Usually, August is the ‘off season’ for online poker. I can understand it, people are out enjoying vacations, barbequeues and festivals… This year does feel different though. There is plenty of poker news, events and even a brand new game out there. The biggest news has to be that the largest US poker room has been bought out (with the new owners giving away $10 no-deposit). This blog post rounds up all the different goings on for online poker, in what is turning out to be a (comparatively) ‘crazy summer’.
Ignition Casino Takes Over from Bovada
There is certainly some kind of a deal being brokered behind the scenes with the sale of Bovada’s poker room to Ignition Casino. There are even some (unsubstantiated) rumours that the original owner of Bodog – Calvin Ayre – is in the mix somewhere.
Quicky Update: The $10 free is now over... did not last long at all (the welcome bonus is still super-fast to clear though!)
Whether or not we will ever know that side, the known facts at the moment are as follows:
- Ignition Casino taking over from Bovada, with all accounts transferred by the end of September. This will make Ignition Poker the biggest US poker site by a long way!
- $10 free for all new accounts is on offer right now, just for registering. There is a 100% bonus (to $100) which is very easy to clear.
- The software, tournament schedule and games are all exactly the same on the 2 sites for the moment.
I’m positive on this one. Bovada had taken their poker room out of the spotlight for some time (my guess is that too many sports bettors were losing their money too quickly there!). Will Ignition open up to players outside of the US? Will they maintain the anonymous games? What will the new promotions look like?
All remains to be seen.
In the meantime if you are in the US and located outside of Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Maryland or Washington State – then that $10 is waiting for you with no deposit or credit card information needed.
See www.ignitioncasino.com for more.
888 Has a Brand New Game
Blast Poker is the new lottery Sit N Go format from 888. This has the unique aspect of being on a strict timer – after 6 minutes for regular prizes or 8+ for big prizes, everyone is simply all in for the remainder of the game.
These games are 4 handed and give you a shot at 10,000x prize pools. There is a daily spin of a wheel with tournament entries and free blast tokens for existing players, and 10x free $1 tickets for new players. If you have never had an account at 888, then you can also grab your $88 free upfront (no deposit needed) too.
At the moment these games are ridiculously soft – check them out over at www.888poker.com
PS: As an extra notice, 888 are gearing up for one of their ‘XL Super Series’ in September with $4 million in guaranteed prizes.
You will find a detailed comparison and review of the 5 different lottery Sit N Go formats in my Lottery Sit and Goes Compared article.
Back to the US (and Worldwide)… The Online Super Series ‘Cubed’
America’s Cardroom has really started to carve out a niche for itself with their tournaments. This is the only offshore US site running a $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament (along with plenty of smaller buy-in events).
The ‘Online Super Series Cubed’ (or OSS3) just got started. This runs from mid-August through to late September and includes a small (running now), mid (with the $1m gtd) and high-roller event. You can find out a little more on my Online Poker Events page.
New players are currently receiving 20 days worth of free scratchcards, each one giving tournament entry tokens worth between $2 and $6.
Grab your tokens, and enjoy the OSS ‘Cubed’ over at www.americascardroom.eu
Party Gearing Up for PowerFest, WCOOP Satellites Running and Spin n Go to the Sunday Million
Grouping the rest of the summer poker news together here, so as to keep this blog post short. Party Poker have turned a corner for me, and are back strong with a much bigger focus on recreational players than before. Their next big event, the PowerFest is going head-to-head with the PokerStars WCOOP… there are a ton of guaranteed tournaments, and my feeling is that Party might just pull off a surprise success against the bigger site.
Speaking of PokerStars, news today is that David Baazov, the guy who engineered the most audacious take-over in the history of iGaming, has resigned as CEO and is no longer associated with PokerStars. I’m sure he made a couple of bucks from the deal, so let’s not shed too many tears, eh?
Pretty hectic for the 'slowest month of the year'… and just think, we are only just over half way through.
GL at the tables, Mark
Submitted by Planet Mark on Tue, 08/16/2016 - 10:14