[Interview] With Jeffrey Haas On partypoker’s New Look, Achievements and Missions

Online poker is increasingly big business with an average of almost 90’000 players getting involved across the top 60 poker websites around the world everyday.

So for that reason one of the big players, partypoker, has decided to take a new tact to encourage more players to join it’s ranks with their twist on online poker that involves achievements, rewards and mission-based gaming. The changes have be rung in with a much cleaner and approachable site design, that removes the clutter and makes it much easier for gamers to choose the games/tournaments they want to play, as well as connecting with friends.

Navigating the new look site is easy thanks to a straightforward tab design, down the left sits your profile/settings and along the top players will find the different game options. I’ve flirted with online poker a few times, but playing on partypoker since it’s relaunch is the first time I felt a genuine sense of fun whilst risking my life savings on a card game – I kid, I kid. But seriously, the addition of achievements and missions gives games a welcomed sense of excitement and bizarrely seemed to improve my play, perhaps because it gave me a focus.

10 million achievements have been earned since the partypoker relaunch, showing that already a lot of other people are enjoying the improvements. Even professional poker players are getting involved more online, pro-player and fellow Brit Chris Moorman has brought in over $10,000,000, becoming the most successful online player last month when he broke the record with a $9,500 win from a £215 partypoker tournament.

I spoke to partypoker boss Jeffrey Haas to find out more about his plans for online poker:

CJ. What’s changed in the past 10 years that you’ve worked in the online poker industry?

JH. The industry has changed in many ways, but most notably in the sense that it has truly become a truly international, we use to primarily focus on North America and Nothern Europe, now that’s all changed and it’s a really exciting time.

CJ. Tell us more about the new partypoker software.

JH. We’re leading the market in terms of social interaction with our missions, achievements, profiles and sharing features inside a real money poker client.

CJ. How are you hoping to attract people who have never typically played online poker before?

JH. We’re creating a meta-game on top of poker, so if you want to make the game more exciting and fun we’re giving you the opportunity to do that through special missions and if you complete them you’ll have a chance to win great prizes. For example, this month we’re giving away 100 Sony Playstation 4‘s, and players have the opportunity to win them whether they’re playing for free or if they’re playing in real money tournaments.

CJ. Attitudes towards gambling vary from being seen as harmless fun, to a serious and frowned upon activity, how do you combat that?

JH. I think people instantly associate poker with money and we wanted to change that. We’re looking to build a wider base of players and the social features allow for that and work well for mobile gaming too. And if you don’t have any money to spend, we encourage you to come and play anyway. You can play for free and learn the game – and please, learn the game before you start investing any of your hard earned money!

CJ. So what’s the incentive for partypoker if you’re encouraging people to play for free?

JH. partypoker benefits from having players out there who enjoy playing on our software, I would invite the entire world to come and play for free with partypoker and still give away prizes in tournaments. It’s important, not only to have many poker players in general, but to also have good players, and you get good from playing. So if people want to minimize they’re risk and get experience, they can put in low volume from 5p to £5 or play for free.

 CJ. So with this new approach, how far do you think you can take online poker? What’s the next big thing for you guys?

JH. Going forward we’re aiming to have a real strong focus on mobile. We want to build the best mobile poker products in the world, by creating games and interfaces that are easy-to-use and help players to have great experiences when they come to our tables, and we’re going to do that by doing things that nobody else has done before.

We predict that by mobile gaming will account for 30% of online poker by 2014. With the new partypoker software, we aim to make playing poker on a mobile more intuitive with features such as the one-click lobby making it easier for players to find the game they want to play, on the move.

CJ. Do you have any top tips for our readers who are interested in playing online poker?

JH. If you want to be a successful, profitable online poker player, you should be patient, wait for the right cards and play your premium hands and pay attention to your position so that you can take advantage of where you are in the action. Also, play at a fraction of your bank roll, if you have £100 to play, enter the £5 tournaments so that you can play for longer, rather than the £100 tournaments that will only keep you playing if you win.

So there you have it friends, mobile and online poker is big business and it’s now targeting the competitive and gamers amongst us. Given the opportunity to play for free, just for fun and still be in the running for top prizes through achievements, missions and tournaments make partypoker’s offering as an app and web client an exciting  prospect. I’m just a little scared that I may get hooked and put my house on the table, but fortunately – unlike Vegas – partypoker will only accept money, which writers aren’t particularly familiar with! 😛