PartyPoker Axes More Bots Ahead of HUD Ban

Of the online poker sites focusing lately on poker bots, PartyPoker has been one of the largest operators to take a stand with transparency.

Last month, PartyPoker reported that its Poker Fraud Team detected and closed 277 bot accounts between December 2018 and March 2019. And per that in-depth investigation that led to the closures, the site was able to refund nearly $735,000 to its players who were victimized by those bots.

The latest news from PartyPoker informed players that it detected and shut down another 94 bot-controlled accounts in April, and that resulted in more than $150,000 in additional funds being refunded to affected players.

The ongoing investigations and their results will be communicated to players on an ongoing basis, as the new policy of transparency is on display to show its dedication to fair play and customer satisfaction.

Any players who spot suspicious activity at the online tables are encouraged to email details to reports@partypoker.com to be investigated thoroughly.

Recent Closures and Numbers

PartyPoker’s latest report confirmed the closure of 94 bot accounts in April, resulting in the seizure of $143,908.10 on dot-com and €34,546.17 on dot-eu from those accounts. The funds are being processed and will be distributed to all affected players when that part of the investigation is complete.

From the dot-com client, a total of 39 accounts were closed, of which 15 were attributed directly to reports from PartyPoker players. That 38.5% from player reports was complimented by the remainder of the accounts detected by the Poker Fraud Team.

The money confiscated from the dot-eu accounts in France and Spain was less but came from more accounts, as 55 “rogue” accounts were detected. Of that number, five of them were attributed to player reports.

partypoker closed fraudulent ‘bot’ accounts across both its global and shared liquidity licenses.

39 dotcom accounts were closed during April 2019 and a subsequent $143,908.10 seized in player balances. 55 account closures in France/Spain markets led to seizure of €34,546.17

— Chad Holloway (@ChadAHolloway) May 14, 2019

HUD Ban Coming?

PartyPoker has been straightforward about viewing bots as deceptive, as forms of privacy theft and data theft. And the operator puts some poker programs in the same category. They believe the programs called HUDs often give players an unfair advantage and create an unbalanced and dishonest playing environment. Some of the programs already identified by PartyPoker include PokerEdge, Snowie, and WinHoldem.

If players are found to be using these programs, PartyPoker will notify them of the rules violation and order the practice stopped. If the player continues using those HUDs, the player’s account could be suspended and funds confiscated.

A full ban on all HUDs was expected to be in place by the first week of May, but it may be working out details and trying to work with some program developers to avoid harsh bans.

What we know about @partypoker's planned eco changes:

– Expected ban on HUDs + ASS
– No HH downloads
– New hand replayer
– Forced alias change
– "Very limited" third party tools permitted
– How that is defined remains unknown
– Expected May 1st

Click for more. 🔗 Free read. 👇 https://t.co/MytMAM4k2L

— Nick Jones (@pokerprojones) April 23, 2019

When the new policy goes into effect and the announcement is made, there may be other changes to go with it so as to render existing HUD programs ineffective.

First, players will soon find a new hand replayer available on PartyPoker for them to use to examine hand histories in the course of normal play analysis. However, players will not be able to download those hand histories, as that is the way that some players use HUDs, as they import hand histories into the programs to analyze other players’ action. The statistics then give them an unfair advantage over those competitors featured in the histories used.

Second, players may be required to create a new player name for the site. This will keep HUDs from recognizing those screen names already analyzed in their software programs.

Before the changes are implemented, an announcement will be made via poker media and to each player, complete with explanations as to why the changes will happen and how the player can benefit from the new policies.

Some players are likely to object to changing their online poker screen names, and some pros are unhappy with the banning of all – or most – HUD programs. However, many sites have already banned some programs and others are taking a look at adjusting their policies to do the same. PartyPoker is simply being the most upfront and proactive about it at this time.