The latest update to the Americas Cardroom software includes terrific news for tournament players with time restraints.
The industry trend over the last several years has been to extend late registration periods, in some cases to four or more hours. This can make planning an online MTT schedule tricky, since uncertainty over the number of entrants in a given tournament translates into a time commitment that is hard to predict.
Today, ACR announced a new tournament offering that is predictable in both regards:
"The more the merrier! We’ve just launched 27-man SNGs!"
Perhaps of greater interest to MTT players was an earlier, now-deleted tweet that indicated both 27 and 180-player SNGs were being released. It's unclear whether ACR's Twitter guru jumped the gun, particularly since a video of the software update states that 180s are going live today:
These formats were pioneered by PokerStars in the mid-2000s and were extremely popular. In addition to knowing the field size and likely duration ahead of time, the structure gives a considerable advantage to players prepared to put in a little work. Specifically, the average stack depth close to the bubble and ITM is known in advance, thereby allowing dedicated players to create more accurate and fine-tuned push-fold ranges than are typically possible in MTTs.
Cyclones return
Also announced by ACR today was the return of Cyclone tournaments. These novel tiered satellites do not require players to win all the chips. Simply incrementing the starting stack to 5,000 chips or more ensures progress to the next round. In the past, these satellites have been popular among players as a cheap means of entering ACR's Venom tournaments. With the next Venom scheduled for September, the return of Cyclones is clearly timely.
Other additions introduced in this software update include the possibility to play Blitz at less than a full table. This is a clever move that helps players and ACR alike. The fast-fold format can struggle to get underway, since traditionally it requires a minimum of six players in the pool of a given stake to commence. This update gives players the option to play short-handed if they choose. Play proceeds like a regular cash game until enough players are available to switch to fast-fold mode.
Finally, two new avatars have been added to the pool: Loki and Borat. If you admire the shape-shifting antics of a Norse god, or the eye-searing swimsuit of a popular comedian, ACR has you covered.
Update: We reached out to ACR for clarification of the 180-player SNG situation and were told that, while not immediately available with this update, they were "in the works".
Featured image source: Twitter
