Part Time Poker » Bodog

Bodog Floats $100m Sponsorship Offer to Tiger Woods

Jace Thomas — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:51:15 +0000

UPDATE: Bodog honcho Calvin Ayre announced that Woods has officially rejected Bodog’s offer. Wood’s agent reportedly told Bodog that Bodog “does not represent what Tiger Woods wants to stand for.”

Publicity stunt? Probably, but it’s a large enough name and a large enough number to get us wondering if Woods might be driven to consider signing on to the Bodog brand.

Most athletes – we’d guess well over 90% – would jump at the offer made by Bodog to Tiger Woods this week. $100 million over 5 years. No morals clause.

In fact, the offer suggests that Bodog would prefer Tiger continue to act exactly as he had been acting prior to his recent public fiasco. From a release announcing the offer: “BodogBrand feel they are the only ones who can extend a deal that will be totally unaffected by any non-golf related activity but in fact actively encourages endorses, employees and customers alike to ‘Play Hard’.”

Bodog isn’t the first to approach Woods. In March, online gambling property Paddy Power offered up a deal worth a reported $75 million, also over 5 years, to Woods, which was declined.

Will Woods even give the offer a second glance? On the surface, you could make the argument that the loss of several key sponsors following the last few months of scandals (including Gatorade, Accenture and AT&T) along with the looming financial threat of what will no doubt be an insanely expensive divorce may have put Tiger in a financial spot where the deal might actually be tempting.

The number that Bodog is floating isn’t small stakes stuff for Tiger, either. Yes, he’s sick rich, but his total endorsement deals pre-scandal totaled about $100 million a year, so $20 million per year is certainly an amount that’s well in his wheelhouse.

While the above is all reasonable conjecture, however, it’s extremely difficult to believe that Woods would seriously consider the offer – despite the fact that some sources are reporting that Wood’s agent actually solicited additional details from Bodog via fax. Woods has done a lot of work to rehab his image, and association with an online gambling property would essentially undo that work.

Bodog being the online gambling property in question further complicates the matter form Wood’s perspective. Signing with PokerStars would be one thing – the company only offers poker and already has several major athletes on their roster. Signing with Bodog, which has purposefully developed a brand image with a far stronger renegade flavor, would certainly make it more difficult for Woods to convince his fans and the PGA that he’s turned over a new leaf.

Additionally, the publicity from the signing would no doubt open the door to a complete re-hashing of all of the nasty particulars of Wood’s infidelities, a subject he’s taken great pains to move out of the media spotlight.

At the end of the day, it’s probably nothing more than another smart PR move by Bodog. The chances of Tiger accepting are slim, but the company will grab a few headlines from the offer and if that slim chance comes through, could nab a once-in-a-lifetime sponsorship opportunity.

Get details on our Private VIP Offer at Bodog here.

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Bodog Upgrades Game Client, Starts WSOP Qualifiers

Staff — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:35:58 +0000

News from online sportsbook and poker room Bodog today, including client upgrades and the roll out of qualifiers for the 2010 WSOP.

Players at Bodog were greeted with significant changes to the game client this week. In addition to a number of under-the-hood fixes that should provide better gameplay and increase client stability, the room also added two new features:

Muck Just One Card: It happens all the time in live play, and now this great way to needle your opponents is available to you online. When your opponent folds you can choose to now just show them one card – your choice – or you can stick with the traditional options of showing both or mucking the hand entirely.
The Final Table: Make it to the final table of a MTT at Bodog and you’ll now be greeted with an exclusive table design that separates the most important table of a tournament from every one that breaks before it.

Also new at Bodog: WSOP Qualifiers – win a World Series of Poker Main Event package with Bodog via their extensive satellite offerings. Several dozen seats are guaranteed, and there’s a good chance that one or more of the main satellites will offer a significant overlay, generating an even better value for players.

A Bodog ME packages includes a few unique perks and prizes, listed below:

$10,000 USD buy-in to the Main Event
$2,000 USD travel and spending money
Invitation to a Bodog social in Vegas
Bodog poker swag bag
Dedicated assistant on the ground in Vegas

View the complete satellites schedule at Bodog here.

The main qualifier is a $470 + $30 tournament that will run just under a dozen times in between now and the Main Event. Each instance guarantees a different number of Main Event packages, with the largest number of guaranteed packages – 10 – being offered on Sunday, May 2 at 4:35pm and Sunday, June 13 at 4:35pm.

Don’t have a Bodog account? We have a private VIP offer; sign up here.

Schedule for Bodog Open IV Released

Jace Thomas — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:58:40 +0000

Bodog has released the official schedule for the next installment of their popular Bodog Open tournament series. Bodog Open IV offers some of the familiar features players have come to expect from Bodog, along with some new twists that should be especially attractive to lower buy in players.

For BO IV, Bodog is taking a page from the Full Tilt Poker playbook and running a smaller buy in version of the main tournament series concurrently with the larger buy in events. The series are divided into ‘Contender Series’ (lower buy in) and ‘Championship Series’ (higher buy in). Contender tournaments have buy ins that are one-tenth of the corresponding Championship tournament. To further sweeten the pot, winners of events in the Contender series will receive $500 worth of tournament entries redeemable for Championship events on top of the normal payout for their win.

Bodog is adding over 60k to the prizepools of the Championship events.

Full schedule below:

Event #1: Sunday, November 1st at 16:00 ET
$100 + $9 No Limit Hold’em
$15,000 Added

Event #2: Monday, November 2nd at 20:30 ET
$250 + $20 No Limit Hold’em
$5,000 Added

Event #3: Tuesday, November 3rd at 20:30 ET
$300 + $25 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max
$5,000 Added

Event #4: Wednesday, November 4th at 20:30 ET
$50 + $5 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys
$5,000 Added

Event #5: Thursday, November 5th at 20:30 ET
$150 + $12 Pot Limit Hold’em
$5,000 Added

Event #6: Friday, November 6th at 20:30 ET
$150 + $12 Limit Hold’em
$2,500 Added

Sign up for a Bodog account through PTP and get access to a special VIP offer we can’t advertise publicly. Full details here.

Betting on the World Series of Poker Final Table

Jace Thomas — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:00:45 +0000

One of the most entertaining things about the World Series of Poker – especially with the current format of delaying the final table of the Main Event for several months – is the discussion it breeds regarding the chances of each individual to take home arguably the most coveted prize in poker: the WSOP Main Event bracelet.

Poker fans being what they are, that discussion inevitably involves some wagering, and with a lengthy delay, WSOP-related betting markets have emerged that offer insights into what the collective pokerverse (or at least the portion that places wagers) thinks about how the Main Event will go.

All odds cited taken from Bodog and current as of the time of this article; refer to Bodog’s WSOP Odds page for current numbers.

CHIPS AIN’T WORTH WHAT THEY USED TO BE
Even though he has what amounts to almost a 2-1 lead over his closest opponent and could double up the four shortest stacks and STILL have just about an average stack, the oddsmakers aren’t giving Darvin Moon a ton of credit. Yes, he is the favorite to win the Main Event at 17/10, but that’s the same odds you get for Moon finishing in 4th or 5th. By comparison, shortest stack James Akenhead, who has roughly 10% of Moon’s stack, is running at 7/4 to finish in 4th or 5th.

Moon does get some respect in a last longer scenario versus Phil Ivey – +250 on Ivey against -275 on Moon – but even that line is a bit gross for Moon when you consider he’s got a better than 6-1 edge on Ivey chip-wise.

More proof that the market prefers skill over stack: Steven Begleiter is getting the same 4/1 to win as Jeff Shulman to win. What’s the gap between Shulman’s experience (a long string of cashes and an appearance at the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table) versus Begleiter’s (…) worth in terms of WSOP chips? About 10 million, as Shulman’s got 20 million to Begleiter’s 30 million heading into play.

Speaking of not getting respect…

ERIC BUCHMAN CAN’T GET NO RESPECT
He’s got a mountain of chips. He’s got arguably the best seat at the table, positionally-speaking. He’s got a ton of live experience and a long list of significant cashes that few at the table can match, including a 200k+ WSOP-C cash and plenty of deep WSOP runs.

So why is Buchman sitting at 3-1 to win the WSOP when Steven Begleiter, by all accounts a Moneymaker-esque amateur with 6 million less in chips and out of position to Buchman, gets just a slightly worse 4-1? As good as Ivey is, should he be a 4-1 with under 1/3rd of the chips Buchman has? And while Moon is sitting on a huge stack, should he really be at 17/10 when just a couple of significant pots with Buchman could reverse the lead?

Finally, does it really seem like Buchman and Begleiter have the same chance of being the first players to exit, with Bodog putting both at 10/1?

WHAT’S A DOUBLE UP?
Short stacks take it on the chin in the current odds scenario, even though tournament poker is a game where stacks go into the middle quickly, and players can move from worst to first (or at least into the stratosphere of the leader) with a double up or two.

Despite the fact that a double up would essentially get him to average, Antoine Saout is Bodog’s second favorite to exit the final table first at 23/10 (actual shortest stack James Akenhead is a slightly worse 2/1 despite having about 3 million chips less than Saout). On the other hand, Kevin Schaffel rates 4/1 for exiting first, even though a significant confrontation with any short stack (quite likely given the table positions) would basically cripple him.

YES, YOU CAN BET ON THAT
Bodog’s got over a dozen WSOP-related bets not referenced above, including those strictly for degens (What will be the suit of the final river card in the final hand of the 2009 Main Event?), those with a little national pride (Will the winning player of the 2009 WSOP be an American or a European?) and a variety of last longer and placement bets (Cada vs Schaffel with an even money line? Really?). View the complete list of available wagers here.

Check out our complete WSOP coverage here

Top Online Poker Rooms for US Poker Players

Jace Thomas — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:00:51 +0000

When you walk into a live poker room, your goal is always to select the table with the highest potential for profit. If you’re choosing which online poker room to play at, you should have a similar goal. We rank the best online poker rooms for American players with a focus on identifying the rooms where you have the best chance to not only enjoy playing poker, but to make some money while doing so.

When ranking these rooms, we’re considering the following criteria: softness of games, value of promotions, rakeback and cashout ease. The following rooms made our top list: Bodog Poker, Carbon Poker, Cake Poker, Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Ultimate Bet / Absolute Poker.

#6: Carbon Poker
The flagship room of the Merge Poker Network, Carbon has a lot going for it. The cash games are relatively soft and the tournament lobby has much weaker competition than you would find at a room like PokerStars. Their promotions are generally the most generous of any major room and can amount to hundreds, if not thousand in dollars of extra value monthly.

Biggest plus: Carbon offers 30% rakeback, and it’s paid daily, directly into your account. On the downside, Carbon cashouts, while reliable, are a little slower than the average cashout for the high-ranked rooms. Also, Carbon has a smaller traffic base than, say, Full Tilt, so you won’t get steady action at higher-stakes games.

–>Sign Up For Carbon Here

#5: PokerStars
The giant of online poker does have a lot to offer players. The lobby is stuffed with games, so you never have to worry about finding the game and the limit you want. The tournament lobby is insanely active as well, with daily tournaments for the most obscure formats alongside hundreds of holdem tournaments a day. Cashouts are fast and available via a few methods.

Promotions at Stars aren’t as frequent as at some other rooms, but they do offer an excellent VIP points program that allows you to accumulate credit as you play toward a variety of merchandise and the like.

So why so low on the chart? A couple of reasons. First, PokerStars doesn’t offer rakeback, and that’s a huge minus. Second, games at PokerStars are filled with strong players, regulars who crowd the table and make it tough for other players to make a profit.

–>Download PokerStars Here.

#4: Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt and PokerStars basically have the same pros: a very busy lobby with a wide variety of games, a strong slate of tournament offerings and reliable, quick cashouts. FTP goes a step beyond, however, and offers 27% rakeback, a massive advantage over PokerStars.

FTP also has a generally more aggressive promotional approach, with more frequent deposit bonuses and special promos that add more value for the player.

Downside: FTP has notoriously tough cash games stuffed with regulars even at the lower limits. The tournament lobby is also generally tough, and doesn’t offer much in the way of overlays or added value.

–>Sign Up For FTP Here

#3: Bodog Poker
Bodog was left for dead by many a few years ago, but their poker room has continued to grow and provide excellent opportunities for profit to players. The highlight of the room is very weak competition at low to mid stakes cash games and a tournament schedule that regularly includes some of the weakest fields and most generous overlays available online.

Bodog’s cashouts have improved dramatically over the last year and now boast one of the top turnaround times in the industry.

Bodog does not offer rakeback publicly, but PTP does have an exclusive Private VIP offer. Get more info on that deal here. Downsides: lack of game selection at mid limits and a weak SNG lobby mean you can’t always find the game you want.

–>Get Info On Our Private VIP Deal For BodogPoker

#2: Ultimate Bet / Absolute Poker
Home to tournament superstar Phil Hellmuth, these two rooms form the CEREUS poker network and are a very attractive option for poker players. The tournament and cash lobbies are both fairly active at low to medium stakes, although not quite as active as PokerStars. Cashouts are lightening-fast, with turnaround times that are generally quicker than any other room.

The network offers frequent promotions and has a very generous VIP program. You can also get 30% rakeback that’s paid directly into your account.

Game selection is a bit of an issue at mid to higher stakes, but the majority of players should find that UB and Absolute offer a compelling alternative to the major online poker rooms.

–>Sign Up For AP / UB Here

#1 Cake Poker
The general consensus among players who aggressively seek out value is that Cake Poker is the place to be in online poker at the moment. The cash games are untapped, the tournaments have frequent overlays and very weak competition, and the regular promotions give players tons of value on a regular basis.

The room also offers 30% rakeback to players when you sign up through a rakeback provider like PTP.

Cashouts aren’t as quick as UB, but Cake hasn’t been plagued by the check delays that some other rooms have experienced during the last few months. All in all, the softness of the games, the value added by promos and rakeback along with reasonable quick cashouts make Cake Poker the number one choice available currently for online poker players in the US.

–>Sign Up For Cake Here

Curious about other rooms that offer rakeback? View our complete list of offers.

Private VIP Offer For Bodog Poker

Brian Ralentide — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:54:00 +0000

Bodog Poker is an appealing room for a number of reasons. They’ve got a history of quick cashouts, very soft cash games and tournaments and a variety of regular promotions.

Tournaments at Bodog often come with significant overlays, especially their large Sunday tournament, which routinely adds tens of thousands of dollars to the prize pool.

Cash games at the room are notoriously soft in comparison to PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Interested in Bodog? PTP can offer you an exclusive VIP deal that’s such a great value that we can’t advertise it publicly. For more information, follow the steps below.

1. Enter your email in the box below and click submit. You’ll automatically have a PTP rakeback account created and will be emailed your log in details.

2. Log into your PTP / RakeBackNation account using the details emailed to you.

3. View the ‘offers’ area in your members account for full details on our Bodog VIP offer.

Problems? Contact us.

Interview With Evelyn Ng

Shawn Perry — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:00:48 +0000

When the topic of women in poker comes up, one name that’s almost always a part of the discussion is Bodog-sponsored pro Evelyn Ng. Famously mentored by Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn has more than made a name for herself in the pokerverse over the last few years, and was nice enough to take a break from her busy tournament schedule / post-WSOP wind-down to answer a few questions for us.

First off, what were your feelings on this year’s WSOP? Did it seem noticeably different from last year’s in terms of the general mood, logistics, etc?

I think the general mood around the poker tables remained pretty consistent with the last few years, but I did notice that my mood and those of my close friends had changed quite a bit. It seemed like everyone was tired and grumpy, and in need of some nap-time.

How’s the experience with bodog been so far? They have a pretty small roster – what do you think attracted them to you?

Bodog has been so great to me and I couldn’t be more thankful for having such a great company and team behind me. Bodog is known as much for their lovely Bodog Girls as they are for their online casino and sportsbook and I think Team Bodog was in need of some babe-ishness!

What’s your favorite live tournament series to play at the moment? How about online?

I’ve really enjoyed playing in Europe, and of course, any sunny beach location is always a lot of fun. I like being able to get a vacation out of a work trip. The fields in Italy and France have been particularly “fun” to play in. I don’t really play many online tournaments outside of the Bodog Poker Open because I enjoy the face-to-face aspect of live events– but it’s really cool to be a “bounty” in some of the tournaments, and the regulars also really enjoy it which is really cool.

Head back in a time machine and give the bracelet to Farha instead of Moneymaker. Do you think you’d still be playing professionally?

Considering that I had already been playing poker professionally for about a decade before Moneymaker won the title, I’m pretty sure that I had already experienced “the poker boom” long before the TV audience had. Most likely, I would still be playing poker, but maybe I would have stuck to cash games more and would be playing fewer tournaments.

How’s the general climate for women in poker these days? Would you describe it as drastically different than it was in say 2006?

There’s definitely a huge difference in the number of women playing, but we’re still only a small fraction of the field. I think that it’s no longer an odd occurrence to have more than one woman on a tournament or cash table, but that doesn’t mean that sexism has quite gone out of style just yet with some of the smaller-minded poker players.

Is there any advice you’d give an aspiring female pro? Anything you really wish someone had told you?

I wish that I hadn’t been as intimidated by tournaments as I was when I first started. I think women’s events can be a good gateway into the tournament circuit to get your feet wet, but I think that diving into open events can give you valuable experience and confidence as well.

Exactly how sick are you of interview questions that focus on the ‘Evelyn as female poker player’ angle?

I’m not sick of it at all, mainly because I get a lot of positive feedback from other female poker players who enjoy or learn from my experiences and insight.

Favorite non-Bodog poker sites currently (blogs, etc)?

I wrote a few blogs for PokerNews.com, and my boyfriend (Lex Veldhuis) has been blogging for their Dutch site for quite a while. PokerTableRatings.com is a pretty cool site for tracking and analyzing online players. I’ve also been known to occasionally check out the NVG forum on 2+2.

Obviously the tournament landscape is evolving pretty rapidly. What’s the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make over the last year?

It seems like every tournament I play, the fields are more and more aggressive. I’ve faced much tougher decisions and had to adjust to being attacked more often. It’s also more difficult to spot-read your opponents– especially when the kid across from you who looks like he got carded on the way in might be some online wizard who plays in the biggest games and already has hundreds of thousands of hands under their belt.

What’s your favorite non-standard poker game? Give us a quick breakdown of how it works.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are my favorite games by far. I spend practically all of my time away from the poker table frantically pressing buttons and strumming on a fake plastic toy guitar. It lets me live out all my rock and roll fantasies, and it always challenges me to improve just as if it were the real thing. My favorite card game besides poker is a Chinese game called “Choi Dai Di”, also known as “Big Deuce”. It’s like regular (13-card) Chinese Poker, mixed with the game “Asshole”.

Name one poker player you’re pretty sure you could drink under the table and one you’re pretty sure you couldn’t.

I can’t drink anyone under the table, and I don’t want to try either. I’m allergic to alcohol and drinking usually makes me fall asleep or feel very sick and uncomfortable. I’m missing that enzyme that a lot of Asians don’t have which helps metabolize alcohol, and just one drink or a shot, and I will turn bright red all over and probably itchy too.

Any other projects you’re currently working on?

All projects (besides rocking-out) are currently on hold as I begin the search for another new apartment. My landlord just informed me that my place is getting foreclosed-on. This will be my third move in the last 2 years. Just when I had everything in the right place!

You can play with Evelyn and other pros at Bodog Poker.