PartyPoker anonymizes hand histories, bans seating scripts

GVC Holdings’ PartyPoker brand is taking further steps toward improving its online poker ecology, including anonymizing player hand histories.

On Tuesday, PartyPoker announced a further round of changes to its cash game rules, following up on changes made in October 2015. Those changes included masking the names of opponents until players were seated at their table and the first hand was dealt, as well as prohibiting players from downloading and saving hand histories.

The new changes, which take effect Oct. 5, reverse the prohibition on downloading hand histories but, while a player’s own screen name will remain visible in these downloads, opponents’ names will be listed anonymously (Player 1, 2, 3, etc.). Players will retain the ability to view hands played, win rates and such, but cannot automatically compile detailed stats on a specific opponent.

PartyPoker’s hand history switcheroo will be less effective than the fully anonymous poker tables pioneered by the Bodog Poker Network’s Jonas Ödman in 2011, but PartyPoker’s recreational players will have reason to feel slightly more safe from the network’s data mining predators.