Party Poker has announced further moves in its development of a more recreational player-oriented online poker environment, saying that it is to make changes in its cash game rules that will be implemented next (October) month.
The latest changes will outlaw third party seating scripts and make hand histories anonymous, expanding the rule changes last year which included ensuring players remain anonymous until the first hand has been dealt, the elimination of traditional waiting lists in favour of a room-wide system, and a ban on downloading hand histories.
Tom Waters, group head of PartyPoker, said that players will still be able to view the number of hands they played, their win rate and the slew of other statistics produced by software such as Hold’em Manager and PokerTracker, but only for their own play; all of their opponents will be anonymous.
“It’s important for us to provide all poker players with a fair and ethical product whilst still allowing them to learn and improve,” Waters explained this week. “We want partypoker to offer a level playing field that allows players of all abilities to compete fairly. We have listened to feedback from the poker community and believe that allowing players to continue to view their own hand histories is important for their personal game development.
“Anonymizing hand histories will help prevent data mining and therefore protect both the professional and recreational player and improve the overall ecology on partypoker which is imperative for the long term future of the game.”