PokerStars (+FTP) software improvements thread...

[Graham C]

Is there a way to stop the lobby from minimising when I select a table to play on?

[MC]

Is there a way to stop the lobby from minimising when I select a table to play on?

Yeah man,

Options --> Advanced Multi-Table Options --> Untick "Minimize main lobby when opening table"

[smashedagain]

Is there a way to stop the lobby from minimising when I select a table to play on?

Yeah man,

Options --> Advanced Multi-Table Options --> Untick "Minimize main lobby when opening table"

lol you are just too good

[Graham C]

Is there a way to stop the lobby from minimising when I select a table to play on?

Yeah man,

Options --> Advanced Multi-Table Options --> Untick "Minimize main lobby when opening table"

Brilliant, thank you!

[outragous76]

James

Can you let me know where the boom switch is

Cheers

(PM fine obv)

[MC]

James

Can you let me know where the boom switch is

Cheers

Simples:

Requests --> Transfer Funds --> Transfer USD $77.77 To Player ID: epitomised --> Ok --> On the resulting pop-up click "Yes"

Boom switch will activate shortly afterwards.



obviously a joke, please don't ban me Stars, ktnxbye

[MC]

Brilliant, thank you!

No probs dude

lol you are just too good

Yeah, at least if I go busto I might be able to get a job working for PokerStars support

[mondatoo]

Brilliant, thank you!

No probs dude

lol you are just too good

Yeah, at least if I go busto I might be able to get a job working for PokerStars support

Plz don't go busto 

[MC]

We are planning to deploy a small client update before the beginning of TCOOP this Thursday. This update lays the groundwork for more upcoming promotions in 2013 and few beta options are added that we will be looking to introduce to the majority of players with February build. Here are the highlights:

Live View for Ring Games (Beta)

We are planning to add a graphical preview of the selected ring game in the main lobby. The existing list of players would still be there as an option. Here is a screenshot of what the preview looks like:

There will be a very accessible toggle between the new graphical preview and the existing list of players – just to the right of the table name.

For now this feature is only added as Beta and to access it you need to first go to “Options” > “Lobby Display Options” and select “Enable Graphical Preview for Ring Games (Beta)”. Once this is activated, you will see the toggle to switch between the two views.

Please do send us your feedback on this new addition!


Game List Font Options (Beta)

We are looking to improve the font set up in the list of games in the client. We feel that the current set up is good, but could be updated to improve readability, especially for casual players. To this end, we are planning to change the default look while preserving the option to see things exactly as they look today.

As the first step, we are adding three new font set ups that you can try out and tell us what you like best. You can change the font set up from “View” > “Game List Font Options (Beta)”. The new options are:

• “Microsoft Sans Serif with Row Padding” – this is the current font with few pixels of added row padding to aid readability.
• “Utah” – this a set up that uses the Utah font. Utah is a relatively new font that is designed to be narrow but at the same time very readable.
• “Arial” – this is a set up with the Arial font.

For each of the set ups you can adjust the font size up and down to your liking from "View" > "Text Size".

We would love to hear from you what you find best from the offered choices. Keep in mind that while we might change the default, we will keep the option to switch back to today’s set up.

Preferred Seat Enhancements

We are enhancing the Preferred Seat functionality slightly. In addition to updating the graphics to the Nova theme, we are also adding two new options: “Auto-center me at ring game tables” and “Auto-center me at tournament tables”. If checked, each option will automatically seat you in the bottom center seat for the respective game type, unless you already have a Preferred Seat setting for a specific layout. For themes that don’t have a bottom center seat, you will be seated in the seat on the right of the bottom center of the table.

We will also make the option for tournaments on by default, while the one for ring games will be off by default.

Speed Filter Changes

In line with the changes to table speed posted here, the ring game filters will not have a “Speed” check box anymore. Same applies to Easy Seat. You can read more about those changes and discuss them in the thread linked above.

Enhancing the Groups Feature for Ring Games (TestPokerStars only for now)

We are adding different views for the ring game lobbies – this is an enhancement of the “Groups” feature that exists today. The changes for now are only deployed to TestPokerStars and we will be looking to add them to the clients in late February.

In short, we are introducing the notion of “Views” in the ring game lobby and will offer three views:

• Table View – this is the same view as today where all tables are shown in a single list.
• Group View – this is similar to today’s Group view – tables of the same type are grouped together and you can click a “Find Me A Seat” button to play at a table of this type. Here is a screen grab:

Click to see full-size image.

• Combo View – this view merges the above two views – you see a condensed version of the Group View and once you select a group you see all the tables within this group. Here is a screenshot:

Click to see full-size image.

We hope you will try out these different views and give us feedback on them, and how they can be improved.

Note: The above changes would only take effect once your gaming client has been updated, which could happen at different times for different players. Please ensure you are running PokerStarsUpdate.exe to get the update.[/list]

[titaniumbean]

ooooh more updates James, keep working lol.

[muckthenuts]

got any info about the introduction of zoom mtts?

[MC]

ooooh more updates James, keep working lol.

I do my best

got any info about the introduction of zoom mtts?

"Yes, we did an initial set of Beta tests and are deploying some fixes with this client update. We will then do another set of Beta tournaments and see if everything is running smoothly. At that point, we will see about when we will deploy more."

[MC]

For Full Tilt Poker

In the latest update:

A. Re-Entry Tournaments - If you bust from a re-entry tournament while late registration is still going and haven't reached that tournament's maximum number of entries, you can re-enter the tournament as a brand new player. Many of our biggest guarantees (The $500,000 Guarantee, various FTOPS events) that used to be Multi-Entry Tournaments will become Re-Entry. The first $500K with the change will be a week from this Sunday.

B. Ticket Balance Dialog Improvements- The Ticket Balance dialog (which you can get to from the Cashier in the Tickets section or from the "Requests->Check my Ticket Balance" option) has been completely revamped to allow you to easily see everything that you can use your tickets in. Click on a Ring Game ticket and see a list of Ring Games you can use it in. Click on a Tournament Ticket and see all of the tournaments/SNGs it can be used in.

C. 'Plrs/Flop', 'Plr/Drw' and 'Plr/4th' is now 'Active'  - Instead of calculating what percentage of players are seeing the flop (or 2nd draw in Draw, or 4th Street in Stud) on average, this column now calculates the average percentage of players voluntarily putting money into the pot each hand.

D. Automatically Decline Rematch Requests - You can now opt to automatically decline any rematch requests after a Heads-Up SNG instead of seeing the Rematch dialog. You can find the option under "Options->Table Options->Gameplay Settings..."

[MC]

Anyone who is Supernova+ got a bunch of e-mails over the last week about the plans in various departments. I thought I'd pick out the main points.

Cliff notes:

Software:
*PokerStars 7 software coming soon, will feature "Favourite games" and will eventually have achievements, challenges, social features and such for recs

Ring Games:
*A special solution to "ratholing" in the works, to be implemented by June 30th
*Zoom to be deployed for high stakes games (on a seemingly trial basis)
*Heads-Up Zoom pools to be deployed within the next few months
*5-Card PLO, 5-Card PLO Hi/Lo, and Courchevel games will be added soon

Tournaments:
*"Flighted" tournaments to be launched in upcoming Red Spade open
*Re-Entry tournaments to be added later this year
*"Mix-Max" tournaments also to be added
*Variable level times to be trialled, and highly likely to be utilized in "Action Hour" tournaments
*3 "Micro Millions" Series planned to run in 2013

SNGs:
*"Easy Seat" session controls to be introduced in the next few months (ie. auto registration a lá TableNinja SNG opener on TableNinja)
*MTT SNGs to have "Late Registration" (with a player cap) by mid-year (i.e. 180-mans to start running when 45 players are registered, with a 180 player cap)
*180-man tournaments now pay 27 instead of 18 (90-mans pay 13 instead of 12)
*Changes/revamp to Battle of Planets/alternative SNG promotions still being considered, elimination of the B.O.P. monthly freeroll is quite likely

[MC]

For Full Tilt Poker

There's a complete revamp of the FTP Tournament schedule

@FTPMarkus
"The new schedule will start appearing over the weekend and officially kick off at noon ET on Monday. We, uh, had some fun with the names."


Shyam's post on 2+2:

Thanks again for the continuing feedback. There is going to be plenty of room for changes/improvements over the next few weeks as players start playing the new schedule and giving specific comments.

At the moment the only new tournaments that are showing in the game are the tournaments that repeat weekly. Which, at the moment, means 5 tournaments or so. Given there are around 200 guarantees a day in the new schedule, it's safe to say it's still too early to judge the schedule.

Our main objective with the new schedule is to give tournament players something they'd be interested in playing no matter when they log in or what kind of tournament player they are.

The new schedule tries to follow a few general rules:

• The green color now means a tournament has satellites that feed into it.
• There is at least one green NLH guarantee on the hour every hour. Even if it's a $1 buyin, if it's green it has satellites. (Just about every tournament that starts on the hour is green.)
• There is also at least one NLH guarantee starting on the :20s and :40s. There is at least one non-NLH guarantee starting on the :10s, :30s, and :50s.
• The tournaments that start in-between the hour will mostly not have satellites and will remain pink. They will also in general have lower guarantees than the green guarantees.
• Speaking of guarantee amounts, we haven't gone crazy here. We want the schedule to develop organically, and we don't presume to know exactly which tournaments will prove to be the most popular. As the prize pools grow, we will raise the guarantees. So for now, expect a good number of smaller guarantees in the daily schedule.
• Satellites themselves will no longer be pink. Hopefully this will help draw more attention to the pink and green tournaments.

I also apologize in advance for some of the tournament names. Our goal with these names is to make certain tournaments more memorable. We take the poker seriously, but there's plenty of room for fun when it comes to the names and descriptions. It won't be for everyone, but hopefully people get into the spirit of it. (And I won't be firing myself for the Wednesday Webuy, sorry.)

Look for next Saturday's weekly events to appear in the schedule later today, but the bulk of the new schedule will start appearing tomorrow afternoon ET (tournaments will generally appear exactly 24 hours before they start).