The pandemic has turned the poker world upside down for the past two years, with a live poker shutdown due to restrictions and the result was a big step towards virtual meaning. While the world of live poker is back to normal now with the lifting of restrictions in much of the world, online poker operators like PokerStars are implementing improvements they first developed in response to the situation. unprecedented in the last two years.
Pokerfuse had previously reported that the operator launched WebCam Tables on its web application late last year. This feature has been extended to desktop and mobile applications and is currently only available in the UK market.
The great new feature is a built-in video chat feature that allows players to interact with their friends in real time while they play.
The optional webcam feature is a big step in bringing the world of online poker closer to live gaming with direct face-to-face interaction now built into the customer from the start. While many gamers hacked solutions during the pandemic using existing video conferencing software that many gamers already used for work, solutions like the new video chat integrated with Home Games make it a perfect operation.
Last verified: April 2022
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Poker face to face
One of the things the pandemic showed to the industry was that live poker matters in many ways. The massive shutdown initiated by the pandemic was devastating to the income of the brick-and-mortar casinos, and players missed the opportunity to play the cash games and tournaments they enjoyed, but perhaps most importantly, thousands of live games at home became impossible, leaving players eager to interact with their friends to whom they had become accustomed.
When the restrictions of COVID-19 turned off the lights of the live poker scene around the world, many of these players struggled online to find a way to continue playing the game they enjoy. While many operators like PokerStars already had gaming style platforms at home for players to create their own games and others were quick to create them, what was missing from their live family games was real-world interaction. with friends.
Many gamers already used video conferencing platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams to work remotely or to keep in touch with friends and family. Many of these players hacked solutions combined with their favorite online poker provider to try to recreate the atmosphere of the games they lost.
A number of traders went into the void before this latest PokerStars move. Poker Industry PRO detailed the history of operators who tested video chat options, but aside from 888poker’s little-used webcam tables, this is the first step toward integrated video chat from a major video chat operator. online poker.
Integrated in a single package
The key innovation is the integrated platform. Hacked solutions usually involve running multiple applications in order for all the necessary interaction to work, and the new integrated client puts it all in one place.
Players in the UK will no longer have to activate Zoom or Skype with their poker client – the new PokerStars UK home games have a video chat feature built into the tables from the start. However, voice and video chat features are completely under the control of the player, so you don’t have to worry about security.
One of the dangers of video conferencing from home is unexpected interruptions and other incidents that should not be transmitted to the world. With individual controls for each player, you can mute the microphone and / or turn off the camera to preserve your privacy when needed.
However, the real question is not about functionality, but about the need for webcams to fill online poker. There is no doubt that the pandemic created many pirated online home games that included video conferencing, but with the lifting of restrictions, many of these games have returned to their roots around a basement poker table. .
Online video chat home games filled a huge gap left by live game restrictions, but even for those who attended, they were rarely a real substitute for sitting around a table. real poker with friends and beer on a friday night. With the return of these live games, the open question is whether players will want to play online with webcams when they can only meet friends around a real table.
Last verified: April 2022
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Global home games
The main bonus that players will get from integrated online home gaming platforms is the global reach. By necessity, poker played around a real table is a local affair, with participants coming from a small geographical area.
In many ways, this is what made them attractive in the past: they were the place to hang out with local friends and play cards. But one of the trends in the online world, accelerated by the speed of light by the pandemic, is that social groups are often no longer geographically limited.
In the modern world, we have friends from all over the world, people we’ve met through online poker communities and beyond. For traditional home games, it has been impossible, or at least very complicated, to include these distant friends.
Online video conferencing home games want to change that, making home gaming global rather than local. With integrated video chat, it is now very easy to run a game at home with players from all continents interacting live with each other, which was almost impossible to do around a kitchen table.
