Partypoker, one of the most popular online poker websites in the world was scheduled to host a Pokerfest starting on the 27th of September and the event was expected to draw hundreds of online poker players from around the world as it had a $2,500,000 guarantee. However, Partypoker has announced that the Pokerfest has been postponed to the 25th of October due to software concerns experienced by the website.
Partypoker apologized for this delay but stated that it wanted to address software connectivity issues that players have complained about before staging this major $2,500,000 guaranteed tournament. The Pokerfest will feature a total of 80 events including a special $50,000 freeroll that has been added to make up for the delay.
In a statement, Director of Games Labels for bwin.party Golan Shaked said:
“I apologize to our loyal players for having to delay this highly anticipated event. With a total prize pool of $2,500,000 up for grabs, we are not willing to take even the slightest risk with our players’ experience during the 80 events that make up Pokerfest. To make-up for the inconvenience, we have added a $50,000 freeroll to the updated schedule in appreciation of our customers’ loyalty.”
The website has also confirmed that it will re-credit buy-ins for players who have already registered for the September event and players who have won tickets to the Pokerfest via satellites need not worry as those tickets will remain valid for the October event. Partypoker will release a revised schedule of the 80 events within the next few days on its website.
This is not the first time that the Partypoker website is experiencing concerns with its online poker software. The site also faced issues back in 2014 when it faced issues over its Gibraltar ISP network issues forcing the website to cancel two Pokerfest event 38 with a $75,000 guarantee and event 39 which had a $150,000 guarantee. Online poker websites are often targeted by hackers and sometimes Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can penetrate the firewalls that online poker websites install.
Partypoker and 888poker websites were compromised after a DDoS attack in 2014 and since then both websites have invested heavily into upgrading their software. Partypoker has confirmed that this time the reason for postponing the Pokerfest is purely based on software connectivity issues and not a DDoS attack.
