Short but sweet bit of news from PokerStars’ 3rd live alpha release of PowerUp – now Mac owners get to get in on the action as well, as the game’s newest patch offers iOS compatibility.
It’s not quite the mobile-ready version of the game we’ve been hoping to see on the PokerStars mobile app, but we won’t complain.
Not much other news:
Other than iOS compatibility there’s not much more to report sadly. In fact, in addition to the lack of any “big” new features – Pokerstars seems to have cut down on play options in terms of buy-in levels as currently only 1k play money buy-in games are being offered.
The only other change of note to be seen is the fact that players now only start with a single PowerUp card in their hand, not the full holding of 3 – a change that while small may make for a significantly different opening dynamic to games as players are now more likely to play snug through the first half of Level 1 as they fill up their PowerUp holdings.
Our thoughts on this: It might be a good thing to slow down opening play but this move also exacerbates the RNG-y feel of PowerUp cards as it now takes more hands of poker before strategically minded players are able to whittle down and curate their PowerUp hand into a holding that enables them to make that all-important burst play in big spots.
Honorable News Mention:
There’s a “Play Again” button now so players don’t need to navigate back to the lobby to start a new PowerUp SNG. Always good to cut out a few extra seconds of not-gaming, we suppose.
