PartyPoker's 'Leveling the Playing Field' Changes Roll Out
8 years ago18 Oct
If you play on the PartyPoker online poker network youâve likely noticed a few changes to the site in recent days. It should come as no surprise, given that the site announced at the beginning of the month that such changes were imminent.
Perhaps the most notable change that came as part of the first phase was that players waiting to join a cash table will not be part of a room-wide waiting list before beating seated at random when a table of their choice is free. Once a player joins a cash game, other players will only be able to see their player handle once their first hand has been dealt.
The main aim of these changes is to limit the use of âthird-party softwareâ most notably seating scripts, in an effort to attract more recreational players back to the site. Seating scripts, which automatically sit players who use them at tables which, in theory, give them the easiest chance to win, has been viewed by some in the industry as harmful to the growth of online poker.
Poker Hall of Fame inductee and PartyPoker ambassador Mike Sexton said that he believed the changes would benefit the more casual players who played on the network:
âPersonally, I think itâs great that recreational players are being protected from the using third party software,â he said. âHats off to PartyPoker for implementing this.â
According to PokerScout, PartyPoker is currently the equal sixth largest online poker network in terms of player traffic, with a seven day player average of 1150. While that number is respectable, the site has previously averaged more than 1500 players and once held and almost permanent fifth spot on PokerScoutâs traffic rankings.
With the general online poker industry having suffered from a decrease in players throughout most of 2015, PartyPoker hopes some of its changes will bring some of its old players back, and possibly event attract some new ones. The first phases of changes, and the next phases of changes that are still yet to come, are likely to gain some new-found interest in the short term.
The lingering question, however, is whether those changes will reverse the trend of declining player numbers and bring back some much desired players, and revenue, for the network.
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