PokerStars (+FTP) software improvements thread...

[marcro]

Bring back the Amazon gift vouchers to the VIP store!

[dakky]

will there be any zoom touneys in the near future ?

I spoke to a guy from stars at Fox's just before Zoom was rolled-out and he said these were a long way off

[MC]

We are planning to release a client update over the next few days that will introduce some new and exciting features. Estonian and .Net clients were already released and rest of clients are planned for the following days. Here are the details:

Table Themes Customization Improvements (Beta)

We are adding more improvements to the ability to customize the look of the tables. We are bringing all customization options into one dialog that is directly accessible from the table:

Click to see full-size image.

This dialog replaces the previous Table Themes dialog. Changes:

• All themes now support multiple felt and background options.
• Custom Felt Color. Don’t like the colors we have pre-selected? No problem, pick your own!
• More visibility to changing the deck front and back design.
• The back design of the deck is not tied to the front design of the deck, so you can mix and match.
• The dialog has a preview area of the table for quick feedback on the changes.
• We have added two new profiles, “All Sit & Go tables” and “All ZOOM tables”. So now you can have different felt color, background or theme based on the type of game. Just select a different profile from the “Apply To” drop-down and apply your changes to that profile.
• An option to apply the changes via the right-click table drop-downs to the current table only, as the default. This is accessed from the lobby via ‘View’ > ‘Right-Click: Apply Changes to This Table Only’.

Feedback and suggestions for improvement for the new options is always welcomed!

Table Groups (Beta)

We are making some changes to the way table groups work to streamline the user interface and improve functionality.

Click to see full-size image.

The biggest change is that the “Play Now” button (previously “Seat Me”) will now act like Easy Seat – if an empty seat does not currently exist, the player will be progressively added to waiting lists and the system will keep looking in the background for an empty seat at a table of this type. There are plans to even create new tables by seating players who are all using Play Now.

In addition, we have introduced a simpler initial view with a new toggle to see the list of tables and players, and we have removed the expanding/collapsing functionality.

We are making this feature available to real money players, but it is disabled by default. To enable the feature please go to ‘Options’ > ‘Lobby Display Options’ > ‘Group Similar Tables’.

Once the feature is active you will see an On/Off toggle in the main lobby that will allow you to easily revert to previous view. The toggle will only show if you don’t have Easy Seat enabled, due to space constraints.

We would love feedback from players on this feature!

Tournament Color Options (Beta)

We are adding a new menu in the ‘Options’ drop-down called ‘Tournament Color Options...’.

From this dialog you can configure what colors tournaments use in the main lobby and choose to disable certain colors. You can also disable all coloring of the lobby and just have a black and white lobby.

Easy Seat Advanced Options

We are adding the Filter advanced options to Easy Seat that will allow you to specify additional criteria for the tables Easy Seat considers. For example, min average pot, min average stack, etc.

Beta Options Menu

We have added a lot of new functionality over the past few updates and decided to add a new “Beta Options” menu that will allow players to easily see what the latest Beta features are. To access it simply go to ‘Options’ > ‘Beta options’.

As always, there are many small improvements to the existing product offering, especially around ZOOM poker. We are also fixing the tournament lobby update issue.

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.

[MC]

The new Table Theme thing is sweeeeeeeeeeeet

[MC]

This week we plan to release a new client update. A lot of effort this month went towards the release of the Spanish client, PokerStars.ES, but we are also releasing several features in addition to the work on the new license.

Prize Pool Column in Alternative Tourney View (Beta)

We are adding a prize pool column in the alternative tourney tab layout that will update in real time showing the prize pool of the tournament. If you have not enabled this view you can do so from “Options” > “Lobby Display Options” > “Enable Alternative Tournament List Layout (Beta)” and then you will see the prize pool column.

Please let us know if you spot any issues with the behavior of the column or have any general feedback about the new tournament lobby listing view.

Auto-Rebuy for Ring Games on .IT Client

We are rolling out auto rebuy for Ring Games on the PokerStars.IT client. Due to license requirements we had to implement a “table reserve” feature. This is needed since the Italian regulator AAMS needs to approve rebuys, and in the event of internet lag it could happen that when the approval is received, adding the entire rebuy amount would put the player above the table’s maximum buy in. In this event, the player’s amount on the table will be brought to table maximum and the remaining approved rebuy amount will be “reserved” on the table for future rebuys. Once you leave the table any outstanding reserved amount is credited back to your account balance. You can see any reserved amount in the “Info” tab on the table.

Showing List of Players in Main Lobby for Sit & Go’s up to 45 Players

We are adding the ability to see the registered players in up to 45-player Sit & Go’s (inclusive) directly from the main lobby.

Custom Time Zones

We are adding a “Custom” entry in the time zones dialog that allows you to specify a custom UTC offset in case your time zone or the Daylight Saving Time specific to your region is not currently supported.

Other changes

• VPPs earned in each hand (for Ring Games) will now show as an additional column in the “Instant Hand History” window.
• We have fixed the bug with design of backs of decks not being remembered sometimes.
• The timeout on the rematch window in Heads-Up Sit & Go’s has been reduced to 15 seconds (used to be 30 seconds).
• Currently on some themes (Nova, Slicks, and No Images) the action a player makes hides their User ID for a certain amount of time, e.g. it shows "Fold" as opposed to the user ID. With this update, we will half the time the action is displayed, so the User ID will be displayed back much quicker.
• We have improved the date of birth entry process for the PokerStars.FR client to allow for quicker entry.
• We have changed the VIP Progress Bar to show the amount of a milestone target, rather than the VPPs needed to achieve the target.
• We have fixed a problem with overlapping Add-on break and Sync breaks. Before, if an add-on break ended during the synchronized break, the tournament would restart. With this build the tournament will stay in sync break until the sync break ends.
• Various other bug fixes and small tweaks.

.EU, .EE and .IT clients were already updated and we are planning to finish the updates with Windows .COM client on Thursday. There could of course be delays from this schedule.

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.

[MC]

Unregister all will be really handy on occasion

...

BOOM!

We just enabled BOOM! on the .COM client earlier this week. As some of you have already seen, BOOM! allows you to share your poker hands in the format of a video, view hands shared by other players and Pros, and discuss hands. You can share hands either directly to Twitter or VKontakte from the client or to http://www.boomplayer.com, where you can watch, upload, or discuss hands. You can visit http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/products/boom-hand-replayer/ for more info.

Unregister from all Tournaments

We have enhanced the “Registered in Tournaments” dialog to allow you to unregister from multiple (or all) tournaments at the same time, and to also give you a better overview on the tourneys that you are currently registered for. You can access this from ‘Requests’ > ‘Registered in Tournaments’ in the main lobby or via the Ctrl+R shortcut from the main lobby.

Hotkey Tweaks and Improvements

We have done some small tweaks to Hotkeys. The biggest change is that we have added a new hotkey to bring the table requiring most urgent action to the front. You can set up the Hotkey by selecting “Go to ‘First Action’ Table” from the Hotkeys box. The way this hotkey works is the following:

a.   If a table is in focus that is not the table that needs action most urgently, the hotkey will bring the table where you need to act most urgently to the front.
b.   If the table where you need to act most urgently is in focus and you press the hotkey you will see the second most urgent table. Pressing the hotkey again will follow the logic in (a).

There a lot of other improvements, but most have no direct impact on game play.

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.

[TL900]

yay, unregister from all tournaments is cool. wp pokerstars

[MC]

We will be deploying a small client update over this week (Estonian and EU clients have already been released). Here are the most noticeable changes in this update:

Main Lobby Filters Placement Changes

We are improving the visibility of the elements that are below the list of games right now, i.e. filters and “Show registering/upcoming” button, by bringing them to be above the list of games. For the “Tourney” tab we are also bringing out the text search to be outside the filters as a separate search field.

 

Chat Emoticons <'))><

We are adding chat emoticons this update to the chat area to improve the chatting experience.

In addition to the standard emoticons that are shown in the Emoticons dialog, we also have three “hidden” emoticons:

• Fish   <'))><
• Donkey   &-B
• Shark   (^^^)

Typing the respective symbols above will show the hidden emoticons to other players on the table.

Improved Fonts at Small Tables

We are rolling out globally the improved fonts for tables at smaller sizes. For now we will keep the option to go back to the pervious fonts in case you run into any issues with the new fonts. To revert, please go to “Options” > “Table Display Options” and de-select “Larger Fonts on Small Tables”. Here is an image illustrating the differences for tables at smallest size:

New Deck Development

We are very close to finalizing a new deck (both front and back of the cards) for the client that will be deployed to the TestPokerStars site later in August for player testing. Here is a preview of the latest version of the deck:

Click to see full-size image.

The deck will be only in 4 color variant and the emphasis has been on simpler front and back of the deck. We are planning to release this to RM clients with the September client updates.


There are other smaller items being released, such as a GBP games filter, MAC visual table customization (same as on Windows), and various small bug fixes. Currently we plan to update .COM Mac client today (late European time) and .COM Windows client on Thursday. Regional clients are planned to be updated before end of the week. Clearly, there could be delays to this preliminary schedule.

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.[/QUOTE]

[stramash]

Hi, any news on when the iPad mobile app will be available for PokerStars.be ?

[MC]

Hi, any news on when the iPad mobile app will be available for PokerStars.be ?

I don't work for PokerStars, this is all just C+P from 2+2

[stramash]

lol, txs  I did wonder, thought maybe you had a hot line...

[MC]

lol, txs  I did wonder, thought maybe you had a hot line...

Fwiw I've seen a bunch of people ask similar questions on this thread (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/pokerstars-launches-mobile-version-1167136) and the usual reply is that they can't give any time frames...

[MC]

Hi, any news on when the iPad mobile app will be available for PokerStars.be ?

I've been reliably informed that it is available now...

[stramash]

deffo think you got a little red PokerStars phone icon on your desk top that flashes when there is news (....it is indeed there today...loading as I type 

[smashedagain]

Hi, any news on when the iPad mobile app will be available for PokerStars.be ?

I've been reliably informed that it is available now...

How you are not an online pro for stars amazes me. Who makes the decisions on this, anyone in the offices on the isle of wight?