After hearing many comments from players on their multitude of sites, the iPoker Network has recently announced changes to their tournament structures which should give their players more action for their tournament dollar.

This change only affects the multi-table tournaments that the iPoker Network sites offer for their players. The major changes that have been made include a longer time period for levels as well as the introduction of antes into their tournaments. These changes should make for a more comparable experience to a live tournament and should allow for more of a skill component in their online tournaments.

The first change is the lengthening of the level times. Previous to the change, the iPoker Network ran eight-minute levels; the new ten-minute levels will not only allow for players to be more discriminating with their hand selection but will also allow for tournaments to break after each hour of the tournament rather than on an odd time schedule. The change is comparable to what other major card rooms offer for their multi-table tournaments.

The second change is the slower escalation of the blinds and the addition of running antes into the tournaments. After six levels of play in a tournament – the first hour of multi-table events – the blinds will only be at 50-100, which is vastly different from other major sites where the blinds may already be at 100-200. The running antes will be introduced to the players remaining in a tournament for Level 10, where the blinds will only be 100-200 but will introduce an ante of 25 that will increase as the tournaments go deeper into the action.

Here is a partial look at the new tournament structures for the iPoker Network:

LEVEL    BLINDS    ANTES

1               10-20
2               15-30
3               20-40
4               30-60
5               40-80
6               50-100

BREAK (Add-ons available in rebuy tournaments)

7              60-120
8              80-160
9              100-200
10            100-200     25
11            125-250     25
12            150-300     50

BREAK

From an examination of the structures, the slower increase in blinds will allow for players to use strategy and skill over luck. It will also allow for players to be viable for longer in the tournament rather than pushing madly in the early going. The extended ten-minute levels will also make for more strategic play.

The iPoker Network, which does not extend action to American customers, is the third largest poker network in the industry today. Behind only PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, the iPoker Network features rooms such as Titan Poker, Paddy Power Poker and Blue Square Poker. During their peak hours of operations, the network brings over 20,000 players to the tables for various disciplines of poker.

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