I've had a terrible relationship with Party Poker for a long time. I love the fact that they're a big European site with lots of traffic, because it allows me to play poker without playing taxes (a plus that they share with Bet24, Ladbrokes, Betway, and many others) but without having to compromise game selection - a feature that the other sites decidedly can NOT offer. When there are only 5 games of $200NL running at Betway, and all of them have 5 of the same 6 players on them, you can be pretty sure that the games aren't that juicy as they're all filled with regulars.
And I've lamented the fact that if only they had a better client than they do, they'd be, if not great, than at least a good site. If they could fix the bugs in the software, if they could perhaps update it to something a little more modern than what seems to be a 2002 version of a poker room, then it'd be awesome. What I love the most about Poker Stars is their client software. It's fast and smooth. It doesn't frustrate me.
And now Party Poker has updated their software. My expectations were low. Very low. So while my expectations weren't hard to exceed, they did not only exceed them but I now think they're almost on par with Stars in terms of client software. And in some cases, they outdo even Stars.
They have an auto-reload feature (which for the life of me I cannot figure out why Stars doesn't have for all ring games), they have buttons for betting pot, 3/4ths pot, etc. They have table selection software that lets me browse tables based on pot size, average players per pot, and even a waiting list feature that doesn't make me want to shoot myself.
In short, their new software is great and they deserve a great big kudos for it.
I'm sure there are still kinks to be worked out (although I haven't found anything major yet). I presume their customer service is still as poor as it ever were, although I don't particularly feel like trying it out. I notice they even added the same kind of bot protection that Stars added, see screenshot below.
Anyway, I'm now excited to be playing there, in contrast to before when I felt like I had to play there but didn't really want to. Good job, Party.
I never thought I'd say that.
The text, in case you wondered, roughly translates to:"Code Verification
Type in the characters that are displayed in the image below.
(The characters are not case sensitive)
You have 110 seconds to give the code. If you do not finish the confirmation sequence within the given time frame you will be forced to sit out the next hand.
This process helps us prevent the usage of automated gambling systems or BOTs on our software. Thank you for your cooperation."
1 comment:
I miss Party Poker ... not the software but the people that would play there. With new laws that would allow poker coming to the forefront of American politics, it'll be interesting to see how Party approaches a return to the US and if players here will "forgive" them for abandoning the US when others did not.
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