Pokerstars cancels seat selection

[Sunz of Beaches]

Received this email a few days ago. Another bad change but im honestly surprised it took them so long:

"Hi Rudeforumclown

We’ve updated the Cash Games lobby, which changes how you take your seat.

At specified stakes, table and seat selection is no longer available. Instead, you’ll be automatically placed at a table when you enter the game.

This update means the lobby will appear much cleaner – having just one entry for a particular stakes level will simplify your view, making it less complicated to jump into your game of choice. It will also help establish a more welcoming environment for new and less experienced players.

Where the update is applied

Game	Stakes
No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha (4, 5 and 6 Card) and other No Limit or Pot Limit games	Up to and including $1/$2
Fixed Limit Hold’em, Omaha, Draw, Badugi	Up to and including $1/$3
Fixed Limit Stud, Razz	Up to and including $3/$6
6+ Hold’em	Up to and including $2 ante

All other stakes (higher stakes than listed in the table above) remain unchanged, so table and seat selection will still be available."

 

[fundiver199]

As you say, its kind of surpricing, it took them this long. 888 Poker did something similar years ago. I honestly dont mind it. I think, their "dymanic waiting list" was a terrible system, and since the 4 table cap was introduced many years ago, table and seat selection has been severely limited already. Now at least its going to be simple and easy to get into games, and if you dont like your table, you can always leave again after a few orbits.

 

[MK_]

... seriously???, Acr did this a while back, what's the upside of this for players???, no just no👎

 

[fundiver199]

... seriously???, Acr did this a while back, what's the upside of this for players???, no just no👎

On ACR Poker you can still table select, if there are vacant seats on a table, but you can not seat select. If there are no tables with vacant seats, you can join a waiting list. This is however kind of bugged, because sometimes you are offered a seat, that was already taken by another player.

 

[MK_]

On ACR Poker you can still table select, if there are vacant seats on a table, but you can not seat select. If there are no tables with vacant seats, you can join a waiting list. This is however kind of bugged, because sometimes you are offered a seat, that was already taken by another player.

.... it is bugged, you can't pick your seat and you can't see who's on the table, that's kind of important info to players😎👍

 

[fundiver199]

.... it is bugged, you can't pick your seat and you can't see who's on the table, that's kind of important info to players😎👍

This is on purpose though, so its not a bug. All poker sites have been trying to combat bum hunting for a long time. And since we came from a situation, where people were using seating scripts, I cant blame them for doing this. I think, what we can realistically hope for, are solutions, that at least makes it easy to play cash games for both casual as well as more serious players.

 

[hardongear]

Good for combating bum-hunting which I personally never did anyway. Probably one of the better ideas and changes pokerstars has made the last number of years. I don't mind it.

Cheers!!!

 

[dreamer13]

The changes affected the choice of the game position, for the first violation of the rules of which a warning is given, and then a block. If the cash table is not full, as well as the turn to join the game, it is now mandatory to play.How many hands need to be played in a cash game, how many circles need to be completed to leave without breaking the rules, is unknown - PokerStars specifically does not disclose this information. It is only known that two attempts are given to choose a seat within six hours, and after two refusals, the account will be blocked for the same period, and in the case of constant attempts to leave the table and search for weak opponents, the player will be frozen and analyzed individually.

 

[Station_Master]

As you say, its kind of surpricing, it took them this long. 888 Poker did something similar years ago. I honestly dont mind it. I think, their "dymanic waiting list" was a terrible system, and since the 4 table cap was introduced many years ago, table and seat selection has been severely limited already. Now at least its going to be simple and easy to get into games, and if you dont like your table, you can always leave again after a few orbits.

You can.still table.select on 888 by the way.

Not great from PS but they are trying to.help the fish keep their money longer. Bad for regs.

 

[Station_Master]

The changes affected the choice of the game position, for the first violation of the rules of which a warning is given, and then a block. If the cash table is not full, as well as the turn to join the game, it is now mandatory to play.How many hands need to be played in a cash game, how many circles need to be completed to leave without breaking the rules, is unknown - PokerStars specifically does not disclose this information. It is only known that two attempts are given to choose a seat within six hours, and after two refusals, the account will be blocked for the same period, and in the case of constant attempts to leave the table and search for weak opponents, the player will be frozen and analyzed individually.

So they ve changed it again? It was just a matter of time as a table with 3 regs would open and we would all just leave! I dont mind a short reg battle but obviously its not profitable post rake generally.

 

[Tadi]

The way of sitting at the table has been simplified and this change suits me.

 

[fundiver199]

You can still table select on 888 by the way.

I just logged on to check it, and you are right. Years ago 888 did introduce a system almost identical to that now used on pokerstars.com, but apparently they did a 180 and brought back table selection again. PokerStars by the way tested this system in select european markets all the way back in 2017 but decided on the 4 table cap and later dynamic waiting list instead. So its certainly been a long time in the making.

 

[eberetta1]

I don't mind it. Fewer options makes the play start sooner. Much better than a person following me around looking for easy money.

 

[MK_]

This is on purpose though, so its not a bug. All poker sites have been trying to combat bum hunting for a long time. And since we came from a situation, where people were using seating scripts, I cant blame them for doing this. I think, what we can realistically hope for, are solutions, that at least makes it easy to play cash games for both casual as well as more serious players.

Oh I know it's on purpose.... I don't think they're interested in serious players anymore😎👎

 

[Station_Master]

I just logged on to check it, and you are right. Years ago 888 did introduce a system almost identical to that now used on PokerStars.com, but apparently they did a 180 and brought back table selection again. PokerStars by the way tested this system in select european markets all the way back in 2017 but decided on the 4 table cap and later dynamic waiting list instead. So its certainly been a long time in the making.

Yeah i've experienced it before on PS España, it sucks. In the old days you could still table select 888 as you could open the table but not sit down, then open more tables till you found one you liked.

Anyway lets look.on the bright side and hope more regs give up and go to GG

 

[fundiver199]

Played some 10NL full ring on PokerStars just to test out the new system. I dont really mind it. It makes it easy to get into games, although you can not register for more than one similar game at a time, so during low volume hours it took a bit of time to get 4 identical tables up and running. But definitely not longer, than it takes on ACR Poker. And as speculated the 4 table cap has indeed been raised, since I was able to open and play 5 identical tables.

One small annoyance was, that 2 out of 3 "new" tables, I was placed on, broke down right away, because the other players did not want to play. Thats not ideal, and perhaps they could improve the system by allowing players to set a higher minimum than 3 players, like ACR Poker does. So that if someone really dont want to play short handed, they just wait for a vacant seat on another table.

 

[Station_Master]

Played some 10NL full ring on PokerStars just to test out the new system. I dont really mind it. It makes it easy to get into games, although you can not register for more than one similar game at a time, so during low volume hours it took a bit of time to get 4 identical tables up and running. But definitely not longer, than it takes on ACR Poker. And as speculated the 4 table cap has indeed been raised, since I was able to open and play 5 identical tables.

One small annoyance was, that 2 out of 3 "new" tables, I was placed on, broke down right away, because the other players did not want to play. Thats not ideal, and perhaps they could improve the system by allowing players to set a higher minimum than 3 players, like ACR Poker does. So that if someone really dont want to play short handed, they just wait for a vacant seat on another table.

New table cap is 6 btw

 

[fundiver199]

New table cap is 6 btw

Makes sense since it bring them more in line with the industry standard. I dont know any other site, where it is (was) as low as 4.

 

[fundiver199]

Played another session of 10NL full ring for a total of around 1k hands now. For what its worth it seems to me, that this game is now considerably softer, than it was, when I played it back in 2017-2019 before all the changes. So if that was their goal, maybe it has worked. Obviously a very small sample but I won at 16BB/100 all-in adjusted.

 

[hardongear]

The changes affected the choice of the game position, for the first violation of the rules of which a warning is given, and then a block. If the cash table is not full, as well as the turn to join the game, it is now mandatory to play.How many hands need to be played in a cash game, how many circles need to be completed to leave without breaking the rules, is unknown - PokerStars specifically does not disclose this information. It is only known that two attempts are given to choose a seat within six hours, and after two refusals, the account will be blocked for the same period, and in the case of constant attempts to leave the table and search for weak opponents, the player will be frozen and analyzed individually.

Sounds good to me. with all the seating scripts, bum hunting and other bs I'm sure majority of regs do they have a huge advantage over the majority hobby and rec players. Which regs don't need as they're already better players and more experienced. Anything that helps the majority of hobby and rec players keep their money longer is good for online poker overall.

I consider myself a hobby/rec player(I'm not your avg rec/hobby player). I'll take all comers in my player pool, don't bum hunt, don't use seating scripts or any other bs. Under the old way at Pokerstars I've had regs at tables break/leave soon as I sit down and join to play. Poor muffins are scared of a bit of competition and are the type of people to steal candy from babies.

Cheers!!!

 

[fundiver199]

The changes affected the choice of the game position, for the first violation of the rules of which a warning is given, and then a block. If the cash table is not full, as well as the turn to join the game, it is now mandatory to play.How many hands need to be played in a cash game, how many circles need to be completed to leave without breaking the rules, is unknown - PokerStars specifically does not disclose this information. It is only known that two attempts are given to choose a seat within six hours, and after two refusals, the account will be blocked for the same period, and in the case of constant attempts to leave the table and search for weak opponents, the player will be frozen and analyzed individually.

It makes sense to take steps against people, who are trying to cheat the new system and do heavy table selection by leaving "unwanted" tables before even paying a single round of blinds. But its not information, I can find from any official source, so where do you have this from?

 

[Station_Master]

Played another session of 10NL full ring for a total of around 1k hands now. For what its worth it seems to me, that this game is now considerably softer, than it was, when I played it back in 2017-2019 before all the changes. So if that was their goal, maybe it has worked. Obviously a very small sample but I won at 16BB/100 all-in adjusted.

Maybe you have also improved your game over the last 6-8 years too!

 

[fundiver199]

If the cash table is not full, as well as the turn to join the game, it is now mandatory to play. How many hands need to be played in a cash game, how many circles need to be completed to leave without breaking the rules, is unknown - PokerStars specifically does not disclose this information.

Today there is an announcement in the cash game lobby informing players, that a number of rarely played games and stakes have been removed. And it also inform about this minimum play requirement, which is specifically for 100NL and 200NL NLH and PLO games only. According to the announcement players, who regularly leave tables in these games and stakes without playing a minimum of 10 hands, will receive time penalties, during which they will be unable to join cash game table.

So for micro and low stakes players there is no such rule, and we can just leave a table right away, if for instance we wanted to play 2NL but selected 10NL by mistake or vice versa, or if we dont want to play short handed or just dont like, who we see at the table, while we are waiting for the blinds to come around to us. Personally I still consider it good conduct to play at least an orbit or two though, which I have always done, when I play cash games. I might make an exception with short handed tables though, as a lot of other people seem to do as well.

 

[fundiver199]

Maybe you have also improved your game over the last 6-8 years too!

Thats obviously possible, but when I judge a games softness, I mostly look at the other players HUD-stats, and if I regularly see someone playing 60-80% of hands, I consider it a soft game. And though very unscientific I feel, I see that more now at 10NL full ring on PokerStars compared to 6-8 years ago. Of course it will also matter, when you play, as it always has. After 3k hands my winrate is now 18 BB/100 all-in adjusted.

And I still have to say, that I mostly like the new system. I understand, why some regs might dislike it, but I think, its way better for recreational players, that they just select, which game they want to play, and then usually a table fire up right away. PS have also introduced a feature (at least for full ring), where they merge tables, which spare people the inconvenience of waiting for their table to break down and then having to buy into another.

 

[Station_Master]

Yeah the merge is quite good