Ignition Poker Review

IgnitionCasino.eu Poker Review

Finding a reputable poker site where recreational American poker players can have all the exciting cash game and tournament action they want in a safe and secure environment free of shark infested waters can be a formidable task. This is especially true for those individuals who cannot play in New Jersey, Delaware, or Nevada, the only three states with legal state-run poker sites. Now that Bovada Poker, one of this country’s most popular online poker rooms has ceased operations, thousands of players have been left hanging. If you are one of them or if you are simply looking for trustworthy poker site where you can feel comfortable playing, you have come to the right place. This review of Ignition Poker will introduce you to the brand new online poker room that has been set up as Bovada Poker’s replacement.

Ignition Poker is actually part of Ignition Casino, so if you are a player who likes both poker and casino gambling, you will be able to enjoy both of these options, just like you may have already done before, playing Bovada poker online. No need to log in to different sites because, like Bovada previously, Ignition Casino uses a single wallet system, which makes moving back and forth between the poker platform and the casino platform a piece of cake.

Another reason why signing up with Ignition Casino makes sense for former Bovada online poker players is the fact that Ignition Poker is actually a rebranding of Bovada. In other words, the two rooms should be virtually identical. We can’t promise that every feature will be 100% identical because, after all, Ignition Poker is a new site, but the similarity will certainly be much greater and the readjustment to a new playing environment much easier than if you were to simply switch to any random online poker room that accepts American players.

On the other hand, as part of this Ignition Poker Review, we do need to point out that the entire site, not just the poker room, lacks any appreciable track record; even the casino has been operating online only since March, 2016. Ordinarily, we hesitate to recommend places with so little online experience to our readers, but in this case, Ignition Casino has not only acquired Bovada Poker but shares the same parent company and platform (Betting Partners). Bovada Poker itself was only online since 2011, but was a rebranding of Bodog, which was launched all the way back in 1995 and has been a respected name in online gambling for more than 20 years. Bovada was created expressly for American players when they were no longer legally allowed to play poker online on the Bodog site. Initially, Bovada Poker was well received primarily because of its association with Bodog, but in time, the Bovada site gained credibility as an outstanding site on its own. Now history is repeating itself with Ignition Poker.

Neither Bovada Poker nor Ignition Poker has disclosed the reason for Bovada Poker discontinuing, but rest assured, Bovada is not going out of business. The site is still open for casino games, sports betting, and horseracing. But with the poker room gone, many former Bovada poker players have already found Ignition Poker to be a viable replacement.

If you need more inducement to join Ignition Poker, here it is. When you sign up as a new player and make your first deposit, you will receive a big fat 100% Welcome Bonus: up to $2000 to use in the casino and, to "sweeten the pot," up to $100 more for poker!

Unfortunately, residents of New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, and Nevada are not allowed access to Ignition Casino (including Ignition Poker).

If you wish to play Ignition Poker online, in order to get started, you will need to download the free poker software. Most PCs purchased within the past five years meet the minimum system requirements. You will need Windows 7 or later, 1G or greater memory, and 200 MB or greater free disk space. See the website for additional requirements. Alternatively, Ignition Poker can be played on most mobile devices. See the separate section on Mobile Play which follows.

Ignition Poker is a site designed to attract casual recreational players rather than professionals. So while you won’t find certain specialized variations of poker, you will find the same basic cash games that most poker rooms have: fixed limit, pot limit, and no limit hold ‘em and Omaha and Omaha-Hi Lo. Another option is a form of speed poker called Zone Poker, where every time you fold, you are moved to a different table. To make the game even faster, players are allowed only 15 seconds to act. Zone Poker is played strictly for very low stakes (2 cents/ 5cents up to 50 cents/$1), but because the pace is much faster than regular poker, it is a very exciting game.

Hold ‘em is by far the most popular ring game at Ignition Poker. While Omaha might be hard to find outside of peak hours, hold ‘em tables are in action round the clock. Players have a choice of heads-up, six-max, and full ring (9 max) tables. Stakes start at 2 cents/ 5 cents, but typically go all the way up to $10/$20. However, even at the lower ends of the spectrum, you can still win big. Anyone lucky enough to get a Royal Flush wins an extra bonus of 50x the big blind, up to $200. Or, if your hand potentially qualifies for a Bad Beat (Aces Full of Kings or better losing to 4 of a Kind or better), you could win even more. At least three players must have been dealt into the hand and the two hands involved must use both pocket cards and go to showdown. If all those conditions are met, your opponent gets the pot, but you win 100x the big blind, up to a maximum of $1,000!

Ignition Poker retains an important feature that characterized Bovada Poker, Anonymous Tables. Instead of players being given a screen name, they are simply given seat numbers, which change each time they play. In addition, third party tracking tools are prohibited and multi-tabling in cash games is more restricted than on some poker sites. The purpose of these policies is to make the games as fair as possible for newbies and casual recreational players while keeping away the grinders and sharks. Players can check their own hand history, however, and if so inclined, use the information to improve their own play.

If you love the adrenaline rush of tournament play, and what online poker player doesn’t, get your ignition started because the tournament action on this poker site is fast and furious. Here is a summary.

• $2M Weekly Guaranteed Prize Pools

  Every day of the week this poker site offers various guaranteed tournaments. Buy-ins, starting chips, and prize pools vary, but the starting chip stack is usually 5,000 or 10,000. Buy-ins range from as little as $11 to as much as $109. See the website for the complete schedule.

• 100K Guaranteed Poker Tournaments

  This event, which gets underway every Sunday at 4 p.m. ET and has a first place payout of $20K, is Ignition Poker’s biggest guaranteed weekly tournament. Players can either buy in directly for $162 or try to win their way in cheaply through qualifiers.

• Mad Monday

  The first event of the day starts at 1:18 p.m., after which there is another one starting at 18 minutes past the hour every hour for the rest of the day until 11:18 p.m. This isn’t March Madness. It is Monday Madness!

• Sit and Go Tournaments

  Ignition Poker has lot of them. Buy-ins range from $1.10 to $215, and many different formats are available. So regardless of your individual preferences, you are almost certain to find the right Sit and Go for you!

If you find yourself on the go a lot, no problem. Ignition Poker offers you the same opportunity to play your favorite Hold ‘Em and Omaha cash games along with Zone Poker anytime, anywhere on your smartphone or tablet. And you can play for real money (or with play money, if you prefer), earn Poker Points, and make deposits and withdrawals on your mobile, just like on the computer.

In order to get started, simply visit >www.ignitioncasino.eu and log into your account. Then choose the game you want from the available options on the screen. Or, if you are new to Ignition Casino, you can use your mobile device to register and collect your Welcome Bonus. The Ignition Casino mobile app supports play on most currently used mobile devices, including iPhones (4 and higher), iPads, Android, Windows, and BlackBerry devices. If you need further assistance, the mobile help section should answer most questions. Or you can call or email Customer Support.

Unfortunately, mobile poker players can only play one game at a time and action is limited to cash games only, no tournaments. Hopefully these limitations will be corrected in the near future. However, nothing is more important than the safety of the site, and in that respect, Ignition Poker mobile players are in good hands. Ignition Mobile Poker is every bit as secure as playing Ignition Poker online.

One area where most online casinos and poker sites that cater to American players need to do better, and Ignition is no exception, is banking. Ignition casino and poker players currently have just six deposit options: MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, Rapid Transfer, and Bitcoin. Starting 10/1/16, for all of these options, except for Bitcoin, there is a fee.

As of this writing, these are your only withdrawal options:

• Check by Courier: The minimum withdrawal is $100 and the maximum is $3,000.
• Bitcoin: The minimum withdrawal is $20 and the maximum is $3,000

Bitcoin withdrawals are processed once every three days, which isn’t great, but still a lot faster than waiting 5-10 business days for a check. If you are new to Bitcoin, the website provides helpful information on how to set up an account and use this convenient digital banking method. Regardless of how you choose to do your banking, rest assured that Ignition Casino is a safe and secure site and all of your financial transactions are fully protected.

Welcome Bonus

As already indicated in this Ignition Poker Site Review, all players who are signing up for the first time, will receive a very generous Welcome Bonus consisting of 100% of the money they deposit in the first 24 hours, up to $2000. What poker players might not like so much is that the part of the bonus that can be used for poker is capped at only $100. There are other poker sites which offer bigger Welcome Bonuses.

Players depositing more than $100 will have to use the remainder of their bonus in the casino. But that shouldn’t be a problem because Ignition Casino is a full service casino with more than 200 slots along with video poker, all of the frequently played table games, and scratch cards and other casual games. The casino portion of the bonus has a rather hefty playthrough requirement of 25x the bonus + deposit. Also keep in mind that only slots and parlor games count 100%. All other games count only 60% or not at all.

It is not clear whether players depositing $100 or less receive all of their bonus for poker play or if part of it must be used in the casino. The minimum deposit is only $10.

The poker bonus is released by downloading the poker software and playing cash and tournaments on the site. The bonus is then released incrementally based on the number of earned Poker Points. (See the website for details.) Players have 30 days to clear the bonus in full.

We suspect that the poker bonus is deliberately kept small to keep it affordable for recreational players while discouraging pros and semi-pros with deep pockets from running over them. In any case, if you become a regular player at Ignition Poker, your player appreciation rewards will continue long after the Welcome Bonus.

Every time you play, you earn Poker Points, which you can accumulate and convert to tournament tickets or casino bonuses. Poker Points expire yearly on June 1.

Casino players earn Reward Points, which determine their standing in an 8-tiered loyalty rewards program, with additional benefits unlocked at each level. While there is no indication that there is also a loyalty rewards program for poker, at least there is a Tell a Friend promotion, which presumably is open to poker players and casino players alike. For each friend you successfully refer, you receive 200% of your friend’s first deposit up to $100. The bonus has a wagering requirement for withdrawal of 25x bonus for slots (higher for allowed table games) or 3x Poker Points for each bonus dollar.

No online poker room is perfect, and apart from the less than ideal banking options, we would be remiss in this Review of Ignition Poker not to point out a few other downsides to playing there. The major one, of course, is the newness of the site. While players are assured that the site is basically the same as Bovada Poker, that reality remains to be seen. Like all new poker sites, Ignition Poker will need to undergo the test of time in order to demonstrate its merit. So far, though, it seems to be on the right track.

Other shortcomings are the absence of tournaments on the mobile platform, small Welcome Bonus for poker, apparent lack of a tiered loyalty program for poker, and lack of live chat support.

As the name Ignition Poker suggests, this poker site is not for the timid, but it is for anyone who loves action and excitement and friendly competition and is willing to take a little risk in the hope of scoring some big wins. But instead of revving up the engine of your car, you kick off your ignition experience with a nice bonus that will give you extra ammunition with which to test your luck and skill on your favorite casino and poker games.

Like any new site, Ignition Poker is still a work in progress, so there is room for improvement. However, from the looks of things so far, this new site seems to be going the extra mile to please its customers, and early feedback is positive. With all that this site has going for it, we believe it can only get bigger and better with time.