Zoom Poker officially launches on PokerStars

After months of beta-testing, first in play money games followed by real money games being slowly brought into the mix, PokerStars is ready for a full launch of their fast-paced ZOOM Poker game. The official launch of ZOOM Poker will see multiple games and stakes added to PokerStars’ ZOOM Poker offerings, as well as mobile version for Android users.

In addition to the added tables, games, and stakes, as well as the mobile version on Android, PokerStars also has plans for a full mobile version available for iPad and iPhone users sometime this summer.

The announcement will surely make many online poker grinders very happy, with one well-known member of Team PokerStars, Daniel Negreanu, among that crowd. Negreanu was quoted as saying: “Zoom Poker offers people a different way to play poker. Recreational players, who want more constant action, will be able to fold instantly and wait for better hands, while pro grinders will be able to get in hundreds of more hands an hour and win more. On top of all that, it’s just so much fun to play!”

PokerStars customers will now find ZOOM Poker available in the following poker formats, with stakes starting at the penny limits and going up to $2.50/$5:

• No Limit Holdem
• Limit Holdem
• Omaha 8 or better
• PLO
• Five Card Draw

ZOOM Poker is the PokerStars version of Full Tilt Poker’s innovative Rush Poker. ZOOM Poker operates in virtually the same way: Players choose the game and stakes they wish to play and join a pool of players instead of a specific table. From there the players are randomly sent to different tables whenever they are no longer involved in a hand, whether they win or lose at showdown or fold at any point in the hand, the software immediately sends them to a new table where they are dealt a new hand.

Playing ZOOM Poker allows players to participate in up to 3-4x as many hands as a standard online poker table (which is already that much faster than a live poker table), allowing a person 4-tabling ZOOM Poker to play in the ballpark of 1,000 hands in an hour –as someone who has done this let me tell you it is very fast, and mentally draining!

It will be interesting to see if the PokerStars deal to purchase Full Tilt poker goes through, and what effect that will have on wither ZOOM Poker or Rush Poker, or whether PokerStars will continue to tinker with both versions.