It is always fun getting something new, which is one reason why the current holiday season is fun. Who doesn’t like presents? Yesterday, partypoker gave its players a treat (well, we should probably see if everyone likes it before calling it a ‘treat’), as it launched two new games in the poker client: Progressive Knockout tournaments and Fast Five cash games.
Progressive Knockout tournaments are something that should be a big hit with action-lovers. The concept of a knockout tourney is nothing new; part of every buy-in is used as a bounty on each player’s head. When someone is eliminated from the tournament, the person who won the hand receives that player’s bounty as a cash reward. Thus, it is entirely possible to profit in a tournament in which a player doesn’t actually “make the money.”
A Progressive Knockout tournament works largely the same way – and is also probably familiar to most players, even though it is new to partypoker – but with one main difference. Instead of receiving their victim’s entire bounty, the hand’s winner receives half of it, while the other half is added to their own bounty. A player who has a hot run and knocks out several players will their bounty grow quickly – especially if they eliminate players who have accumulated bounties themselves – and will become quite an attractive target to their opponents.
There are three Progressive Knockout tournaments on the schedule per day. The $5.50 buy-in event puts a $2.50 starting bounty on each player’s head, the $22 buy-in comes with a $10 bounty, and the $109 buy-in comes with a $50 starting bounty.
The remainder of the buy-in goes to the prize pool and the top finishers are paid like in any other tournament, just with a smaller total prize pool than normal. The tournament winner also receives their own bounty.
Fast Five cash games are basically dumb exercises in luckboxing. They are six-handed cash games in which each player begins with just five big blinds. Seriously. It’s an all-in or fold situation from the start. And even then, the “fold” option is dubious. Might as well play casino war or flip coins. But hey, “The fixed buy-in keeps the game fast and fair.”
I suppose. I mean, I guess a little skill is involved in deciding what hand to shove with when not in a blind, but that’s an admitted stretch.
On the partypoker blog, Group Head of partypoker Tom Waters said of the new additions:
Today we launch two new products on partypoker that will suit both tournament and cash game players. Progressive Knockout tournaments are a popular format in the poker community so it was important to respond to feedback and offer these on partypoker. Fast Five is a fun, fast-paced cash game, suitable for players with only a short amount of time but wanting action quickly.