Why is fast-fold poker not popular on iPoker Network?

Author

Vargoso

Published

9/22/2022

Updated

9/22/2022

Over the past ten years, fast-fold poker has spread across all top rooms with a significant traffic share. The exception to this rule was iPoker Network and its Speed Poker. Why the local Zoom has not gained popularity?

Speed Poker and Football Stars

Fast-fold poker on iPoker Network was launched in 2012 under the name "Speed Poker." Only two stakes (NL5€ and NL20€) were played for another 8 years, and even at peak times, they rarely attracted more than 50 connections.

In late 2020, after the network got a massive traffic boost after the closure of Microgaming, they decided to "improve" the format to attract amateur players. Only one stake was left (NL20€) in the new "Football Stars" format with jackpots and a unique design of 5-max tables.

However, the experiment failed to accomplish its objective.

Most likely, for this reason, a year later, Speed Poker was reintroduced to the lobby:

The maximum stake was NL10€, played only during some European nights
At NL5€, there is activity throughout the day, but never more than 40 connections

All sites in the TOP10, even those inferior to iPoker Network, gather significantly more games in their Zoom variants. Why?

Rake? HUD? Promotions?

It's challenging to explain such liquidity problems at the world's second poker network.

iPoker has never really pushed fast-fold poker. This game isn't promoted, and local players are not used to it. Other factors didn't allow the game to rise:

There are only two available stakes
A high rake of 6.67%
Statistics are only shown in the first open table
During the entire existence of the format, only one promotion was devoted to it with small prizes
Massive competition from other poker sites

However, every cloud has a silver lining. Such a unique situation with Speed Poker allowed an important development at regular 6-max tables. There are a lot of them in the lobby:

Stake	Tables	Stake	Tables
NL2	60
NL4	27	PLO4	12
NL10	30	PLO10	6
NL20	41	PLO20	10
NL50	23	PLO50	10
NL100	18	PLO100	5
NL200	12	PLO200	5
NL400-600	6	PLO400	2
NL1K	2	PLO1K$	1

Traffic across all stakes up to NL200 may well be enough without multi-lobbying.

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