Set to Overtake Revolution as US Market Leader

As Revolution and Merge struggle with cashiers and closures, Bodog is quietly growing with its unorthodox strategy...

Cake, rebranded to Revolution, immediately took the number 1 spot following the transition. It succeeded in retaining its traffic, but has not seen the traffic growth enjoyed by Bodog...

Merge Gaming, previously the largest US-facing network, has now slipped to a clear third. The traffic drop began with the departure of Lock Poker in June 2012, which purchased the Cake Network, and traffic has declined steadily since...
 
Debi

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I am not really surprised to tell you the truth. If I were still playing online that is exactly where I would play now.
 
WEC

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dakota-xx said:
I am not really surprised to tell you the truth. If I were still playing online that is exactly where I would play now.
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I did not know you gave it up. Did you write about it and I missed it?
 
BLACKSTACK

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Aside from the anon tables, I am honestly liking bovada alot more than merge or win.The most important factor are buy ins,number of tourneys going on per hour and sng's, The other US sites just are no competition when it comes to guaranteed tourneys with low buy-ins.
Just my ho
 
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lol its only cause us doesnt have much options. still a shit site
 
shamanalix

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Bodog/Bovada traffic is highly boosted by its sports betting, THE site of choice for many in the USA. The sports plungers wandering over to the poker table inflate things and can make for easier tables. But on the whole I do not like the site a whole lot compared to others.

And I take everything Pokerfuse says with a grain of salt ... or less. The site's reporting history and poker happening predictions is -EV.
 
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As a Bovada player, this is good to hear. I still miss Full Tilt (aside from the stealing from me part), but Bovada has been a decent alternative.
 
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To be honest the reason I chose Bovada is the software. Some people don't like it but it just seems less bloated and clunky to me. I do like what the other sites have to offer in promotions and community but software comes first for me.
 
Debi

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WEC said:
I did not know you gave it up. Did you write about it and I missed it?
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I haven't played much since Black Friday tbh. But I did play a few mtt's a week until about a year ago when my job just got too busy. I can't spend hours in a tournament just to try to win a few hundred dollars or less. When I played in mtt's at PS I could play 2-5 at a time and 1st paid thousands - that was worth it.

Now I pretty much exclusively play CC events a few times a week when I can. Crushing those but don't have time to use the money to play good tournaments and don't have enough to withdraw at any one site so it more for fun than anything.

I prefer live tournaments all day long anyway.
 
D

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Myself I been playing on merge and did that that $10 thing on Bovada.. I have to say I like Bovada promotions. what I have seen it produces some promotions that a casual player can obtain. Not sure if I like the anoymous tables but the promotions are prety good.
But to be honest. it doesnt surprise me. The other sites dont do promotions for the working class guy playing only microstakes. I wonder how many new players they got for that $10 stake tbefore xmas. I know they got me and my wife with tha promotion.
 
T-Dubs82

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i enjoy bovada, not a big fan of anon tables, but with the sportsbook and semi-reliable cashouts, bovada is best US-facing site imo
 
dj11

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Somehow, somewhere along the line, Bovada improved to the point where the only things I don't like are the Anon thing, which actually doesn't bother me too much, and the Bovada Beep! That noise I hear when it is my turn to do something. It is only barely more tolerable than fingernails across a chalkboard.

Other than that, the game selection for US players is 2nd only to Merge, but a fairly close 2nd at that. It is way beyond what we can find on WPN, and something about Cake just makes it unappealing. I have bucks at a couple of Cake skins and have almost forgot about them.

And BTW, no one has yet guessed who I am at Bovada.....MUAHAHAHAHAHA:eek::D
 
A

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detourglr said:
Myself I been playing on merge and did that that $10 thing on Bovada.. I have to say I like Bovada promotions. what I have seen it produces some promotions that a casual player can obtain. Not sure if I like the anoymous tables but the promotions are prety good.
But to be honest. it doesnt surprise me. The other sites dont do promotions for the working class guy playing only microstakes. I wonder how many new players they got for that $10 stake tbefore xmas. I know they got me and my wife with tha promotion.
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That's true, they do seem to offer more promotions for smaller stakes. The no names thing doesn't really bother me. Though I wish it was easier to go through hand history or find out how many points you accumulated during the day.
 
soncheebs

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dj11 said:
Somehow, somewhere along the line, Bovada improved to the point where the only things I don't like are the Anon thing, which actually doesn't bother me too much, and the Bovada Beep! That noise I hear when it is my turn to do something. It is only barely more tolerable than fingernails across a chalkboard.

Other than that, the game selection for US players is 2nd only to Merge, but a fairly close 2nd at that. It is way beyond what we can find on WPN, and something about Cake just makes it unappealing. I have bucks at a couple of Cake skins and have almost forgot about them.

And BTW, no one has yet guessed who I am at Bovada.....MUAHAHAHAHAHA:eek::D
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Did Merge do something drastic in the last couple weeks that I missed? Because I was under the impression that it was a dying network. I mean I don't have any friends online that stayed after p2p was cut off, and most even left before that to go to lock. Then BCP leaves for winning, that was my cue to get out. I'd say Bovada/Winning/Revolution right now if you had to rank US allowed sites based on a combination of traffic/game selection/customer support/cashouts...Customer support and Cashouts being the most important to me, and I think most people.
 
sCATpoker

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I wasn't a fan at first cause of the anonymous thing and that they didn't have rakeback but however even playing just the microstakes I still got an extra 250 dollars last month from their promos alone so as far as that goes I dont think I would of made 250 from rakeback....and as far as the anonymous thing I don't have a problem with that either I think it is a good thing cause no matter if you have a name or not bad play does not hide and unless they only play one or two hands they stick out like a sore thumb. I also Like to bet on the Seahawks not really a sports better but have been betting on the last 5 games and have been treating it like a cashgame betting 5 percent of my BR on each game and forunately have not lossed yet for a good boost to my poker BR. The checks show up resonabley fast as well average about a week and a half. Im a fan and wouldn't even think about playing seriously any where else at the moment.
 
dmorris68

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I've never been a fan of Bodog/Bovada but I've certainly never thought they couldn't sustain it. Not sure what "experts" said that. Bovada quite intentionally positions themselves as the place for recreational "gamblers." Actual winning regs were a minute percentage of their player pool, I think much less than on the other sites/networks, so it wasn't a huge hit for them to go completely anti-winning-player like they did. In fact it likely brought them more traffic from the demographic they were targeting, which is exactly how they justified their position in the first place.

It doesn't change the fact that for a serious poker player, like Marge said, it's a shit site IMO. I didn't like them much before the Bovada switch, but after it was just horrendous to me. But even moreso than just a problem with the software or the anon tables BS, it was more my philosophical differences with them about what was "good" for poker. I don't think they've done ANYTHING AT ALL that is "good for poker," but I also have no doubt that they've done things that are "good for Bovada." And why shouldn't they, it's their business. They've identified their target market and go out of their way to cater to them, and have been successful at it. So no, I'm not really surprised. More power to them.

It doesn't change the fact that a lot of us who take online poker seriously still can't stand them, though, and choose to take our business elsewhere.

I would (and do) rather play on ANY of the other US facing sites. Unless/until they're the very last US-facing site standing (and maybe not even then), Bovada will never get another penny of rake from me as long as serious/winning poker players are unwelcome there. And make no mistake -- winning players are unwelcome. Winning poker players are "bad for poker." So says their VP who I've quoted at length here before.
 
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dmorris68 said:
I've never been a fan of Bodog/Bovada but I've certainly never thought they couldn't sustain it. Not sure what "experts" said that. Bovada quite intentionally positions themselves as the place for recreational "gamblers." Actual winning regs were a minute percentage of their player pool, I think much less than on the other sites/networks, so it wasn't a huge hit for them to go completely anti-winning-player like they did. In fact it likely brought them more traffic from the demographic they were targeting, which is exactly how they justified their position in the first place.

It doesn't change the fact that for a serious poker player, like Marge said, it's a shit site IMO. I didn't like them much before the Bovada switch, but after it was just horrendous to me. But even moreso than just a problem with the software or the anon tables BS, it was more my philosophical differences with them about what was "good" for poker. I don't think they've done ANYTHING AT ALL that is "good for poker," but I also have no doubt that they've done things that are "good for Bovada." And why shouldn't they, it's their business. They've identified their target market and go out of their way to cater to them, and have been successful at it. So no, I'm not really surprised. More power to them.

It doesn't change the fact that a lot of us who take online poker seriously still can't stand them, though, and choose to take our business elsewhere.

I would (and do) rather play on ANY of the other US facing sites. Unless/until they're the very last US-facing site standing (and maybe not even then), Bovada will never get another penny of rake from me as long as serious/winning poker players are unwelcome there. And make no mistake -- winning players are unwelcome. Winning poker players are "bad for poker." So says their VP who I've quoted at length here before.
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Their program sets people up to go all in with great hands to have the guy next to him have the one up on the kicker or one up on the pocket pair. I have see AA KK 77 all go all in preflop there and the 77 wins most of the time. Or the straight and the flush getting filled on the river. Thats not random that is a set up for big action. I like the anon but i dont like the dealer it is really unrealistic most of the time.
 
dmorris68

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ibsiegel said:
Their program sets people up to go all in with great hands to have the guy next to him have the one up on the kicker or one up on the pocket pair. I have see AA KK 77 all go all in preflop there and the 77 wins most of the time. Or the straight and the flush getting filled on the river. Thats not random that is a set up for big action. I like the anon but i dont like the dealer it is really unrealistic most of the time.
Click to expand...

Oh boy.

Despite my feelings for Bovada, I'd rather you not quote me while using it as a basis for your rigtard theory.
 
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A lot of people have been saying they like Bovada lately, and i have been playing there for the last few months or so as well. I have liked it a lot so far and hope to keep playing there till i can cashout some too.
 
suit2please

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I never liked Bodogs software at all, it was the worst of the worst. From just being plain old crap to using a ridiculous amount of resources for that same crap. After the switch to Bovada I attempted to login, couldn't, and never actually tried to get it fixed.

As for Merge going down hill, traffic seems as good as ever post Black Friday (BF). In relation to Merge cashier and customer support I can not really comment on as my merge skin of preference still uses its own cashier and has not changed, pre or post BF.
 
LuckyChippy

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Americans should just move, you'll be able to play poker again and you have the added bonus of not being in America.
 
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Does anyone know if you can play at Bovada from Europe? Their bodog page for sports betting now just has an exciting new Live Casino product coming this summer and nothing else.
 
Debi

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LuckyChippy said:
Americans should just move, you'll be able to play poker again and you have the added bonus of not being in America.
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While we would love to play poker - most of us actually love living here so that would not be a bonus at all. Even my husband who is English prefers living here. :)

My friends who have moved to play poker miss living in America and would be back here if they could play poker online here. Virtually all of them feel that way.

There are a lot of things that aren't perfect here - but that could be said of anywhere. Overall it is a great place to live.

pobe27mo said:
Does anyone know if you can play at Bovada from Europe? Their bodog page for sports betting now just has an exciting new Live Casino product coming this summer and nothing else.
Click to expand...

No - you can not play from Europe.
 
mandyf27

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Ausername said:
\. Though I wish it was easier to go through hand history or find out how many points you accumulated during the day.
Click to expand...
to find how many points you accrued throughout the day go to the main screen, click account, then poker points. You can choose today, 3 days, or month.
 
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