Poker deals at Bovada
I am affiliated with Bovada. Sign up through the link on this page and it tracks. I appreciate you using it. Message me on Discord if you have questions.
Key facts
- The largest US-facing cash pool, peaking around seven thousand players
- Genuinely soft games, which is the whole argument for it
- Every table is anonymous, so nobody can profile you either
- Zone fast-fold and Jackpot Sit and Gos alongside the usual formats
- No ongoing rakeback at all since 2019, only a points scheme
- Card deposits carry a heavy fee and six US states are excluded
At a glance
- The deal
- Ask on Discord
- How to claim
- Sign up through the link
- Network
- PaiWangLuo
- Licence
- Curacao
- Games
- Cash games · Tournaments · Sit & Go · Spin & Go
- Best hours
- American evening
- Trackers
- Blocked, built-in HUD only
- Platforms
- Windows · macOS · Browser
- Payments
- Bitcoin · Visa · Mastercard · MatchPay · Zelle · Voucher
Deals at Bovada
Sign up through the link on this page and it tracks. I appreciate you using it. Message me on Discord if you have questions.
One thing to understand about Bovada before anything else: it does not offer rakeback. It dropped the scheme in 2019 and replaced it with a points system that pays mostly in tournament tickets. There is a high effective return while you are clearing the welcome bonus, on a thirty-day clock, and after that very little comes back on your volume.
That is unusual enough on a site like this to state plainly. Bovada is not a rakeback play. It is a game-quality play.
What Bovada's own rewards give you
A points scheme earned on rake, redeemable for tickets, casino credit and occasional cash. It is not a percentage and it does not behave like one.
The welcome bonus is the exception and it is the generous part: while clearing it, the effective return is high, with the Jackpot Sit and Go format returning more than cash games do. The window is thirty days, so it rewards a concentrated start rather than a slow one.
The games
Bovada runs on the PaiWangLuo network under a Curacao licence, sharing a pool with Ignition and Bodog. That pool is the largest US-facing cash pool in online poker, averaging a couple of thousand players and peaking around seven thousand.
The games are soft, and the reason is structural rather than accidental. Every table is anonymous. Usernames are replaced with player1, player2 and so on, so nobody can build a read on anybody across sessions. Recreational players cannot be identified, targeted or hunted, so they lose more slowly and stay in the pool longer. If you have ever wondered why a room would deliberately blind its own regulars, that is the answer.
Hold'em and Omaha both run, alongside fixed limit, Omaha hi-lo, the Zone fast-fold game, a full tournament schedule and Jackpot Sit and Gos.
The client covers Windows and macOS natively with a browser version on top. There is no native mobile app, only a mobile-friendly site.
What to know before you deposit
No ongoing rakeback, which is the whole caveat and worth repeating. If you are choosing a room on the return you get for your volume, Bovada loses to almost everything else on this site. If you are choosing on how beatable the games are, it wins most of them.
Anonymity cuts both ways. You cannot be profiled, and neither can anyone else, so table selection and opponent reads are off the table as edges.
Card deposits carry a heavy processing fee, so crypto is the sensible route. Six US states are excluded: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey and New York.
Deposits and withdrawals
Bitcoin, cards, MatchPay, Zelle and vouchers, with a low minimum. Crypto has no fee from the room and cards do, at a rate high enough to notice on every deposit. Use Bitcoin unless you have a reason not to.
Common questions about Bovada
- Does Bovada have rakeback?
- Not in the ordinary sense. It dropped rakeback in 2019 and replaced it with a points scheme that pays out mostly in tournament tickets. There is a high effective return while you are clearing the welcome bonus, and very little after that.
- Can I use a HUD on Bovada?
- Not meaningfully. Every table is anonymous, so there is no player to track across sessions. Hand converters can give you a session-only HUD that resets when someone leaves.
- Are the games at Bovada soft?
- Yes, and that is the reason to play there. Anonymity removes the ability to target weak players, which keeps them in the pool for longer than they last elsewhere.
- Which US states can't play at Bovada?
- Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey and New York are excluded. Ask me before you deposit if you are anywhere near a border case.
- What is the cheapest way to deposit?
- Crypto. Card deposits carry a substantial processing fee, so Bitcoin is meaningfully cheaper both directions.
New to this? What is rakeback and how does it workexplains how rake is charged, why a single percentage is almost always misleading, and what to ask before you compare two offers.
Before you sign up
Poker rooms are regulated differently from country to country and Bovada may not be licensed where you live. Check before you open an account, or ask me on Discord and I will check for you. Please gamble responsibly. 18+.
The Bovada link on this page is an affiliate link. The room pays me a share of the rake you generate. It costs you nothing extra and does not reduce your rate.