On Wednesday, PokerStars launched Zoom Poker tournaments. The long awaited fast-fold tournament variant was an instant hit for users on the world’s largest online poker room, as many of them sold out at 5,000 players. Tournament buy-ins were largely $1 or €1 and promised high-flying poker action for the price of a McDouble.

PocketFives caught up with P5s Elite member wackyJaxon, who was perusing the PokerStars Zoom Poker tournament lobby. “I think it’s cool that on the first day, many of the Zoom tournaments maxed out at 5,000 entrants and, from start to finish, they still only took a little more than three hours to play,” he told us.

One of the first Zoom Poker tournaments to reach its conclusion was a €1 No Limit Hold’em Turbo that generated a field of 2,163 players. The Netherland’s HanncoBcame away with a €316 first place prize and four German players managed to make the nine-handed final table. The top four finishers walked away with €100 for just under three hours’ worth of work.

wackyJaxon talked about the low amount of time needed in order to participate in a Zoom Poker tournament on PokerStars: “There are many times I want to play a big field tournament, but just don’t have the time, so having Zoom tournaments available resolves the problem.” Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em Zoom tournaments were the first to be introduced, and you can find them by clicking over to the “Micro” tab in the PokerStars tournament lobby. A Knockout tournament was also scheduled when we checked.

wackyJaxon shared one key difference between Zoom Poker tournaments on PokerStars and Rush Poker games on Full Tilt: “I like the structure a little better than Full Tilt’s Rush tournaments since it moves to a normal format at three tables left instead of waiting for the final table.” In other words, the tournament sheds its Zoom structure starting at the final 27.

Zoom Poker tournaments are still in beta and text found on PokerNews relayed how many of them you can expect to find: “While Zoom tournaments are still in the developmental stage, the events offered since New Year’s Day proved to be a hit among players. As many as 12 real-money Zoom Poker tournaments are on the daily schedule throughout the week.”

Zoom Poker was introduced back in Marchand quickly caught fire in popularity. In October, a Zoom filter was added to the PokerStars tournament lobby, but up until this week, no tournaments had been held. In May, PokerStars unleashed Zoom Poker cash games for Android devices via the site’s Mobile platform. It’s also available on iPhones and iPads.

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