- PokerStars will launch HU Zoom next month.
- Further heads up changes won’t come until some time in 2014.
The problem of players at heads up tables refusing to play when an opponent sits will be partially addressed on PokerStars by the introduction of Heads Up (HU) Zoom tables.
PokerStars Steve posted on 2+2 that the new HU Zoom tables should be launched “next month.”
Other solutions, including the “forced play” option which PokerStars is “leaning towards”, won’t be introduced until some time in 2014. iPoker has developed a software based “Hogging Prevention” process to monitor players who abuse the system, and MPN has ended all normal HU tables and moved players to HU 8-Man Blaze.
The advantage of the fast-fold variant of HU poker is that players join a pool and are matched against a different opponent for each hand “solving” what some see as an issue of predatory practices of aggressive game and table selection.
Heads up games in particular suffer from this issue, with often dozens, even hundreds, of skilled players waiting for weaker opponents and refusing to play each other.
Under the new rules, weaker players can feel less pressured and stronger players have to play more hands to get their shot at playing weaker opponents.
