PartyPoker has finally joined the fast-fold poker party (pun intended), launching FastForward Poker last week. The new game was initially offered only for play money, but apparently the testing went smoothly and its real money counterpart took off within just a couple days.
Anyone who has already played a fast-fold poker variation at a different online poker room will be used to how PartyPoker’s FastForward Poker works already. Players select a game and stake level and choose a buy-in to get started. Once all the options are confirmed, the player is seated at a table and play begins. Hands are played just like any other poker hand, with one important catch: players can choose to fold at any time and immediately start a new hand at a new table.
This special feature is implemented via the “Forward Fold” button on the FastForward tables. Whenever a player faces a bet, even when it is not his turn to act, he can press the Forward Fold button to instantly trash his hand and jet away to a new table with new opponents. No waiting for other players to act, no waiting for the hand to end. Fold, new hand, fold, new hand, fold, new hand. And even when the Forward Fold button is used, the other players cannot see that the player has pressed it. To everyone else, it just looks like the player folded when it was his turn.
If a player wants to fold but still see what happened in the hand, he can check the “Watch on Fold” box prior to selecting the fold action and he will remain at the table until the hand is over. If that option is selected but a player changes his mind after folding, he can click “Next Hand” to move on.
Currently, FastForward Poker is available at all of PartyPoker’s No-Limit Hold’em cash games. Players may sit at up to four FastForward tables simultaneously; pools (meaning game and stakes selection) may be the same or vary.
It was a bit of a surprise that it took PartyPoker so long to launch its own fast-fold poker variation, but it looked like it had no choice. In July, bwin.party issued a trading update, placing a large portion of the blame for the company’s lackluster performance on PokerStars’ Zoom Poker, easily the most popular fast-fold poker offering on the internet. According to PokerScout.com, PartyPoker has lost 44 percent of its cash game traffic year-over-year, while the Ongame Network, of which online poker room bwin is thought to make-up about a third, has lost 25 percent. The stock price for bwin.party is near a 52-week low.
In March, shortly after PokerStars launched Zoom Poker, PokerScout.com estimated that 25 percent of the site’s real money cash game players were playing Zoom. Because Zoom Poker hands are almost three times as fast as regular cash game hands, nearly half the cash game hands on PokerStars are at Zoom Tables. PartyPoker needed to get its own version going to try to bring some players back into the fold.
Fast-fold games started with Rush Poker on the currently hibernating Full Tilt Poker and they proved instantly popular. When Full Tilt went under, PokerStars filled the Rush Poker void with Zoom Poker. Other poker rooms and networks have launched their own versions, including the iPoker Network with Speed Hold’em, Microgaming with Blitz Poker, and Relax Gaming with Fast Poker.