Ignition Poker
Ignition Casino Poker is a part of the PaiWangLuo Poker Network which was formerly the Bodog Poker Network and it is owned and operated by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group which is based in Quebec, Canada. They hold a license issued by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Ignition Casino is the newest site available to American and Australian poker players. It boasts a large and full featured online casino as well as, what we are most concerned with, a very large. Playing online poker games is a lot like playing live poker. The big difference is, you can do it anytime, anywhere, stacking up real money winnings online while kicking back in your gym shorts on the couch. Ignition Poker, in terms of player volumes, is the most popular US-facing site in the world. It is renowned for its fishy players, strong tournament roster and is the only poker site serving US players that currently has a mobile app. If you are perhaps returning to poker playing post-Black Friday then you may wonder who Ignition Poker. Dec 07, 2020 Ignition Poker is one of the newest US cardrooms opened in 2016 and bringing a variety of opportunities to true poker players. The website is a part of the PaiWangLuo Network, an ecosystem in itself, and previously operated under the Bodog brand. Ignition Poker is geared towards American players exclusively and operates in nearly all US states.
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Ignition Casino soft-launched their poker product in August 2016. They fully launched in October 2016.
No one would blame you if you thought they were a brand-new poker site. But you’d be wrong.
You see, Ignition acquired their poker room from Bovada. Bovada decided they wanted to focus only on sports and casino gaming. Ignition now offers casino and poker.
This is good news because:
- Ignition will continue to accept US customers.
- They already have an existing player base.
- They will continue to focus on recreational players, while discouraging serious or professional players.
- Ignition will continue to use the same top-notch software Bovada did.
Nothing has changed, other than who owns and operates the poker room.
Well, that’s not entirely true. There are some differences in the poker promotions Ignition offers, as well as a few tiny differences on the software side of things.
Which we will cover in our review, by the way.
But if you already have an account with them, there’s no need to rejoin. Your account has been transferred.
And if you’re already familiar with Bovada – for better or for worse – there’s no need to continue with this review, either.
The following review is more or less for people who’ve never heard of Bovada or Ignition before but are in the market to join a new poker site. Those people will find information about Ignition Poker’s banking details, promotions, games, software and support.
Let’s get to it.
Ignition Poker’s Deposit and Cash Out Options
Ignition accepts only three forms of payment – credit or debit cards (Visa or MasterCard), bitcoin and Rapid Transfer (money transfers).
If you choose to fund your account with plastic, be prepared to pay a 5.9% (or higher) fee. It’s sort of disappointing to see a fee on credit/debit cards, though it could be that they’re just trying to cover the processing costs on their end.
(Some of our sources suggest they do waive fees, but they don’t say why, when or for whom.)
There are no fees for using bitcoin. Good news there. And for Rapid Transfer, you’ll pay a flat $12 fee.
As for cash outs, you’ll have 4 options.
You can use bitcoin for cash outs up to $3,000. There’s no fee, but beware that it can take 2-3 days to process your payment.
Your second option is Rapid Transfer. There is a $75 fee for this.
Your third option is a paper check. You can use these for cash outs up to $3,000. These have a $75 fee and can take 2-3 weeks to hit your mailbox.
Your fourth and final option is cashing out to your credit card. However, bear in mind this is (usually) available only to international players. This costs $75, too.
The withdrawal fees are ridiculous. But you could also argue it’s a worthwhile trade if you’re all but guaranteed to be paid from a US-facing, offshore poker room.
Improved Bonus + VIP Program & Other Promotions
Ignition Poker’s first bonus (when they soft-launched in August 2016) sucked. It was something like $100 for poker players and an additional $1,000 for their casino.
Yeah, you read that right. You joined to play poker, but the majority of the bonus is for their online casino.
Meh. No thanks.
But it looks like maybe that didn’t make sense to them, either, or perhaps enough people complained. Because they improved their offer.
Right now, Ignition is offering a $2,000 welcome bonus. It’s split up into two offers. You’ll get $1,000 for the poker room and another $1,000 for the casino.
That’s much, MUCH better.
The casino bonus is given to you automatically. But you need to earn it by wagering the bonus 25x. Between the play through and the 6 months they give you to complete it, this is a very reasonable offer. The only downside is you cannot play most (if not all) blackjack games, craps, baccarat or roulette.
Your poker bonus, on the other hand, isn’t given to you right away. It’s released to you in increments based on the number of poker points you’ve earned.
Here’s how that works:
You’ll have 30 days to clear the entire offer. Which, honestly, isn’t a whole lot of time. Most people probably won’t clear the entire thing. So just do what you can.
That’s it for their core offer. But Ignition also offers a couple smaller evergreen promotions. Here are the details for those.
Bad Beat – If you lose with (a minimum of) aces full of kings, you’ll win 100x the big blind up to $1,000. Both the winning and losing hands need to use both hole cards. At least 3 players need to be dealt in the hand, too.
Royal Flush – Make a royal flush and win 50x the big blind up to $200. You need to use both hole cards to win the money.
Refer-a-Friend – Send real money playing friends to Ignition and they’ll give you 200% of your friends deposit up to $100. You can send however many friends you want.
VIP Program
Ignition Poker offers a simple VIP program. The idea is this:
You earn points for playing poker. Once you’ve built up a stash, you can then convert 200 poker points into $1 worth of tournament tickets. It’s estimated this comes out to about 1.5% rake back.
You can convert up to 5 million points per month.
Ignition Poker’s Games
Ignition spreads a small selection of poker games. That includes fixed, pot and no limit Texas Holdem, Omaha and Omaha high/low.
Their cash games start out at $0.02/$0.05. The highest stakes depend on the game and variation you’re playing, but the highest offered is $300/$600. The types of cash games you can play include heads-up, 6-max and full ring (9-handed).
But that’s not all. Ignition also offers a fast-fold poker variation. Their version is called Zone Poker.
The general idea behind fast-fold poker is this – you join a pool of other players to play a specific poker game and stake/level. Once you buy in, you’re seated with other players and are dealt a fresh hand.
At this point you can either wait for your turn -OR- you can fold in advance (before the action gets to you). When you fold in advance, you’ll be seated at a new table with different players from the pool and a brand-new hand to play.
This is a fast-paced variation, which is made faster given you’ll only have 15 seconds to act. Playing this variation you should have no problems getting 200-300 hands in per hour.
The stakes for Zone Poker run from $0.02/$0.05 to $0.50/$1.
Tournaments
Ignition offers lot of tournaments, too. In fact, they guarantee $2 million in prize pool money every week. They have tournaments running at all times throughout the day.
Here’s a tiny glimpse into the tournaments Ignition hosts throughout the week:
Event Buy-In
- Mad Monday Event #1 – $15,000 GTD $20 + $2
- Mad Monday Event #2 – $10,000 GTD $75 + $7
- Mad Monday Event #3 – $11,000 GTD $10 + $1
- Mad Monday Event #4 – $12,000 GTD $50 + $5
- Mad Monday Event #5 – $40,000 GTD $100 + $9
This is from their Mad Monday series. The following tourneys are from their “Nightly Majors” series:
Tournament Name Guaranteed Prize Pool Buy-in Starting Chips
- $25,000 Guaranteed $25,000 $55 5,000
- $8,000 Guaranteed $8,000 $11 2,500
- $12,000 Guaranteed $12,000 $109 2,500
- $10,000 Guaranteed $10,000 $22 5,000
- $15,000 Guaranteed $15,000 $55 10,000
- $10,000 Guaranteed $10,000 $109 5,000
- $10,000 Guaranteed $10,000 $11 10,000
- $5,000 Guaranteed $5,000 $33 5,000
And that’s just the beginning.
Buy-ins start as low as $1.10 and will set you back as much as $162. But most of their tournaments do have satellites, which includes their biggest tournament, the $162 $100k guarantee they run on Sundays.
They run SNG tournaments too, though the last couple times I’ve reviewed them they didn’t have many games running. The SNG variations they offer include:
- Deep Stack: Get double the starting chips.
- Satellite: Win your way into one of our bigger tournaments.
- Turbo: Turn up the speed with faster blind levels.
- Double Up: Survive half the field and double your buy-in.
- Triple Up: Place in the top third to triple your buy-in.
- Hyper Turbo: Our fastest format – play for fun, high-speed action.
Buy-ins here range from $1.10 to $215. Table sizes range from heads up (2 players) to 45 players.
Overall, they have a small, yet solid selection of poker cash, SNG and MTT games and variations.
They have plenty of traffic, too, only trailing the likes of PokerStars and 888. But the difference between Ignition Poker and these poker sites is Ignition’s player base is mostly recreational aka soft.
You can clean up real good here if you have a solid poker foundation.
Ignition’s Software Features
There are several features that stand out to us.
The most talked about – and the most polarizing – are their anonymous tables. Screen names aren’t used. Numbers are used to identify players instead.
In addition to that, you’re not able to take permanent notes, tag your opponents or use 3rd party tracking software.
These rules are in place to promote and encourage loose, fun, recreational games. Pros are more or less discouraged from playing here.
However, one thing that is unique about Ignition – and sort of counter to their recreational player approach – is they let you play as many as 20 tables at once. Bovada allowed only 15 before the sale, and 6-12 months before that the max was 4 tables.
(So, pros can still get volume here if they pass under the radar.)
Some of their other software features include:
- Selecting your own card and table design
- Playing in different languages including English, Spanish and Chinese
- Adding card animation. This means you can add special effects like lightening bolts or flames to your cards. These go off whenever you win a hand.
- Rabbit Cam. See what the next card would’ve been when you fold on the flop or turn.
- Show pot total
- Show bet value
- Show hand strength
- Show folded hand
- Four colored decks
- This light follows the action around the table. It makes it easier to know who’s turn it is.
Further, tables can be set up in full screen mode, cascading tiles or in a 4×4 resizable grid.
Overall, their software is some of the best available to American players. And it’s on par with the rest of the world, only maybe trailing the likes of PokerStars, Full Tilt, 888, Bet365, etc.
Their software is available for download for both Mac and Windows.
It’s mobile compatible, too, with Android and iOS. No download required. This is one of the only (if not the only) mobile poker options Americans have. Here you’ll be able to play cash and Zone Poker games.
We hope to see tournaments added in the near future.
How to Reach Out for Support
There are multiple ways to get in touch with support. You can call them toll-free at 1-888-263-0000. Another option is to reach out by email or contact them by live chat on their website.
Conclusion
Ignition Poker is an excellent poker site. Definitely a top-notch option for US poker players. Here are some of the reasons to check them out:
- Loose, soft games full of inexperienced (recreational) players.
- No tracking, tagging or note-taking allowed.
- Mobile-compatible games for Android and iOS players.
- A $2,000 bonus split evenly between their poker room and casino.
- They’re licensed and regulated and come from a brand people already know, like and trust.
- They’re 3rd in overall traffic, which means you won’t have to wait for a poker game to fire.
The bottom line is they’re one of the best options for Americans. They have a positive reputation thus far, both for taking care of their players …and for paying them.
What more can you ask for? Create your Ignition Poker account now – if you haven’t already.
This review was made by: LegitGamblingSites.com Rating: 4.1 out of 5
What's Supported On Ignition Poker?
Hand Grabber Software Required
Manual Import Of Ignition Hand Histories
Find Ignition Hand History Folder
Setup Preferred Seating
- Cash Games:
- Holdem (All variants with HUD support)
- Omaha (All variants with HUD support)
- Zone (Fast Poker) Importing of hands only, No HUD. See This FAQ page for more information about Zone Poker Support for Ignition.
- Tournaments:
- Holdem (All variants with HUD support)
- Omaha (All variants with HUD support)
Note: Ignition Poker requires Hand Grabber software to create hand history files for cash games.
You must use the Holdem Manager 3 hand grabber for cash hands to import into Holdem Manager 3 and display a HUD on live tables.
Try The Holdem Manager 3 Hand Grabber Now (Click Here) - Currently in Beta
Verify Holdem Manager 3 is using the Ignition Hand Grabber by going to Apps / Ignition Hand Grabber in Holdem Manager 3. (See Screen Below)
Note: If you just purchased the Ignition Hand Grabber for Holdem Manager 3 and don't see it in the screen above, restart Holdem Manager 3 and it should now be there.
Holdem Manager 3 must Auto Import hands to display a HUD. (Cash Games Only) Once we successfully Auto Import hands into Holdem Manager 3, then we can setup Preferred Seating.
Manual Import Of Ignition Hand Histories
The Ignition software allows you to download hand history files for hands that you play after 24 hours have elapsed, for about 1 week.These hand histories include the hole cards of all players, and if you import them into Holdem Manager 3 (even after importing grabbed hands) all of the hole card information will be available for analysis.
To do this click on Account in the Ignition lobby; go to the Hand History page and choose Game Transactions. Select your game type and the period you want to view. On the right you will see buttons to allow you to download each session you played.
The files will be downloaded to a 'Hand History' folder within your Ignition skin's installation folder. By default this will be something like C:Users{UserName}Ignition Casino PokerHand History
Please ensure that the site software is running in English before you download your hand histories so that English hand histories are downloaded. Holdem Manager 3 does not understand histories in other languages, and only English histories will import.
You can set the language using the dropdown menu at the top of the lobby window.
Make sure you first enabled the Tools - Settings - Import - [x] 'Allow report of hand histories' option before importing. Then, to import these files into Holdem Manager 3, go to File / Import Folder or Import Files. Select the folder or files of the hands you just downloaded and import them into Holdem Manager 3.
Play a hand or two of low stakes poker on Ignition with Holdem Manager 3 open.
Open Tools / Site Settings:
- Click Ignition in the site list on the left or add Ignition by clicking the 'Add More Sites' option at the bottom of the left column.
- Click Auto Detect and Holdem Manager 3 will add the Hand History file location if it's not already there.
Double check and make sure Holdem Manager 3 has the Auto Import Hand History folder setup correctly for Ignition. (See Images Above)
- Default Ignition Hand History file location: C:UsersYOUR_PC_NAMEAppDataRoamingMax Value SoftwareHoldem Manager3.0HandHistoryIgnition
If Holdem Manager 3 is importing Ignition Poker hands, the Holdem Manager 3 HUD will be displayed on cash ring game tables with the exception of Zone Poker (Fast Poker).
Preferred Seating allows your HUD to be displayed next to the correct player. If you have HUD alignment issues, setting up Preferred Seating will fix it.
To configure Ignition Poker Preferred Seating, open Ignition Poker software:
Ignition Poker Download
- From the Ignition Poker lobby, select Settings on the left.
- Click Game Play Settings, then Seating.
- Select how many players are seated at the table. (9, 6, 3 or 2)
- Select your Preferred Seat for each table size.
Now we need to setup Holdem Manager 3 Preferred Seating Options (FAQ)