On Dec 14 Bodog Poker was officially rebranded as Bovada Poker. The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group (MMGG), who was the US licensor of Bodog Poker, will operate Bovada Poker. It was announced back in July that Bodog intended to withdraw from the US poker market entirely and announced the launch of a special Poker site exclusively for US players. We have since found out this new site is Bovada Poker.

What effect will this have on players?

For US players, Bodog Poker will no longer be accessible. Instead, they will have to download the Bovada Poker software from the website of Bovada Poker. The poker accounts of US poker players at Bodog Poker have been moved to Bovada Poker. US players do not have to register again, they can just use their Bodog Poker usernames and passwords

For non US players, the bad news is that the new online poker brand is meant only for US poker players and will not accept non US players. Players from other parts of the world can still play against US opponents while playing at Bodog Poker since both US players and non US players exist on the same network. The only difference is the access point.

This major change is supposed to be seamless and is not going to affect the player traffic on the network. The rebranding of Bodog Poker to Bovada Poker is expected to give the network an advantage. It should mean a rise in the volume of players on both Networks and make the total network stronger to combat Merge Poker which announced that it will start accepting US players again.

The Merge Poker Network is accepting new US poker players again.

The Merge Gaming Network is re-opened its doors to US Poker Players once again. The network opened very quietly and has not made any official announcements, althoough member sites like Carbon Poker, PokerHost, and Lock Poker have begun new US Player sign ups. The Merge Network stopped accepting players from the United States in June. They did still allow current customers to play at the tables.

With many of the poker giants leaving the US market, Merge was overwhelmed with new players. They soon saw a two week backlog of cashout requests. As a result Merge stopped accepting new U.S. players so they could regroup. No one new how long the ban would last. In November the network re-opened But told member sites to not be to vocal in notifying the general public. With Bodog shutting it's U.S. operations the first of the year. The Merge network is positioned to be an even bigger player in the US market.

The Merge Poker Network has stopped accepting new US poker players but plans to resume soon.

In June they paused due to a huge influx of new US players that were signing up. They acknowledged a 70 percent increase in players after many online poker sites stopped accepting US based poker players because of Black Friday. So many new players had signed up it created a bottleneck on the network. The result was tremendous delays with payout's to current players.

The Network was forced to regroup and restaff their operation. So they stopped accepting any new players from the united states allowing them to catch up. With the Bodog Brand leaving the US market at the end of 2011, it would be nice if they started back up before then. The word we are hearing from their poker sites is soon. Pokerhost Poker is saying a month but that has been two months in a row. There are several great brands like Carbon Poker, Lock Poker and Pokerhost that will be getting back in the market so we welcome this news..

Bodog is leaving the US Market in 2012

Bodog announced it's not going to offer its internet gamlbing suite to the United States market starting January 1, 2012. This news follows the United Kingdom Gambling Commission announcment that Bodog is the first bookmaker to receive both a remote and non-remote gambling license. Bodog’s license agreement with Morris Mohawk Gaming would expire at the end of 2011, and Bodog does not have any plans of renewing. Bodog Brand released this statement about their decision to let their brand licensing deal with Morris Mohawk Gaming expire after the year. “Following recent news that Bodog has been granted a gambling license by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, we are very happy to announce further developments to the Bodog brand going forward".

Bodog's online pokeroker room is one of the remaining US poker sites open to United states customers since Black Friday. The Bodog Brand has exploded over the last couple of years to become the premier online gaming brand servicing the United states market. Bodog has became symbolic of online gambling in the united states. It should be assumed their numbers will decline significantly with the impending loss of the United states market after the year.

So whats the status of US Poker Players who play at bodog?

On the surface this definitely appears to be a shocking development as another major player gets ready to leave the US market, but a good look at this news indicates this might simply be a rebranding issue by the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group. Bodog stated their players will have their accounts and balances transferred to a new brand run by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group. It is supposed to be seamless and you won’t notice a difference with the new brand. This is a great relief to US Poker players as they will not be confronted with moving again to a new poker room. Given the present volatility for online gaming in the United tates, it remains to be seen whether or not the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group will actually follow through and create the new brand.

Full Tilt Poker Has Licence Revoked Site Effectively Shut Down.