We have seen a trend lately of online poker rooms trying to make themselves more recreational-player friendly, not by necessarily weeding out skilled pros (though this is often what happens), but by attempting to protect weaker or simply newer players from those who want to prey on them by means other than simply playing good poker. The latest poker room to announce changes it partypoker, which wants to “level the playing field” for all players.
In a blog post last week, the poker room listed out the following three changes to its software platform (emphasis added):
• Players will be able to view the last 12 months of their own hand histories within the Missions icon in the partypoker software, but hand histories will no longer be able to be downloaded and saved to their local devices
• Players wishing to wait for a cash game will join the room-wide waiting list and be randomly seated when a seat that matches their preference becomes available
• Players joining a cash game will see the names of their opponents only once their first hand is dealt
The goal of these changes is pretty straightforward. A growing problem in online poker has been what many would consider unscrupulous “sharks” using third-party software to target and hunt down “fish” in a way that runs contrary to the spirit of poker. They use software that collects data on players (either from the user’s own hand histories, purchased hand histories, shared hand histories, or some combination of the three), tags statistically weaker players as fish, and helps them find those players in the lobby and then automatically seats them at their tables. Nobody should have a problem with a good player simply winning money from a lesser player at the poker tables, but when they purposely stalk them and have automated assistance from software in doing so, it does appear to be crossing the line.
In eliminating downloadable hand histories, partypoker takes away the ability for hand tracking software to gather data on players, thus making it that much harder for third-party software users to identify fish. And by removing both the ability to select cash game tables and see their opponents before sitting down, sharks should be prevented from hunting down their prey even if they can somehow still identify them ahead of time.
In an interview with PokerNews, partypoker’s Head of Network Operations and Business Intelligence Jay Kanabar explained some of the thought process behind the upcoming implementation, saying:
If I walked into the Bellagio Poker Room in Las Vegas, I could not ask the Card Room Manager, “Who are your worst players? Can you lock me a seat up to the left of one of them? Where do I get the printout of all the hands everyone here has played over the last 6 months? When my juicy seat comes free can you give me a shout, I’m just nipping into Bobby’s Room to take some notes on the hands being played in there!
Tony Dunst, partypoker’s Ambassador and WPT commentator added in the blog post:
These changes at partypoker are designed to create a more hospitable environment for recreational players. Unfortunately, many of the tools and tactics that professionals use to maximize their edge have made the games too difficult for new players to survive. Without them, grinders will merely pass money back and forth while being raked, and games will inevitably dry up. I think these changes will help level the playing field for casual players, and preserve the quality of games for professionals.
