In a move that could have a seismic effect on how online players take on the game, PokerStars announced earlier this week new changes to their policies on third party software usage. The new changes are in effect now and, if fully pushed by PokerStars officials, will effect players who have come to depend on something other than their own abilities to play the online game.
In a post on Two Plus Two, PokerStars’ Sit & Go and Tournament Manager Baard Dahl details out the discussions that had been echoing around the halls of PokerStars’ offices. Those discussions brought out the following changes to the third party software policies, straight from Dahl’s post on Two Plus Two:
1. Reference material, such as starting hand charts, now have to be “basic in nature”. Anything considered to be sophisticated in nature can no longer be used whilst the client is open.
2. HUDs are no longer permitted to display non-numerical data, categorize players or dynamically display statistics specific to a certain situation.
3. Hand or Situation Analyzers, such as programs that compute equities of various ranges of hands against one another, can no longer be used whilst the client is open.
4. Game State Reporters can no longer automatically or semi-automatically retrieve information from an otherwise permitted reference material. For example, tools can no longer notify an end-user that their starting hand lies in Group 1 of a statically defined grouping of hands.
5. Table Selection and Seating Scripts can no longer time a player’s registration into a global waiting list. They must register players into specific tables or tournaments.
The first three changes will actually have an impact on how the play will be conducted on the virtual felt. HUDs have long been popular for the voluminous information that they provide to the players, with some even allowing situational analysis for determining the play of hands. By removing the ability to either display hand grouping information or player categorizations, a HUD user will have to rely more on his own immediate knowledge.
Another important change will be in the ability for software to automate the selection of tables and seats. In the case of the Spin & Gos, Dahl writes, it should be totally random whom players were being seated to play against. Such programs as SpinWiz, however, were circumventing the PokerStars software and allowing for players to target certain opponents (the practice when done in a cash game setting is called “bumhunting”). Dahl was quick to note that “at this time” PokerStars was still allowing some generic seating scripts for other games.
In his post, Dahl also details out how the new protocols will be implemented. “In accordance with our usual procedure, our first objective will be to educate people who do not realize that this form of software is now prohibited,” Dahl writes. “Consequently, we will have sent a notification of these rule changes to players who we know have been using such software in the recent past. None of these players have broken any of our rules, but we want to make sure that everyone has first-hand information so that they do not inadvertently end up in a situation where they break the rules in the future.”
The commentary from the users was divided on both sides of the issue. Some thought that the new regulations are the result of Amaya Gaming, the owners of PokerStars, further protecting the “casual” player and taking away from those looking to make a living off of the online game. Others, however, have long bemoaned the usage of third-party software at the virtual tables – even longtime poker professional Patrik Antonius recently lamented that he cannot beat the games online anymore because of the usage of HUD software – and see the moves by PokerStars as long overdue but perhaps too late to help the online game.
With the new rules enacted, we should be able to see the effects on PokerStars traffic numbers – if there is to be any effect – over the coming weeks. Players will either have to adjust to life without some of their favorite software devices or – as is usual in the online game – find others that can circumvent the PokerStars protocols.
