Judging by comments on player message boards and in the online industry media, it looks as if Pokerstars’ soft launch in New Jersey Wednesday has attracted a great deal of positive attention and is going well.
There have inevitably been some complaints – that’s what the soft launch is designed to refine and eliminate – but generally these have been of a relatively minor and largely technical nature in an environment where the online poker giant is monitoring progress carefully.
The soft launch included the availability of a good range of games that included Zoom high speed poker, low-limit and medium limit ring games, sit & go’s, Spin & Go tournaments and multi-table tournaments.
Pokerstars opened the action to a capped total of 500 players late afternoon New Jersey time on Wednesday and subsequent days, running the largely trial activity until midnight. The geolocation technology reportedly worked well, with New Jersey resident players restricted from the New Jersey site when they went outside the borders of their home state.
Players who are not resident in New Jersey but are physically within the Garden State borders can play, but not after they leave the state.
Soft launch operational conditions will continue until Monday 21 March when the full-on 24/7 launch of the site is scheduled to take place. Pokerstars is in partnership with Resorts Casino Hotel in New Jersey.