If you are a fan of playing online poker at a sprint pace but are not real big on the convenience of a large player pool, you are in luck. Online gaming company Relax Gaming recently announced that it will soon be launching its own fast-paced poker game called, fittingly, Fast Poker. Fast Poker will reportedly launch within the month on Unibet, iGame, and Betsson.
The game, as described on the Relax Gaming website, sounds just like PokerStars’ Zoom Poker, which debuted this past weekend, and Full Tilt Poker’s former offering, Rush Poker. Rather than choosing a table and taking a seat, players signup for a “player pool,” consisting of a game type and stakes, and are then seated at a random table with random players. When players finishe their hands, either by folding or at showdown, they are lifted from the table and dropped onto another with a fresh batch of players. Because players are moved the instant they end their hand, they can play several hands in a matter of seconds. One of the nice features of the game is that even though players are moved as soon as they fold, the other players at the table don’t see the fold happen until it the action is actually upon the player who folded. Thus, players can actually move on to a new hand before the action reaches them.
In a press release issued last Thursday, Patrik Österåker, CEO of Relax Gaming Network Ltd. said, “We are thrilled to launch Relax Fast Poker Network together with some of the very leading names in the industry. We look forward to the launch and are sure more operators will join in. Fast Poker has the potential to make poker really hot again. It’s fun, fast and easy, a great way of playing poker.”
Fast Poker will initially be rolled out on Unibet, iGame, and Betsson. Both Unibet and Betsson are members of the Ongame Network, currently owned by bwin.Party, but soon to be operated by casino equipment manufacturer Shuffle Master. According to PokerScout.com, the Ongame Network ranks as the fifth largest online poker site or network in terms of cash game traffic. With a seven-day average of 2,100 cash game players, it is just 50 players ahead of PokerStars’ Italian site, PokerStars.it. One of the biggest members of the network is bwin, whose players are almost certainly going to stay with bwin.Party after the sale is completed, meaning that the Ongame Network will shrink.
iGame operates several sites including 24hpoker.com and its new namesake, iGame.com. “We have high expectations of Fast Poker,” said Tobias Fagerlund, CEO of iGame Malta Ltd., in the press release. “We will run it on all our brands, iGame.com, 24hPoker.com and Pokerihuone.com and consider Fast Poker as an important and vital part of our future strategy. We think it will revitalize the concept of Network Poker and become very popular amongst our many poker players.”
