- On June 17, all players on the dot-com client will be prompted to set a new player alias when they first log in.
- The ecology changes are threefold: Stopping the act of saving hand histories; the forced alias change; and the outright banning of third-party tools that interface with the client.
- Partypoker has announced a new promotion, “Race to Alias,” promising to give away $500,000 over the course of 24 hours on the day of the alias change.
Online poker operator partypoker is moving forward with its plans overhaul its cash game experience in a bid to improve the ecology of the games. The company has set a date for when it will force all players to update their screen names, and will roll out a software update which will stop third-party tracking tools, including HUDs.
The changes are a bid to make the games fairer to all players, the company stated.
“This client update is one of a number of initiatives that we are working on in order to provide players with a safe environment where they can play online poker,” said Tom Waters, partypoker Managing Director, in a press release last week.
On June 17, all players on the dot-com client will be prompted to set a new player alias—the name displays to opponents at the tables—when they first log in.
“We want our players to have a fresh start and therefore we are asking all players to select a new alias so that all third-party tool tracking is lost for all our players,” he added.
The software update will also include “changes to our software that will prevent third-party tracking tools from working,” Waters stated.
To encourage players to log in and grab a new screen name, partypoker has announced a new promotion, “Race to Alias,” promising to give away $500,000 over the course of 24 hours on the day of the alias change.
The money will be distributed via “Click Cards” which will award random prizes. Every player who changes their name will receive one Click Card, and more will be given away every hour to every player who pays at least 10 cents in rake or tournament fees.
