Fast-fold poker: PokerStars benchmark with the major competitors

Author: Vargoso Published: 18.12.19

Along with Spin & Go, fast-fold poker can be considered the most successful format recently launched. Unlike the spins, PokerStars has not made any major changes to Zoom recently, but again, we are committed to providing our grinders with competitive alternatives to PokerStars.

Fast-fold poker: PokerStars benchmark with the major competitors

Fast-fold poker: a market overview at the end of 2019

Fast-fold poker is a format that requires high traffic — the fewer connections we have in a particular stake, the more the game becomes similar to regular tables. As a result, only a few poker rooms can now offer players a pleasant experience in fast-fold poker at several stakes.

Therefore, even in relatively large networks like iPoker, Chico, or Microgaming, fast-fold poker is played only at one stake with no more than 50-60 connections.

Even in the largest online poker rooms, almost all of the fast-fold poker traffic corresponds to micro stakes (NL2–NL5) and even some sites like Pokerdom decided to launch even nano stakes (NL1) so that fast-fold poker attract all possible players to their tables.

Our first conclusion is that right now, fast-fold poker is a discipline firmly focused on amateur and recreative players.

The following table presents a benchmark for fast-fold poker tables in several poker rooms:


Rake	3,5%-5%	5%	6,25%	5%	5%	6%
Cap Rake	$0,3-$3	$0,5-$3	$0,4-$10	$3	$4	$0,5-$3,19
Rakeback	1%-2%	20%-40%+race	cash drop+FB+race*	10%-60%	1%-2%	10%-30%
Effective rake (NL50)	5%	3,5%	5,6%*	3,5%	5%	4,8%
HUD Support	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Multitabling Limitation	4 tables	9 tables	4 tables	4 tables	4 tables	4 tables
Traffic peak	European	European	European / Asia	American	European	European

It's not possible to calculate an average rakeback on GG Poker Network due to the Cash Drops promotion; the loyalty program only redistributes 15% of total rake, while 50% is awarded randomly via Cash Drops. In addition to this, the PVI rake structure makes the calculation even more complicated. For the table we use 10%;
Effective rake: rake paid minus average rakeback received by the player;

We also gathered traffic information during the weekdays for different time zones:


NL10$	498	207	132	102	70
NL20-25$	393	150			27	54*
NL50$	240	104	115	149	51
NL100$	178	35				44*
NL200$	115	12	57	41	24
NL500$	27	25

In Pokerdom, the stakes equal NL16 to NL80 due to the current exchange rate.

The panorama in fast-fold poker Omaha is quite different. As usual, the number of tables is low compared to NLH, but in this format, the offer is even lower:


PLO10$	137	68
PLO20-25$	159	27
PLO50$	92	99
PLO100$	53
PLO200$	47	50
PLO500$	33	12

Conclusions:

PokerStars remains the clear leader of fast-fold poker in terms of traffic;
partypoker emerges as the best alternative to PokerStars; the fields are similar (in terms of the number of players and softness), but in partypoker grinders can get a decent rakeback deal plus additional prizes for the fastforward leaderboard; the main disadvantage of partypoker is the lack of HUD support;
Only PokerKing (Blitz) can compete with PokerStars under similar conditions (traffic and HUD), although only three stakes are played during American peak time; of course, players will feel the difference of receiving 2% rakeback to over 40% monthly;
GG Poker Network suits grinders who try to get additional prizes from the weekly races or "fishing" Asian players;
Pokerdom is a good option for beginners at fast-fold poker as the site has action from nano stakes;
About PokerStars, the only benefit of playing there is better traffic. Still, we must remember that the larger the pool, the complex is to identify players, so the grinders will usually play vs. unknown players (even with a HUD). It's also known that the Stars field is tighter, which, combined with the inexistent rakeback, is an EV- decision.

Please contact our team to get a private rakeback deal at the best online poker rooms for fast-fold poker players: