Ongame Network set to launch Poker Heat Tournaments

Gibraltar, 24 September 2007 – Ongame Network Ltd, a subdivision of the bwin Group and a leading provider of online gaming platforms, has announced the release of Heat Tournaments – a new poker tournament feature adding a new dimension to online poker tournament play.

Customers of any of the over twenty Ongame Network partner sites will now be able to 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 will last 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 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 will be in the 17th edition of the acclaimed Grand Tournament that will run across the Ongame Network on 28 September to 30September. For the first time ever, poker players will have a choice of starting this $200,000 prize pool tournament either on Friday 28 or on Saturday 29 September.

Other events based on this exciting online poker tournament product will follow later this fall.