- Currently the format is available in no limit and PLO at just 2c/5c and 5c/10c, and limited to just one entry per player.
- Its debut on Bovada makes it the first of its kind on either offshore or regulated US poker sites.
The Bodog Poker Network has quietly launched Zone Poker, its take on fast-fold poker, making Bovada the first online poker room open to US players to offer the poker variant since Black Friday.
Currently the format is available in no limit and PLO at just 2c/5c and 5c/10c. Higher stakes and new games will roll out soon.
There is also a limit to just one entry per player for each pool, where the norm is usually four or more. This could potentially change in the future, a representative indicated.
Its debut on Bovada, a skin on the Bodog network that accepts US players, makes it the first of its kind on either offshore or regulated US poker sites since Full Tilt withdrew from the US market after Black Friday. It is also promoted on Bodog.EU but not Bodog88, its Asia-focused skin.
Fast-fold is now almost ubiquitous in European sites to the extent that synonyms for 'fast’ are in short supply: Full Tilt has Rush, PokerStars with Zoom, PartyPoker with FastForward, Ongame with Strobe, MPN with Blaze.
Bodog’s Zone sticks to the tried-and-true fast-fold method: a quick-fold button (“Fold Now”) immediately folds your hand and moves you to the next table with a table sliding animation.
What makes Bodog’s implementation unique is its anonymous nature, due to the network having removed all screen names from the poker client.
Due to, or in spite of, this change, the Bodog Poker Network has grown substantially in the last year. Though only an estimate, data provided by PokerScout indicates that cash game traffic on the network has grown some 40% in the last year.
Along with its anonymous changes and having a skin facing the US market, the network also took the unusual step of pulling out of the UK and other European markets, and instead focusing on expansion in the Asian market.
