Follow-up: One of the team reminded me that we do have another security measure that is freely available to all players and which offers substantially what you're looking for: SMS Validation.

Here is a brief description and FAQ:

https://www.pokerstars.com/poker/roo...smsvalidation/

To access this feature in the client, go to Account > Phone, enter your mobile number and click 'VALIDATE SMS'.


================

thx keith i already have sms enabled. the problem with sms is it doesnt validate logins, it is protection of ur account after the login (suspicious activities trigger it). i would prefer for it to be attached to the login itself. better to stop the login then to do damage control after the hacker already has access to ur account. which leads me back to google authenticator

hello

i have quite a small issue but it does happen many times a day and if there could be a fix that would be great

it happens when you have selected the bet box on a table and attempt to type in your bet size whilst simultaneously being eliminated from another tournament. the focus will be moved from the betbox and you end up typing into nothing. this means you have to click back into the betbox which can be quite a hinderance when playing many tables.

obviously understand if this is not high priority but if there would be a way to stop it that would be great I described what's happening to a couple of grinder friends and they also said that it happens to them regularly.

^ make sure dont steal focus and highlight bet amount r enabled under multi-tabling options

Hmmm didn't have highlight bet amount ticked. thankyou will see if that fixes it

edit: nope it still did it

edit edit: tableninja2 got mad at me and said to untick that. maybe it is a problem with TN2

I am doing some troubleshooting , may have been a problem on my end all along. thankyou itsonlychips

ya im thinking if its a focus issue, then TN2 is likely the problem

think it is fixed. <3 that has been bothering me for ages feel a bit stupid that it was so simple haha

the setting "auto close tournament without notification" - does this also involve when you finish in 1st place (for example in a satellite if you win entry) ?

Having that checked will close the finished game yes (If you win entry and the game has already started it will still open the tournament), if you are using TN2 you can adjust the amount of seconds you want to leave the table open until it will auto close.

Damn okay. That setting in TN2 is the one I was using before. I just switched to the pokerstars one and ticked all the settings that itsonlychips said and it is no longer stealing focus when auto closing tables.

My suggestion to Keith after all of the above is:
please let us set a timer up to 5 seconds before tables are automatically closed using the pokerstars setting "auto close tournament without notification". Default would be 0.5 or whatever the current amount of time is

It should not be happening if it is selected through TN2, however TN2 is difficult to get right as some settings will conflict with Stars settings and vice versa so you have to mess around with them. Go to the TN2 thread and explain your issue they will ask for log files and then will identify which settings you need to change in both then you can run the timer for auto closing again with TN.

thanks mate

What about tournament results.? Basically I had about 2 millions play chips and played a couple tourneys and I didn't get a prompt that I won any chips after busting out . The next day I had 4.5 million or so and do not know where it came from. I requested a purchase history but didn't get anything back yet. I know it's only play chips so it's probably not a priority but I do appreciate the help. I've been with stars since the beginning and bf really screwed me up and even though it's play chips , I can only find the games I want to play on stars. Also the software is terrific just wish there was more account history. Thanks again

Okay - I'll forward the suggestion to the team.

I've enjoyed reading the conversation - thanks to you, OditeRussia and ItsOnlyChips.

Understood, thanks. We have people looking at security measures. I do know that the team is aware of Google Authentication and that several players have requested it, but at this time I have no details I can share about which direction they are taking.

A new install should have desktop pointing to the updating .exe, so something is wrong here. I just tested with .COM and it works as expected (update .exe). It's possible that installing over existing version does not modify the desktop icon (and that you may have had the existing version pointing to the non-updating .exe), but it's also possible we have a bug. The team is investigating.

In any case, you can manually modify the icon to point to the updating .exe.

would it be possible to also display late registration information in the main lobby for games that have not yet started? it currently will show this information only once the tournament enters late registration. (see picture for where i mean)

If you're not sure where the chips came from, then perhaps you received a promotion or bonus based on prior purchases of Play Money chips. Please contact Support - they will be able to help you figure it out.

Hey folks and Stars support...

For convenience and to reduce confusion, what is the most recent "best practice" suggestion in terms of how to fix a Pokerstars v7 on Windows 8 where the "PokerstarsUpdate.exe" never connects, but I can presently run the normal Pokerstars.exe?

In other words, what do I need to backup to retain all of...
-my player notes/labels
-my Favorites
-my client preferences/settings
-my location paths for hand history etc.

+1.


Also remember a few years ago "Cashout Tournaments"? They have been removed from FTP (not sure when that happened) but I wonder if Stars could ever bring them back (either site, if it's a marketing/audience issue)

... I can't imagine any down side for a site to offer them*, heck in theory it means your tournament will end faster because some % of people will "cashout" earlier than they would normally bust out (e.g. super nits who got lucky early and want to Take The Money And Run or perhaps have a family emergency etc.) and they are similar to satellites in a way -- letting people have the potential to get more than just 1.5x-4x their buyin back without having to make a final table in a huge field.



* unless Mel Judah's was asking for too high a licensing cost to continue offering them? http://www.cashoutpoker.com/history-of-the-game

Click help then open my settings folder from there you can find NOTES.username.XML this is your notes file also see the configuration settings file called USER this is where your client preferences are located and possibly your favourites but I am unsure of that. Back them up in an external folder or email them to your self then if these files come corrupted place them back in this location.

Yes, but is that "location of settings folder" setting ITSELF always the same hard-coded path? And if not, then where is THAT setting saved?

I do know that the "user.ini" file is located inside here

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\PokerStars

instead of the more common %APPDATA% which is
C:\Users\[username]AppData\Roaming

...so it would be nice to know the "minimal list of every custom user file to backup [for whatever reason, whether a new machine, or an uninstall+reinstall, etc.), and where each of them are located by default" or similar. From the Official Voice of PS, ideally.



EDIT:

Okay so I discovered this other thread from 3 or 4 years ago...
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...issue-1057500/

And I want to confirm, the instructions in above are still accurate? i.e. is it safe to presume that the DEFAULT path for all the custom user files is

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\PokerStars

AND the only 3 files to backup (because they get nuked during an uninstall/reinstall) are these...

#1 PREFERENCES stored inside "user.ini" (if you are hiding extensions, then a "gears" icon with a name of just "user")

#2 notes.xml ("notes" if hiding extensions)

#3 notes.[screenname].xml ("notes.[screenname]" if hiding extensions)

AND file #1 is ALWAYS in the above path for Windows Vista/7/8, but #2 and #3 can be changed to somewhere else if the user selects in the client -- and thus is discoverable via "Help" -> "Open My Settings Folder"

(...and re. the rest of my request above: hand history of course should be retained even during an uninstall, right?)

iirc cashout tournaments were fundamentally flawed insofar as cashing out at any point was the equivalent of lighting money on fire. I guess FTP realised this and removed them to protect the recreational players?

EDIT of EDIT:

Okay so I discovered this other thread from 3 or 4 years ago...
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...issue-1057500/

And I want to confirm, the instructions in above are still accurate? i.e. is it safe to presume that the DEFAULT path for all the custom user files is

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\PokerStars
(also opened by clicking "Help" -> "Open My Settings Folder")

AND the only 3 files to backup (because they get nuked during an uninstall/reinstall) are these...

#1 PREFERENCES stored inside "user.ini" (if you are hiding extensions, then a "gears" icon with a name of just "user")

#2 notes.xml ("notes" if hiding extensions)

#3 notes.[screenname].xml ("notes.[screenname]" if hiding extensions)

AND file #1 is ALWAYS in the above path for Windows Vista/7/8, but #2 and #3 can be changed to somewhere else if the user selects in the client somewhere?

And #2 and #3 only exist if you have typed text notes for users, right? Because since I "started over" with Stars v7, they are missing in mine, but I just use color coding for labels, that's it.

*ACTUALLY I just noticed in the client, "Settings" --> "Gameplay" --> "Player Notes" is where you can change the folder path, which I had done... the XML file exists in my custom folder! (Also I changed the folder path for hand history -- under "Settings" --> "Playing History" -- of course this folder should be retained even during an uninstall, right?)

That makes no sense! Since when has Stars removed options from users that give a new variety of gam[bl]ing? Especially if it reduces the time to complete a tourney?



Look online and read the "sales pitch" web pages that FTP put out there when they first offered Cashout mtts. They mentioned legit reasons why they might be a good option from the standard "only Top 3 makes any decent payout" tournaments.


Yes, obviously anyone who knows ICM and late game / bubble play etc. would rightly say "cashing out early when you ran like Galfond is -EV longterm" etc. but what about the RECs?

Those recs who like the emotional feeling of building a stack ... but then as the bubble approaches HATE the feeling of getting crushed by solid late-game MTT grinders... and never do more than a min-cash? Cashout tournaments were GREAT for them.


And since when did an e-gaming site protect its customers from making mathematically-bad actions / investment choices within the rules of the game they offer?

Nope, I disagree with you, I very much doubt the CO MTTs disappeared because of being "fundamentally flawed"; my guess is either Mel Judah & Co. were asking for too much $ to keep them (since a huge site like PS or even FTP would pay a bigger fee than a small site or a live room!), OR the tournament managers analysed things and found that too few recs were playing them -- especially after Black Friday -- and thus they became reg-infested pretty quickly and thus were no different than normal MTTs ... and stopped making guarantees etc. most likely.



I personally would LOVE to play Cashouts nowadays, whether at FTP or Stars, even if less than 100 runners ... since I am on a pretty limited bankroll AND time availability, and when I am in the mood for MTTs I am single-tabling usually, not 24-tabling like all of you sharks!

I stick mostly to micro-stakes cash games especially because of the time flexibility. But Cashout MTTs removed the sometimes-painfully-boring money-bubble stages of MTTs that are fine when playing LIVE but when you are sitting at a silent nit-infested online table where everyone is taking 20 seconds each to FOLD, or mathematically-properly shove or re-shove? Ugh. What a variance rollercoaster just to min-cash, let alone make more than my buyin back! In those cases I would LOVE to just cash me out (fully most likely, or maybe just mostly and leave myself 10bb and basically freeroll the luck-based phase of the tourney).

Now that option is gone on the biggest online site