A few months ago, the craze that got the whole online poker world buzzing when it first launched in ring games made a successful transition over to the tournament side. It was launched on 19th April 2010. The much hyped Rush Poker tournaments have arrived. On the very 1st day it attracted 892 players, not least of them being Team Full Tilt’s own Andy Bloch. The buy-in was only $1 and the format of the game was Rush Poker.
It is available only and exclusively at Poker. Players can experience the world’s fastest poker tournament. The site explains the whole new format and rules. It is already getting widespread support. Grinders who had grown accustomed to massive multi-tabling and even amateurs who hated waiting around for playable hands were mystified and amazed at the ability to “quick fold” and almost instantaneously move to a new table with a new batch of players to compete in the next hand. The concept is that the players join a large player pool in a ring game and face a different table of players every hand they play. As soon as they fold their hand, they’ll be moved to another table for their next hand. Just like its cash games, players can use the “quick fold” option throughout tournament play. However, in Rush tournament poker, once a final table is reached, the tournament is played out normally, with no additional seat changes. There is also no hand-for-hand play in tournament Rush poker and once less than 30 players remain, the tourney moves to short-handed play to maintain a swift speed. The blind levels are very short, the structure is similar to that of a turbo or super-turbo but with the quick fold feature an individual will see as many hands as in a regular speed tournament. This is a great change for MTTs as players can now compete in large tournaments in a much shorter time without having to cope with the time pressure of a turbo.
Currently, Full Tilt is running two sit-and-gos with the new format. Full Tilt is the world’s second largest online poker site. But it’s not just hold’em that is the benefactor of Rush tournaments. Full Tilt is also using the new craze to energize its low-stakes pot-limit Omaha tournaments. Although the site is introducing these tournaments slowly, Full Tilt has already tournaments from $20 ($2) double-stacked six-handed Rush tournaments (both turbo and regular speed) to $2 ($.20) eight-handed PLO Rush tourneys. Full Tilt’s no-limit hold’em Rush tourneys have already attracted big fields. A $10 (+$1) event on April 20th 2010 witnessed a field of 1,086 players, including a couple Red pros in Roy Winston and Monte Kouz. The Poker Skool at Pokerrakeback also have been working throughout the weekend to trial the new Rush Poker. The upcoming 16th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS XVI) is said to be including three Rush Poker Tournaments: 1 Turbo, 1 Rebuy, and 1 Pot Limit Omaha Knockout. Rush poker is said to be the crack-cocaine of poker cash games!