Partypoker Bans Seating Scripts and Anonymizes Hand Histories

Partypoker, the online poker website has introduced yet another set of changes in order to improve the playing experience on the site.

From Oct. 5, the site will be anonymizing hand histories in cash games so that on-screen aliases will appear only for the person creating the file while the other will be shown anonymously and be labelled as Player 1, Player 2 etc.

Some of the other changes that will be introduced include allowing players one chance to make a screen name change and banning the use of seating scripts.

The changes is part of the online poker website’s efforts to make the site more conducive for recreational players.

In a statement, Tom Waters, group head of partypoker said

It’s important for us to provide all poker players with a fair and ethical product whilst still allowing them to learn and improve. 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.

After the latest changes are implemented players can still use hand history analyzer software on the site but will be able to see only the statistics and analysis for their hands. The company is making a change to its terms and conditions to disallow the use of seating scripts. If any player is detected to be using such software, a warning will be issued. Further offences will result in an outright ban and a suspension of their account.

Waters said that the amendments will help improve the overall player ecosystem within partypoker which will help in the long term growth of the game. He pointed out that anonymizing hand histories will help block data mining which will protect both the professional player as well as the recreational player on the site.

partypoker has earlier rolled out a host of measures to improve the experience for recreational players and also went on to redesign its software. The management also decided to eliminate waiting lists from the site so as to thwart the practice of bum-hunting where stronger players were looking for weaker players to target.

Anonymity at cash games will also be implemented as part of the new changes and players will no longer be able to see the name of the other players at a table until the first hand is dealt. This again ensures that players aren’t able play selectively. It also deters the use of seating scripts which can be used to seat players next to the weakest player and increasing the stronger player’s chances of winning.