Ongame rolls out 'Strobe' fast-fold offering
Five-handed poker variant will have lower rake and be optimised for mobile devices.
Ongame has announced the launch of its fast-fold poker offering, Strobe, which is being rolled out across its dot.com network following a period of beta testing.
The variant is optimised for mobile devices and allows for five-handed play with lower rake than the network’s usual dot.com offering in an attempt to boost ecology.
It is currently available for NL10 and NL30 cash games, with head of poker Fredrik Kjell (pictured) telling eGaming Review: “We feel five-handed is positive both in terms of game speed and player adaptation but also ensuring we can have lots of limits available.”
“This is definitely targeted at the recreational player – we know players have less and less time to play and we want to be able to give them the opportunity to play poker which they love,” added Kjell, noting: “We have also lowered the rake quite substantially, and that is particularly designed to improve the ecology and make sure players aren’t churned too fast.”
While others such as PokerStars and iPoker launched fast-fold offerings last year, Ongame hopes that the inclusion of a mobile element will ensure Strobe appeals to a significant number of operators.
The network has launched mobile poker in Belgium with the likes of Golden Palace, while in January 2011 bwin “ while still part of the Ongame network “ released the first real-money mobile poker app.
Kjell said: “A lot of the time mobile [gambling] is about short games that you can finish very quickly, which is why mobile casino is very popular, and due to how people use mobile phones I think strobe is a perfect product.
“When we started discussing this concept mobile was included from the beginning not just as a distinguisher from the competition but also because this is a perfect game for mobile – it would make no sense not including mobile,” he added.
One licensee to take on the offering, EuroPoker, already has a mobile casino product via its CasinoRoom brand, and CEO Sacha Kéchichian told eGR that the company hopes to integrate its mobile casino and poker products.
“Obviously we wouldn’t have been disappointed if we had this one year ago, but the fact that it’s mobile definitely makes up for the fact that it has come along later,” said Kéchichian.
“Strobe being on mobile is a big strength, and the fact that it’s even faster than other fast-fold concepts from what I understand – in terms of both the technology and the number of players per table – is obviously a good thing,” he added.
Strobe is the second new release from Ongame this year, as it returns its focus to product development after being acquired by Amaya Gaming last year.
Last month it rolled out Instant Rewards, which allows players to earn tournament tickets and cash rewards in real-time, and this – like Strobe – continues the network’s focus on recreational players.
Kjell said: We’ve been in this period for a very long time where we haven’t been able to choose exactly what we wanted to do, but those times are now over and we can pick up speed again, and I’m really glad. It’s been a turbulent time for Ongame but now we’re happy that we can focus on the business side.”
While the offering is purely for dot.com at present, Kjell did not rule out an expansion of Strobe into dot.country markets in the future, something which EuroPoker supports.
Kéchichian said: We have a French licence and have an understanding with an Italian licensee so we want to get it out there for sure, however liquidity clearly has to be higher for this sort of offering.”