With Christmas just around the corner, the online poker site Bodog has given some presents to their customers in the form of new tournament variations and ring game features that many players have been requesting for some time.
As a part of their tournament offerings, Bodog is now going above and beyond just Texas Hold’em and the popular “freeze out” format. Previously, these were the only events that were offered. Now, Omaha Hold’em has joined in the mix to offer players a bit more action. Bodog has also brought in Shootout tournaments (where a player has to defeat his table to move on in the event), Knockout tournaments (where players earn a bounty for each player they eliminate) and Heads Up tournaments.
For their ring games, Bodog has definitely pulled out all the stops. One of the latest innovations that Bodog is implementing is “anonymous” tables. Under these particular ring games, there is nothing to identify the opponents you are playing against; as such, you have no notes or can look up any records regarding their play. In theory, the anonymous tables allow players to take on each other using just their skills and not any outside information that can be found or tracked.
Something that players like to do on occasion is look to see what the next card would have been on a particular board, known as “rabbit hunting.” Bodog has put this feature into their software, allowing players to see what the next card would have been at the completion of a hand prior to the river. If the hand ends on the flop, then the turn card is shown with a special rabbit designation and the same is done if the hand ends on the turn (the river card is shown with the same rabbit). In a way, it allows players to see if they made the correct decision on their hand or rue the fact that they didn’t have the insight or fortitude to continue on to the next card.
For those players who are consistently looking for the action, Bodog has also expanded the number of tables that can be played…in a certain manner. While a player on the site can only play four cash games or Sit and Go tournaments, Bodog is allowing players to play more multi-table tournaments simultaneously. So, if you’re looking for an extreme challenge, you can now have up to twenty (20) tables (between cash, Sit and Go and multi-table events) in action at one time.
Finally, for those players who a good game of poker just isn’t enough, Bodog has added another table game that can be played directly from the poker table. An in-client Blackjack game is now available and can be funded using a player’s poker account rather than a different account. This will allow those players who have some downtime to take part in some Blackjack while waiting for the next hand.
The new features are all now active and ready for play whenever a player logs into their Bodog account. The new features are an addition to what was already a loaded Bodog lineup, including a 110% sign up bonus and their weekly $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament on Sundays.
Over the past year, Bodog has seen a steady ascension up the poker industry, in part due to the activities of April 15th. According to PokerScout.com, Bodog is currently the eleventh ranked poker network in the industry, featuring a seven day average of 1100 players at peak hours. It is currently the second biggest online room still available to American players, slightly behind only the Merge Network and vastly outpacing the Cake Poker Network.
The new version of Bodog is HORRIBLE. The number one complaint amongst players at the table is the new anonymous setup. You have no idea who you are playing against. You don’t know where they are from, you don’t know if they are male or female, you don’t have any hints about their play style that you might derive from their screen name, and what’s worse, you don’t even know if the person in seat #5 is the same person that sucked out on your two hands before- that player could ahve left and another player taken his/her seat. Aside from this horrible new setup, there are loads of other lame new changes. For example, you cannot control where you appear at the table. If you take a seat in the upper left corner, that is where you stay. It used to be that when you took that seat, the table would rotate so that your cards were front and center. This is particularly difficult when playing multiple tables as you are seated at a different position at each table, and since you no longer have a name or an avatar it is difficult to quickly locate yuorself at any given table. Then there is the table layout and graphics. There are fewer options for the look and color of the table. Another huge annoyance is that your full cards are not shown. Instead only the top 1/3rd of the cards are show- even the suits are partially cut off. This makes it very easy to accidentally think you have a suited hand when in actuality you have a heart and a diamond, etc. Next, they have changed all of the sounds. The sound of someone making a bet or a raise is the same sound as them making a call. These two sounds used to be differentiated to help you recognize a bet versus a call. The sound of everyone’s chips being raked into the center now sounds like a loud burst of static and is terribly annoying. They have removed the multiple timeout alarms. You get one beep when it is your turn to act, and then the timeout counter starts to count off, but there is no sound to alert you that your hand is about to be folded. There used to be an alarm when you had 10 seconds to act, and then another one when you had 5 seconds left to act. These alarms are very important, especially when multi-tabling. They have moved all of the visual elements around on the screen, and some elements are very difficult to locate against the new background graphics. The so called new and improved lobby is also a complete piece of crap. The biggest issue is that selecting the types of games (holdem, omoha, etc), the stakes and the limits is done with checkboxes- all checkboxes are checked by default, so you have to uncheck all of the games you don’t want to see in the list. This would be fine if your settings were remembered, but they are not. Every time you launch the program you have to go through the same steps over and over again of unchecking the games, stakes and limits you don’t want. In summary: EPIC FAIL. Like most other bodog players are doing, I have put in a request to withdraw all of my funds and I will find somewhere else to play. I will not give Bodog ONE MORE DOLLAR. Way to go Bodog, you morons.
Just came back from a friend’s house, where he was telling(complaining) about Bodog’s new setup. I couldn’t believe they think these changes would be well received by their players. He said they even took away the preferred seat option. Bodog shot themselves in the foot with this so called improvement.
I have to agree 100% with every single comment above. So many annoying changes that make me nuts with this new software.
Yes its fast, but that’s allit has going for it in my opinion.
The lack of time out warning beeps makes it impossible to effectively play multiple tables and the fact that I keep timing out, actually annoys other players.
Not being able to pick your seat is also remarkably stupid.
Whether you like annonymous play or not is another question altogether. It just seems like they didn’t put much time into having poker players truly test the software.
Josh,I agree 200% with you. I sent them the same comments. And I thought I was overreacting but it has been 2 days that I am on those forums and I am pretty sure that Bodog is going to have a very bad wake up call. When you write to the customer service, they send you an auto answer saying that they understand my concern and then try to explain to me about their upgrade. They just got ( i am sure ) their management telling them to send to all customer this BS answer and won’t even answer about those specific issues. I withdraw on 11/26/2011 a nice amount ( for me : up 600$) and wrote them back to tell them that their upgrade is indeed a downgrade and that I was leaving and makink a final withdrawn ( even going to cash their frequent points or whatever they call it )they will not get anything more from me.I think they still do not care but if a lot of people does like us……Bye Bye Bodog. You will be out of the picture very soon. Lets find an other poker website ! !
the anonymous player feature makes it easier for them to shift the winnings around, so evryone has their good days and bad days depending on what seat you are in. before, you chose the seat you wanted. just my weird little conspiracy theory. but it sure does feel like you just KNOW when you’re going to have a bad run. the deal is different, too. i sometimes play on carbon poker, and it looks and feels like that, to a large degree. the dealt hole cards seem just like that site. what is random about getting dealt 2 9 os, then 39 os then 49…..over and over and over and over again? K 2, K3, K4, J 2, J3, J4, an ENDLESS amount of 4 9 OS. most of the time it just goes on and on like that. you won’t get a pocket pair, high or low. no broadway cards, just a high and low card together. oh, yeah, ace-rag os CONSTANTLY. THE LESS YOU DON’T PLAY THESE HANDS, THE MORE OF THEM YOU’RE DEALT. i play s&g’s so it’s very easy to spot. sure, you might say you’re not supposed to play many hands in the early stages, anyway; but trust me, the cards don’t improve later unless you’re one of the pre determined ‘good seat’ players that session. lol. the first day of the change-over i had to start playing the $4.40’s since they omitted the $2.20’s, and i was doing really well. then i went on a horrible cooler. the only way i could correct it was to start playing the junk i’m dealt out by trying to limp with it in position if possible. it’s working, too. i almost drained my br, and narrowly saved it. since it’s now so rare to get good hole cards, i had to switch from being a tight-aggressive, to a loose-passive in the early rounds, play the junk and hope for the best in order to survive til the push/fold rounds. it sure is tough, though, even just limping with garbage that you know you shouldn’t play, but if that’s the only choice you have, knowing a good pair or good ace or broadway cards may very well NEVER come, then you have to just go for it.
The table seating is annoying, otherwise poker is poker. You go to the casino the first time, do you have a HUD? No, you play the cards as they are dealt with the strangers at the table.
Collusion?? Come on, you can collude just as easy with or without screen names.
For all the whining, the tourney numbers are up on bodog so lots of people saying they are leaving, but in reality, they are still playing on bodog.
It’s anonymous now, how do we know you really are not playing on bodog? LOL