Building of their success in 2015, independent online poker room Tonybet has expanded on the poker offering with the addition of Hold’em tournaments on their 2016 schedule.
Originally spreading only Chinese Poker and its variants, Tonybet started to expand into more traditional games late last year with the introduction of microstakes Hold’em and Omaha cash games, which are currently offered rake free.
With an eye on casual players, the poker room has also made changes aimed at keeping the games fast-paced, adding 4-handed and heads-up Hold’em and Omaha, and removing 9-handed tables.
“6-max is now full ring at Tonybet meaning faster gameplay and less waiting around in tournaments. We’ve definitely learned something from OFC in this regard—in OFC you play every single hand,” stated Tonybet spokesman Warren Lush.
Significant promotions have also been added into the schedule to incentivize players, including €10,000 guaranteed in freerolls and €15,000 up for grabs in cash games, SnG and MTT races.
Sounding like a man who sees eye-to-eye with Alex Dreyfus when he talks about “sportifying” poker, Lush stated: “There is a lot of talk these days that poker has become dull and that there’s no spark, and, as founder Tony G would say, it is lacking big heart.”
“We’re on a mission to change that – it’s not just about giving away loads of money through promotions including 10K in daily freerolls and scrapping rake, it is about the experience that we offer,” he added.
Here’s a round up the main offerings in gameplay and promotions that players can expect from the Tonybet announcement:
Gameplay
- Introduction of straddles to rake free NLH/PLO online cash games.
- 6 Max full ring on the site as standard.
- Addition of 4 Max and Heads-up NLH/PLO games
promotions
- Freerolls every day with €10.000 guaranteed.
- iPhone 6S giveaway and special Las Vegas packages.
- Each new sign-up will receive a free ticket worth €10k to a €5,000 guaranteed monthly event.
- €15,000 in cash game, SnG and MTT races. In a different approach to most of the industry the cash game and MTT leaderboard races will be based on number of hands rather than rake allowing the lower stakes players to compete.
- NLH live event sponsorship for the very first time in the form of Tonybet Winter Festival at Playground Poker in February, including 100 seats guaranteed in online qualifiers.
- Online NLH/PLO series in February with €100,000 already earmarked in guarantees.
