888 Poker appears to have recovered from a six week stretch of intermittent connectivity problems that kept their technical team working “around the clock”, while players took to the major poker forums, including CardsChat, to air numerous frustrations over the matter.
Support personnel from 888 were on hand to reassure players that resolving the site-wide connection problems was their utmost priority, and issued free tickets to “apology” freerolls to placate the understandably disgruntled players.
Unfortunately however, the ongoing issues prevented many would-be players from accepting 888’s apology gifts, as either they could not connect to enter the tournaments, or were disconnected while playing them.
Official progress statements on the matter were posted across several poker sites, and Sean McGlashan, 888’s Senior VIP Poker Marketing & Community Manager, chimed in at 888’s forums:
“Resolving the connectivity issue, and having solutions for when it happens, is our highest priority at the moment. I apologize for any failings we may have had in the past, but returning our service to you at a higher standard than it was previous to the connectivity issues is our mission…thank you for your patience and support as we work to provide you with a better 888poker experience.”
Mission Accomplished (So Far So Good)
Over the last weekend, 888 averaged 2400 cash game players, the highest since early in March, and an 8.5% increase over the same time last year. Complaints of connectivity-related issues fell off as well, even as the number of seats occupied increased.
While the root cause of the problem wasn’t given, the following statement was offered regarding improvements and preventive measures:
“On top of major connectivity enhancements, we will add a ‘pause tournament’ feature in the coming days that will enable us to temporarily pause tournaments whenever we notice high level of network disruptions. Tournament clocks will standstill during this pause – same as in the hourly break of the tournaments. We will resume the tournaments once the network returns to normal behavior or cancel the tournaments…players [are] refunded in accordance with our disconnection policy.” -888Max
With the connectivity problems hopefully behind them, the road has been paved for the flurry of activity 888 has come to expect during winter months, as online poker action begins to heat up into the New Year. The company saw a 30% increase in cash game traffic last January for example.
IT Happens
888 isn’t the only poker provider who has experienced technical difficulties of late. Last September, PartyPoker’s Garden State Super Series Main Event apparently drew so many players that the servers crashed, prompting the tournament to be cancelled.
It certainly spoke to the popularity of the tournament, if not to adequate load-testing, and allowed Party to anticipate the potential for higher traffic in the future.
Whatever the problem 888 experienced, hopefully the new enhancements they’ve implemented will allow the games to go on during any future hiccups in service.
Until then, sincere thanks to 888 representative “888Max” for his professionalism in keeping CardsChat forum members updated during the downtime.
