PartyPoker’s Director of Poker, Jeffrey Haas, has spat out a series of honest answers to some juicy questions raised by the team at eGaming Review, in particular, relating to the software revamp that took place almost a year ago.
“I think we almost committed genericide with the new branding which launched in September 2013,” PartyPoker’s Director of Poker, Jeffrey Haas, told eGaming Review in an exclusive interview.
We have a straight talking chief of a major online poker organization. I like where this is going.
To say that the revamped software launch of September 2013 was a disaster is cutting it mildly. Genericide? Within hours of the new launch the PartyPoker regulars were ready to commit mouse and keyboard genocide.
“It distilled poker to such a base level that it meant very little to people. It did not have the substance or character required to resonate with players in a meaningful way.” Said Haas.
They promised their players that they would ‘experience a new kind of online poker’ and that the ‘game was changing’ and yet, after experiencing the changes, the regulars just wanted things put back to the way they were before.
The change came on the back of a movement started a long time ago by Jonas Odman and his Recreational Poker Model. Odman was an innovator, but by the time PartyPoker had swung into action, it seemed as if everyone was just ‘Keeping up with the Joneses.’
But Haas believes there is still plenty of innovative rope that online poker rooms can swing into action on.
“There is room to innovate in poker, despite what many industry pundits say. We need to create a better gaming experience, not just continually recycle the same ideas. That’s what we’re working with our dot.com product, with the intent to provide players with a more fun recreational experience that means they play more hands over more sessions with the same bankrolls.”
What better place to innovate that the burgeoning online poker market in the US. PartyPoker are currently sitting atop of that pile of operators courtesy of their relationship with the Borgata, and World Poker Tour (WPT), and with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker sure to follow, Haas remains upbeat about mixing it up with the big boys.
“Will it be tough to hang on to top spot? Yes. Do I fear my competitors? No, I welcome them. New competition coming to the market will stimulate the market for everybody.”
The full edition of the Jeffrey Haas article will be published in the August edition of eGaming Review North America.
