partypoker Brings in Multiple Changes to Improve Site Friendliness For Recreational Players

  • Profile picture
  • Namita Ghosh June 21, 2019
  • 2 Minutes Read

The world’s second-biggest online poker site partypoker seems to be on the warpath against third-party software and other tools that allow professional players to leverage a distinct advantage over recreational players. Early in June, partypoker announced a software client upgrade on its global client that would force its existing users to change their screen name and ban heads-up Displays (HUD) June 17 onwards.

As promised, the portal has brought the planned software upheaval into place. It seems now, that the site has gone beyond the expected, and ushered in several significant and ambitious changes including restricting downloadable hand histories to help improve the ecology of online play.

 

New Changes – What Are They?

The poker ecology on online poker site thrives chiefly on recreational players and since the third-party software help professional players gain undue advantage over amateur and new players, it indirectly detriments recreational traffic. Owner of Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) and partypoker partner Rob Yong in his latest blog outlined the changes brought about on the site with the June 17 upgrade.

Some of the significant changes that have either already been implemented with the update or will be coming up soon are:

> HUDs Banned

Use of HUD – Heads-Up Displays have been banned so players cannot employ statistical information on their opponents and help gain an advantage.

> New Alias

Players were asked to select a new partypoker alias on logging in, helping make databases that hold players’ hand histories ineffective.

> Hand History Restriction

Downloading hand histories into databases and software that help players analyze play has been stopped. partypoker has also disabled the ability of players to swap hand histories with other players to gain an advantage against other opponents.

> MyGame

Though partypoker users cannot download their hand histories any longer, they can review their own play via the MyGame feature that allows reviewing of their own hands, stats, and results.

> Fixed, 100 BB Buy-In On Cash Games

Coming up by June-end will be another big move – all cash games on partypoker will feature a fixed, min. 100 big blind buy-in instead of the traditional buy-in system which allows players to sit in at the tables short-stacked. This reduces the chances of recreational or weaker players to buy-in at higher stakes with a short stack, thus helping to protect their bankroll and prevent predatory behavior such as short-stacking and ratholing – wherein players leave a cash game and rebuy with a shorter stack.

> Country Indicator Flags Removed

To prevent players in small countries from being recognized and singled out

> Option To Observe Cash Games Removed

Players can now view cash games only as long as they’re sitting at a virtual table with a stack.

partypoker Managing Director Tom Waters explained, “This client update is one of a number of initiatives that we are working on in order to provide players with a safe environment where they can play online poker. With this release, we are making changes to our software that will prevent third-party tracking tools from working. We want our players to have a fresh start and therefore we are asking all players to select a new alias so that all third-party tool tracking is lost for all our players.”

 

Player Reactions

Reactions to changes that have come along with partypoker’s software update have started rolling in. Some players have protested to the changes by creating a website called protectonlinepokerplayers.com that claims that partypoker`s latest update has made the site more unsafe since players can no longer research hand histories to identify illegal acts.

Incidentally, just as partypoker restricted downloadable hand histories, Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) announced that it was rescinding its prior decision to ban hand histories. “With the best of intentions, we made a mistake, and so now we’re going to make changes,” admitted MD of MPN, Alex Scott in his blog post dated June 17.

partypoker seems undeterred by conflicting opinions and protests. Apart from banning HUDs and restricting hand histories, 50 more improvements are reportedly currently in progress to help the platform deliver a more reliable and user-friendly experience. Clearly, with the new software update, the online poker giant has changed the way users play on the site forever.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru