PokerStars to Trial Anonymous Tables PokerStars to Trial Anonymous Tables
Key Takeaways
  • So-called “stealth” tables will be available in the lobby alongside regular tables.
  • There has been a shift in the industry over the last eight years towards offering some form of anonymity.
  • It is also a way to ensure that tools like HUDs and seating scripts cannot display or use historical player statistics.

PokerStars will try optional anonymous cash game tables at its global online poker room in the coming weeks.

Revealed exclusively on pokerfuse on Thursday, so-called “Stealth” tables will be available in the lobby alongside regular tables.

These will hide all screen names, so players will not know who they are playing against; only 24 hours will they find out, when hand histories with full screen names will be made available.

“We are always working on new features and products and we have a lot coming up that we plan to test and gain player feedback on,” said Severin Rasset, PokerStars’ Director of Poker Innovation and Operations, in a statement issued to pokerfuse. “This includes testing adding some anonymous tables in upcoming months, which we will monitor very closely as the overall player experience and health of our poker ecosystem is top priority for us.”

Historically, PokerStars has been a proponent of having a single, unchanging screen name for each player, which is always on display in games. There has been a shift in the industry over the last eight years towards offering regular screen name changes, and optional or forced anonymous tables, but PokerStars has, until now, resisted this trend.

“An important part of poker is knowing an opponent: the more you play against someone, the better you know their style of play, and thus how to react to it,” reads a PokerStars FAQ explaining why players cannot change their “Stars ID,” the screen name shown to other players at the tables.