20 Jul 10

Hili Shakked Interview: "The new 888 software is cool and modern"

We recently got the chance to talk to 888poker about the upcoming updates of their software. Learn what you can expect in terms of design, tournaments and other feautures.

888poker, one of the sponsors of the past Black Member Events, has updated its software. Both beginners and advanced players will benefit from the new features.

The official launch is at the end of the month, but you can already download the updated version of the software in English.

We asked Hili Shakked, poker room and network manager, about the new software.

Interview with Hili Shakked

PokerStrategy.com: Can you summarise for us the most important improvements regarding the new software? What are the biggest changes in comparison to your previous software client?

Green table layout

Hili Shakked: After fixing infrastructure (connectivity issues) and adding dozens of missing basic poker features in the prior product releases, we reached a point where we had to redesign the outdated user interface, by taking into consideration the needs of various types of players, mainly the beginners.

There are over 100 changes in the software; the noticeable ones are in the table design: the 2 new types of lobbies, one for beginners (1-click) and another for the advanced players that includes multi tabbing (browser like), filters and options.

Late Registration for tournaments, a time bank and the new structure of the tournament lobby are additional and noticeable changes, which together with the sweet "animal tag-icons" are quickly becoming very popular among the players. We have now a stable, slick looking new platform that enables us to take 888poker through its next steps.

"The Black Members provided many valuable remarks"

The lobby

PokerStrategy.com: How many of these new changes were made according to user feedback? How did the Black Members influence software development?

Hili Shakked: After finishing the initial design, we initiated several focus groups (beginners and advanced players; 888poker players and those who play in other rooms) that provided an additional valuable input. An example is that we added the "Beginners Lobby" to the scope of the project following these group sessions.

We had a workshop at the Black members annual event in Munich where we presented a preview of the new software, and while the initial feedback was extremely positive, the Black members provided many valuable remarks and comments – many of which were implemented in the current release.

We then invited tmy, one of the Black Members, to be one of the 3 alpha testers who were the first to use the new software in production, and he provided additional feedback. This included spotting a major design bug that we quickly fixed.

Final Table Heads-up

PokerStrategy.com: How far are you with the development of this new software? When do you expect it to be available for the users?

Hili Shakked: DEV is done. At the end of July it will be available for all players in most of our supported languages.

PokerStrategy.com: What are your plans for the current table cap? Do you plan to increase it as part of this new software or in any other upcoming client updates?

Hili Shakked: The current release does not address this issue. It is a business decision; software is very stable and we can run as many tables as we want.

PokerStrategy.com: What hardware do I need so as to enjoy the all new gaming experience of 888poker?

Hili Shakked: Any standard machine will do…

PokerStrategy.com: Which further features are you planning to introduce after this software upgrade?

Hili Shakked: Our focus is on beginners and the next releases will have features addressing this segment.

Discuss the new software in our forums