Proponents of third-party poker software were dealt a blow this week after PokerStarsand PartyPoker announced that they would begin severely restricting the functionality of such utilities or prohibit their use altogether.

PartyPoker took the toughest stance of the pair and plans to implement changes in the coming weeks that will render HUDs, seating scripts, and a variety of other software useless. The new measures are part of the site’s Poker for the People campaign, which aims to “level the playing field” between online poker pros and amateurs.

To achieve that goal, PartyPoker will be rolling out the following key changes:

1. Users will no longer be able to download their hand histories, leaving tools like PokerTracker and Hold’em Manager left in the dark. Players will, however, be able to view 12 months of their own hand histories within the Missions icon of the software.

2. Cash game players will no longer be able to join waiting lists on a table-by-table basis. They will instead be added to a site-wide list of players for their desired game.

3. The names of users’ opponents will not be revealed until that player is dealt into the game.

“As part of our Poker for the People campaign, the PartyPoker team is committed to providing all poker players, regardless of experience or skill level, with trusted poker products that are fair, ethical, and fun,” said PartyPoker Director of Games Golan Shaked in a press release. “We will continue working with the wider poker community on developing a mutually beneficial, trusting relationship.”

With so many resources available to aspiring card sharks, the skill level of the average amateur player is undoubtedly higher than it was during the poker boom in the early 2000s. But, professionals have been refining their craft as well and some think that players with access to third-party tracking tools simply have too much of an edge against casual players.

PokerStars puts players on notice
PokerStars has revised its own policies and laid out complex set of rules which will disable much of the functionality of third-party poker software. While the site still plans to allow the collection of hand histories, HUDs are no longer allowed to ingest data and spit out a recommended move for their owner. These programs will now only be allowed to display numbers, leaving users to make their own decisions.

Also prohibited will be reference material like starting hand charts or “anything considered to be sophisticated in nature.” Furthermore, so-called game state reporters will not be allowed to retrieve information from such material, and, for example, notify a user under which grouping a hand falls.

Changes have been made to the PokerStars waiting list as well. Seating scripts can no longer “time a player’s registration into a global waiting list” and players will now be forced to register for specific tables or tournaments.

The revised rules have not gone over well with many poker pros and will certainly cause headaches for software developers who have put countless hours into creating their product. But as operators once catered to the needs of high-volume professionals, they have now learned that in order to thrive, they will need to strike a balance between grinders and amateurs.

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