Rush Poker Debuts on Full Tilt Poker

For weeks, there has been speculation of big changes in store for Full Tilt Poker.  That prophecy came to fruition only a few days ago, as Full Tilt Poker made some dramatic changes to its site.

The first change eliminates the short-stacker problem that many regulars feel has been plaguing the site.  The problem stems from players who buy in for the minimum 20 big blinds and play their mathematic edge of their range plus fold equity against opponents.  As soon as a short-stacker doubled up, they’d “rathole” off the table and instantly do it all over again at another table. With so many of the full ring games plagued by these opponents, Full Tilt Poker took drastic measures and altered the buy-in structure of its tables.  The new buy-in structure is as follows:

· Shallow Tables: minimum buy-in of 20 big blinds, maximum of 40 big blinds
· Standard Tables: minimum buy-in of 35 big blinds, maximum of 100 big blinds
· Deep Tables: minimum buy-in of 75 big blinds, maximum of 200 big blinds

Many in the poker industry are calling the move bold and overdue.  Some top pros, including Dusty “Leatherass9” Schmidt, have gone on record as saying that short-stackers are the biggest problem in online poker to date.  With regulars at Full Tilt Poker happy, many are concerned that the short-stackers would flood over to PokerStars.  All inquiries to PokerStars public relations asking for comment about the new buy-in structure at Full Tilt Poker were not returned.

Another feature at Full Tilt Poker was an updated bet slider with new options.  Now, players at the second largest online poker site have more control over the slider than ever before.  Players can set the slider to increase or decrease a bet size by the amount of the small blind using either a mouse click or the mouse wheel.  In addition, there is now an option to invert the mouse wheel.  To change the bet slider options, click on the “Options” button at the top right corner of any table and then select the “Slider” tab.

Finally, the biggest update came in the form of a new poker game called Rush Poker, which promises fast and furious action.  Currently in place for Hold’em games and stakes of $0.05-$0.10, $0.10-$0.25, $0.25-$0.50, and $0.50-$1, Rush Poker puts players in a giant pool.  As soon as you fold during the hand, you are immediately taken to a new table with new players for the start of a new hand.

Brian Wilber, a small- and mid-stakes pro who plays at Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, tried out Rush Poker as soon as it was released.  When asked for comment, he said, “The new rush tables at FTP are a great new addition to the site.  One of my biggest problems is that I hate to start up sessions and switch tables constantly when tables break or get bad.  Rush poker basically eliminates this problem and allows me to fire up a session instantly and never worry about changing tables.”

Players can play multiple Rush Poker tables within the same stakes or they can mix it up as they so choose.  For now, the only game is No Limit Texas Hold’em, but the Rush Poker area within the lobby has tabs for other genres as well.  Hand history trackers such as Holdem Manager and PokerTracker 3 still capture data; however, because every hand is at a new table, no Heads-Up Display (HUD) will appear or it will be inaccurate while playing Rush Poker.

While the jury is still out on Rush Poker and whether it’s just a new gimmick or something players will enjoy for an extended period of time, many are hailing the new buy-in structure at Full Tilt Poker as the new industry standard.  While the CEREUS Network (UB.com and Absolute Poker) has a similar buy-in structure in place, many are waiting to see if PokerStars will follow suit anytime in the near future.  For now, many players are very happy with the updates at Full Tilt Poker.