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PokerStars bans third-party tools in all markets

“There are tools that provide their users with sometimes small and other times clear advantages over others, undermining the spirit of the game,” said Severin Rasset, PokerStars’ director of innovation and poker operations. This comment was made in a recent decision taken by the worldwide poker giant to ban third party tools in all its markets across the globe.

PokerStars in its blog post on 27^th February titled ‘Making Changes to our Third Party Tools Policy’ declared that they will implement further restrictions to the use of third-party tools. The blog further mentions “A new policy will be implemented across all games, stakes and licenses on 4 March, 2019. We’ve already started to communicate the changes ahead of time to allow the developer community to prepare.”

Seating Scripts

Seating scrips are programs that notify players of softer tables, in the sense where it would be easy to win the pot since it detects if any weaker players are playing on it. The official statement given by the company is this:

“Any tool or service that sorts available games or (semi-) automates the process of joining games based on the game-play statistics or notes of other players will be prohibited. A tool that solely (or semi-) automates adding players to a set number of tables, without any reliance on information about other players, is permitted.”

This isn’t the first time PokerStars has introduced this feature, as it had implemented something called “Seat Me” in Southern European markets in the past as a test. Soon, players playing on PokerStars from any country will be using an automated seating system that prevents seating scripts.

Starting Hands Charts and Reference Material

PokerStars’ new policy will also ban automated or semi-automated reference material while the client is running. Reference material “can only be used for basic hand decisions, like unopened pot and pre-flop decisions, rather than as a live and virtual decision maker,” the blog states.

“Poker is a brain game. A game of skill. Players work on history, on perception, on their own memory, instincts, capabilities and evaluations of each opponent and hand to make the right decision. Not only do we want to preserve this, we want to see it flourish,” PokerStars reassures its players through the blog post.

PokerStars allowed tools which report basic game-state information such as pot probability or absolute hand strength. Static table-based starting hand charts, tolls or services that monitor and display statistics in-game, etc.

Rasset lastly said, “These changes are a big step forward for us and, we hope, the poker community. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing their contribution to the safe and welcoming environment we aim to offer every one of our players, regardless of experience and ability.”

For complete summary of the updated PokerStars policy, read the blog here and keep reading GutshotMagazine.com for more similar news from the worldwide poker community and for general poker news.

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