You asked for it and now you got it! Full Tilt Poker now offers Rush Poker tournaments. The boom continues as the players refused to relent in demanding Rush Poker tournaments. Now Full Tilt has given them what they want. The announcement came down yesterday and the response has been outstanding from the jump. The format is just a little different than we are used to when it gets down to 10 players though. The play will continue with four-handed play as players are rotated in and out until the field plays down to heads up. There is no hand-to-hand play as in normal tournaments and no bubble either. When the field is down to 28 players tables will play with 7 players each until the field plays down to the final 10.

A little different format than we are used to. Adjustments will need to be made in play but all in all it is still a great idea and will likely do very well.

The Final Table reverts to the normal final table you see and is also the only way you can observe a Rush Poker tournament. Sounds like fun!

With the ongoing investigation over at Full Tilt you have to wonder just what is next for U.S. facing poker rooms like UB, Absolute and Pokerstars. Is this all about scaring poker rooms or will there really be some serious punitive actions taken by the feds? Considering that there has been nothing done thus far over the past year since the UIGEA was announced I suppose you could make an argument that online poker players will continue to play with impunity. But all it takes is one episode of a room closing down and the rest will likely fall like domino’s for fear of retribution by the U.S. government. Remember, there is a reason PartyPoker is no longer U.S. facing and I wouldn’t be surprised if U.S. players are forced out online poker all together if they really do go after Lederer, Ferguson and Ivey with indictments.

Believe me folks. A lot of very interested players and business people are watching this scenario very closely.

I know it probably is not very shocking to hear but Full Tilt Pros are now under federal investigation and possible indictments are to follow. A federal grand jury in Manhattan is looking into whether Full Tilt Pros are part of a money laundering scheme. Of course the feds are going after big names like Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and the like. The genesis of this scenario seems to be from two people in particular that have disputes with Full Tilt. No one knows exactly what the details are in those disputes but it seems like the feds are going to run with it.

My take on this is two fold. Either the feds are very serious about this scenario and other poker rooms are to follow or they are sending a VERY strong message to Full Tilt as well as U.S. facing sites about how they are processing money in relation to the UIGEA.

Only time will tell. We will continue to follow this story as it develops.