Ongame Network Ltd, a subdivision of the bwin Group and a leading provider of online gaming platforms, has announced the release of "Heat Tournaments" – an innovative poker tournament feature adding a new dimension to online poker tournament play.
Customers of any of the 20-plus Ongame Network partner sites can now participate in online poker tournaments featuring multiple starting heats, or flights, just as in many major offline poker tournaments.
Each heat in a tournament event is scheduled to start separately from the other heats and lasts for a specified period of time. Players still standing at the end of each heat will bring their chip stacks with them and merge with survivors of the other heats and play it out in the final set at a later time or even date.
"The benefits of having the option to use heats when setting up tournaments are two-fold," says Tomer Katz, spokesperson for Ongame Network. "One, we can now do a better job of tailoring our partners' tournaments in accordance with the habits, geographical origin, and overall scheduling demands of their customers. Secondly, players can participate in tournaments with even bigger fields than before without the drawback of having to dedicate more than a few hours at a time in order to be able to finish them."
The first opportunity players have to experience the new format is the 17th edition of the acclaimed Grand Tournament that will run across the Ongame Network from Sept. 28-30. For the first time ever, poker players will have a choice of starting this $200,000-guaranteed tournament either on Friday, Sept. 28 or Saturday, Sept. 29.
