Joined: Feb '12
Location: Canada
Age: 64 (M)
Posts: 6036
I found something interesting...:
PARTYPOKER TO ANONYMISE CASH GAME HAND HISTORIES FROM OCTOBER 5TH 29/09/2016
Partypoker announces an update to its planned changes to improve the ecology of its poker room and promote fair and ethical gameplay. A first phase of improvements at the end of 2015 saw cash game players joining a room- wide waiting list and being randomly seated when a seat matching their preference became available, plus names of opponents only being shown once the first hand has been dealt.
Having consolidated a vast amount of feedback from players across forums, social media channels and the customer service team, partypoker will be introducing a second wave of changes in October. These changes will only affect cash games on partypoker and not tournaments:
Local hand histories will still be available for download however player screen names will be anonymised Players’ own screen names will be visible, while remaining players will be listed anonymously in download files e.g. Player 1,2,3 Players will still be able to view the number of hands they have played, win rate and other statistics to help them improve their play The terms and conditions will change prohibiting the use of seating scripts. Following these amendments, players using any such software will be initially issued with a warning notice before being banned from using their account Alongside these changes, players will be allowed to make a one-off screen name change Group Head of partypoker Tom Waters 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. Anonymising 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.”
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
They are trying to make all the player history no traceable. To a certain point i do agree with this, cause it has become nasty with all these poker sites and computer capabilities. On the other hand though, you need some short of info, if you are into it. Otherwise it is like playing against a computer. No difference there.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 5712
I'm a bit torn on this one.... Do you think that Negreanu and the like are going to change their names at live poker or change their personality or turn up in a. Mask so you don't know who they are? While I do accept the issues around technological capabilities.....just ban them and don't allow data to be retrieved from the client! Simples!
I do not really like the course ... I do not keep track of the game rivals but I know that some are doing to develop a strategy for the game against this opponent ... and I was just pleased to see a familiar name at your desk ... and now have to play with people - invisible ... in the end I think that is a bad idea
Joined: Mar '14
Location: Japan
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 8946
October 5? Oh, no... time is running out. Obviously this change will have a huge impact on multi-tabling (winning or losing) grinders, who scrupulously use their HUDs while playing at numerous tables. Well, we still can take a note, can't we?
Joined: Oct '08
Location: Germany
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 2025
allthough my play varies alot, im glad to hear this news, since im one of those who do not use any kind of software. its about time and i hope more pokerrooms follow this example. ofc i also have notes on certain players but its nothing compared to someone who doesnt know you, just sit out, use its software to collect player statistics. i dont mind if im facing a name, a number or a duckface.
I completetly agree with t3ddyKGB up here. These softwares are like a cheat people pay for to have stats on you that they shouldn't have. I can't believe the poker rooms have been letting this go for so many years. The hand histories are public and everyone can record your actions automatically and makes states and averages about it. You could never do that live unless you note everything on a piece of paper which is almost impossible to do...
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
It wouldnt be a surprise for me if the poker sites where getting something back from all these tracking sites. They probably realized how unfair is for some of the players and decided to put an end to it. There is no doubt, that some of the players are making complaints about this, over the years.
