What happened to pokerstars. PokerStars blocked in Russia: problems with launching the client and removal from the App-store. What awaits us

Essence: The lion's share of problems why the official website and PokerStars client does not work is blocking by the provider. It just so happened that the operation of online poker rooms (in fact, like many other online gambling establishments) is prohibited in Russia. The ban order comes from Roskomnadzor, and the blocking is carried out by the providers themselves.

Solution: What are the ways out, how to access PokerStars bypassing the blocking? To solve the problem of blocking Russian-speaking users, the room created several mirror sites that are identical in functionality to the official website. To go to Personal Area, work with the cash register and sit down at the tournament tables, the player is required to enter the same login password as during registration.

Often “mirrors” are also blocked. In this case, you can try to change your IP address using VPN services and logging into the Poker Stars website will supposedly be from another country.

The third solution to the problem is special browser settings. Opera and Yandex have a “Turbo” mode, which you can switch to with one click. In this mode, mechanisms are activated that compress data packets, which allows you to bypass the blocking problem.

And another backup option is the Tor browser, which is so confidential that it does not save the user’s personal data, browsing history, or login passwords.

Downloads in the AppStore

Essence: If you go to the AppStore, you may be unpleasantly surprised by the fact that the PokerStars application for iOS is again unavailable to the Russian-speaking population.

Solution: To avoid headaches and easily download the client to your iPad or iPhone, you need to register an account with a foreign ID (Canada, USA or wherever you wanted to visit). After re-entry from the native “ID” the application works like a clock.

How to install mobile version Poker Stars, we wrote in this manual.

Damage during downloading (installation)

Essence: If we talk about a desktop or mobile client, then it happens that Poker Stars does not start due to simple corruption of files at the time of downloading.

We wrote about how to properly download and install the application on your computer.

Solution: In the folder with all the programs we find the crippled software, delete it, and download a new “exe” from the site to the free space.

Blocking by antivirus

Essence: There is no connection to PokerStars at all? Sometimes a clever built-in antivirus considers the room client to be a malicious program and blocks it upon startup or at the time of downloading the application from the official website.

Solution: Disable your antivirus during startup PokerStars client and see how the software behaves. If everything starts well, then simply add the application to the list of trusted programs.

Infected file

Essence: Quite rarely, but sometimes it happens that PokerStars does not load due to an infected file. Such cases usually occur if the user downloads the installation file from the left resource.

Solution: Place the virus file in quarantine, run a deep scan of your computer, and after it is completed, download the software again.

To avoid infecting your entire computer, download the client only from the official website of the room or its mirrors. This is where you will receive guaranteed harmless software.

Program error message

Essence: This type of problem existed before our technological era, but we still decided to talk about it. When the client was launched (or in the middle of a game), the following error message popped up on the monitor: “PokerStars Client Software (APPCRASH) has stopped working.” The application would freeze or the connection would immediately drop.

Solution: The reason is this incorrect operation client - corruption of the user.ini file in the software settings. To solve the problem, you need to go to the installation folder, find the clumsy file and delete it permanently. The client works like new (in every sense).

Technical work on the room website

Let's note right away: An extremely rare reason why PokerStars does not work. Technical work on the room's website is certainly being carried out. But they are always warned about this in advance.

We told you only some of the reasons why PokerStars does not load. In practice, there are much more of them (how many users - so many potential problems). Fortunately, the room is doing everything to ensure that issues with downloading and installing clients, as well as access to tournaments for Russian-speaking users, are as few as possible.

In any case, remember that the room has a 24-hour support service that is ready to answer all your questions 24/7.
Play online poker for real money and win real money!

Many poker room users have encountered the problem of the client suddenly stopping working.

The PokerStars application began to freeze and turn off during the game, knocking out a window with the following error: “The program has stopped working” PokerStars Client Software" (APPCRASH)»:

PokerStars support has been notified of this issue several times and its representatives assure that they are working to resolve all issues. possible reasons problems.

In most cases, the reason the application does not work correctly is corruption of the user.ini file in the PokerStars settings.

On this moment The poker room support offers users to solve the problem of involuntary closing of the PokerStars client as follows:

1. Delete the User.ini or User file in the PokerStars settings.

2. Restart the application.

Please note that after deleting this file, all your settings in the application will return to their default positions, so you will need to set them again yourself.

Some users, after deleting the User file, noticed problems with the operation of Hold'em Manager, but they also promise to fix this problem.

There are two ways to find the User or User.ini file on PokerStars.

First way:

Launch the PokerStars application;

Select the “Help” menu in the right pane and select the “Open My Settings folder” command from the list;

Turn off PokerStars program, as soon as the settings folder opens;

Remove the User.ini or User file from the open folder;

Restart the PokerStars client.

Second method (in case you cannot open PokerStars):

Press the Win+R key combination on your keyboard (you will usually find the "Windows" button in the lower left corner of the keyboard between the "Ctrl" and "Alt" keys)

A “Run” pop-up window will open in front of you:

In the search bar, type or copy and paste the following text: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local and press Enter;

Find the folder of your poker client (usually it is called “PokerStars”) and open it;

Find the User or User.ini file and open it in any text format except Word (Notepad is best). This can be done by right-clicking on the file and selecting the “Open with...” - “Notepad” command.

It is important that when performing these actions with the User file, the PokerStars program is closed.

At the end of the file (immediately after the last line), paste the following text:

WriteCallStack=1

Save the file, leaving it in the same place (CTRL+S)

Restart the PokerStars client.

These simple steps will help you get the PokerStars program working properly. Many users noted that after performing the above actions, the PokerStars application began to work correctly and only some had problems with the operation of third-party software.

If these steps do not help fix the problem, you should contact the poker room support service ( [email protected]) and send them a copy of the log files. It is also worth clarifying whether you are using third-party software (poker software) to play on PokerStars and which one.

The fourth technical failure in four days is already serious. What's happening with PokerStars, and why don't the official representatives of the room name the cause of the breakdown?

First connection loss

Netizens are indignant: what happened to? On Sunday, August 12, at the height of the most popular ones, a technical failure occurred in the system. According to members of the poker community, the server crashed at approximately 10:30 p.m. And at 23:06 Moscow time the following message appeared on the room’s Twitter account:

“Please accept our apologies as we are currently experiencing technical issues. We are working to rectify the situation as soon as possible."

It’s interesting that for some reason the players who stayed on the server the longest were from Bulgaria, Romania and Belgium.

It looked something like this:

At 1:15 Moscow time the resumption of work was confirmed on Twitter:

“Our technical problems are now resolved. We apologize to all affected players. While some refunds have already been issued in accordance with our tournament cancellation policy, we will continue to evaluate whether additional refunds are needed."

Daily crashes

The very next day it happened second break communications for almost the whole day. The room had to cancel all events, as well as compensate all costs to users.

When PokerStars established its work, less than 24 hours later, a another failure. This time the server was down for a little over two hours.

After each failure, an official announcement about technical problems and compensation to players appeared on the room’s Twitter account.

On the night of August 14-15 there was another major failure. As is tradition, a message already familiar to all players appeared on Twitter. Users were also unable to finish the started tournaments. In accordance with PokerStars' current tournament cancellation policies, each player will receive compensation. The room's operation at night was resumed after about an hour.

Official representatives of PokerStars do not name the reasons for the technical failures, but a theory has already appeared on the Internet that the recent DDoS attacks on and the problems of PokerStars are related and are the work of one hacker (or group of hackers).

Anyone who has questions related to technical problems, representatives of the room recommend contacting technical support.

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The company that owns PokerStars has 2.5 million people playing poker in this room. Every day, topics are created on popular Russian-language and foreign forums where players ask for solutions to their problems.

Often these difficulties are general and widespread. We have collected the 5 most common problems that players at PokerStars have to face and have prepared a short guide on how to fix these problems in 5 minutes.

Problem #1: PokerStars is blocked by the provider - How to bypass the block

Due to the “uncertain” status of poker in Russia and Ukraine, it is not always possible to enter poker rooms or poker sites. Largest PokerStars room also falls under the ban of Russian and Ukrainian Internet providers. What to do if PokerStars does not start?

3 effective ways to “unblock” Starza:

• Turbo mode in Opera and Yandex browsers.
• Hola Browser Extension
• Anonymizer sites

If the client itself is blocked: click on . After the transition, the room client will be updated and will work as before.

Also, PokerStars itself allows the use of a VPN - we found out.

There is another similar problem that occurs among players from Russia when. Some players encountered it in 2019. The fact is that Russians cannot play on PokerStars.com after switching to PS.Sochi. This rule does not apply to PokerStars Ukraine and Belarus players.

Residents of these countries can request support to return from the Sochi client to the global one. So if you play at PokerStars in Ukraine and accidentally switched to PokerStars Sochi, then it won’t be difficult for you to go back. At least until the PokerStars Ukraine client appeared.

Often when switching from the Sochi client, players, instead of PokerStars.com. If for some reason pokerstars.eu does not work, the same 3 above methods of “unblocking” PokerStars will help you.

But keep in mind that PokerStars.com, PokerStars.eu and PokerStars Sochi are essentially identical poker room clients with the same lobby and the same field of players. The only difference is that they have different licenses and the com version also has a casino and sports betting.

Problem No. 2: The huge size of the pokerstars.log file – How to prevent it from growing to 120 GB

Until now, the PS has not finally solved this problem for all users. Some poker players still haven’t found a simple solution. And those who still constantly monitor the file size and delete it every time quickly realize that it is tedious. Sometimes this problem is accompanied by an error called: "Detecting OpenGl support pokerstars".

The following method helped most:

1. Open the main Pokerstars lobby
2. Click "Help", then "Open my settings". You will see a new folder window open
3. Close the PokerStars program (leave open window settings)
4. Find the file user.ini (or called "user"), click on it right click, choose to open this file in notepad or a similar text editor
5. Press Ctrl+f, find and then change to openGlSetting=1.
6. Finally select the file and save
7. Restart the PokerStars program
8. Enter your username and password and try playing again

Another tactic that has helped some players solve the problem is to check the Windows Firewall to make sure PokerStars can be trusted. In some cases, Windows Firewall blocks Google Analytics for PokerStars, causing the data in the files to increase.

Problem #3: Scammers on Skype and email – How not to send data to scammers

PokerStars is a popular room. So do his shares. They attract not only players, but also scammers. Scammers send out “Trojan” letters with amazing promotions and tasty offers. Victims, having seen the cheese, do not even see the incorrect, dubious email, or strange shape registration.

To solve this problem, rely only on yourself and your attentiveness. Always keep track of which address the letter came from. If you see the address for the first time, go to the official website and check the links. Under no circumstances, until you are 100% sure, do not send a response, much less enter any data.

You can check the official email addresses at this mail: [email protected] or on Twitter https://twitter.com/starssupport

Problem #4: Crashes in the new version of the PokerStars client - How to “roll back” to the old version

Due to the frequent introduction of new functions, the Starz client does not always work adequately, and some regulars are simply more comfortable playing on older builds.

To find more old version PokerStars client, just write in the search “download the old version of the PokerStars client” or where we uploaded the file.

Just do not run pokerstarsupdate.exe after this, otherwise it will update again.

Problem #5: Gambling addiction – How to block yourself

The problem is not far-fetched, as it seems at first glance. According to R. Folberg (for 1996, no newer confirmed studies could be found) 5% of people are susceptible to the passion of losing everything in slot machines and other games with elements of gambling. Now, I'm sure the figure is more than 5%.

If, according to conservative estimates from 10 years ago, we take 5% of the number of people playing on PokerStars, then 125,000 people suffer from gambling addiction.

If you are part of this group or have problems with control, I advise you to use the “responsible gaming” function. It limits the deposit amount, limits, buy-ins and blocks access to all games on PokerStars.

How to block yourself on PokerStars

1.Go to Service
2. Responsible gaming
3. Deny yourself access to the game
4.Tick the box next to “I agree to self-exclude from”
5.Select the period for which you want to get rid of the game
6.Click send

While you are self-excluded, you can log into the client, but you will not be able to make deposits, play any games or place bets. The translation function will also not be available.

If you have any other problems with PokerStars, please let us know in the comments. Let's look for a solution to the problem together! Just write something like: “I can’t log into pokerstars eu” – and we will try to understand your problem and help solve it.

Regular players are reluctant to change rooms. The reason for this is habit - second nature, which can cause you to miss out on profits in poker. But when a room significantly cuts its VIP program, even the most conservative regular thinks about changing rooms. As it turns out, there is nothing wrong with changing rooms.

We interviewed a high-stakes Spin&Go regular and school coach AlexeySA, who switched to Stars. We found out what difficulties he encountered in connection with the transition, how he got used to the software, whether his income changed and why he does not want to return back to PokerStars.

Interview with Alexey “AlexeySA”

- Why did you decide to leave PokerStars?

Software at partypoker is not a problem. It even seemed to me that it works more stable. When I played on PokerStars, the software froze once a week. And when a decent multiplier came up, my heart sank a little. At partypoker, in 2 months I have never had this happen.

The second thing that scared me during the transition was the support service. PokerStars has good support. But, as it turned out, partypoker’s support is also fine. Several times I had to communicate, withdraw funds - everything was fast. And there is online chat. All issues were resolved promptly directly on the Internet.

- How did your income change after switching to partypoker?

In reality, income has not changed yet. There is such a thing - dispersion. But if we talk about the expected income, then I have not yet reached my “cruising speed”. I've only been playing for three months now. Moreover, I just switched over in December, setting up the software, plus there were holidays.

- How many tournaments did you play?

1500 in December, in January a little more than 1000. This is due to the fact that I did not always play the optimal load - 4 tables. And there is a nuance: in the morning and afternoon at high limits there is not always a load for 4 tables. This happens somewhere between 9 and 11 am. In any case, tables are filled with any limits ($20, $50, $100), but sometimes not at the highest speed. But it should be noted that I only play on weekdays, since I spend weekends with my family, so I can’t say anything about loading on non-weekdays.

- Has the win rate increased?

It’s incorrect to say, considering that I played 3000 spins, with different limits ($20, $50, $100). You can play. Another reason that scared me was the stories about complete bots and regulars. Yes, there are regulars, a lot of them. But there are definitely weak players, recreational players, and guys from oil countries. There are enough of everyone.

The fact that there are only people playing with tips is all nonsense. Or their prompts are strange and crooked. You can play. And consistently have a rakeback of 50-60%. And you can definitely make money here. And I don't mean half a percent ROI.

- Is there a difference in limits and rake between the two rooms?

I played $30, $60, $100 on PokerStars. Partypoker $20, $50, $100. The rake is the same - this is the main thing: 5% at high limits, 6% at medium limits. The multipliers are the same.

- What do you personally miss at partypoker?

It would be nice if the multipliers were tweaked towards the regulars. We would remove the high multipliers and make the distribution less dispersive. Although I understand that these high multipliers of 1 in 1,000,000 or even 1 in 30,000 attract recreational players. But this is not a partypoker problem, this is a discipline problem. If you don't like it, play other tournaments.

- What can you advise to those who were thinking about moving from Stars to other rooms, but were afraid of something?

PokerStars has set a task - to fill their pockets. Unfortunately, many players have become accustomed to the idea that PokerStars is a monopolist that can take away money. I treat poker like a job, and when my salary gets cut for 3 years through no fault of my own, it's not normal. We need to get rid of our faith in PokerStars. Don't be afraid to try new rooms. Everything that scared me about partypoker turned out to be a myth.