Poker Mavens 3.00 Released

[Kent Briggs]

Poker Mavens 3 is a major version release, the first one in nearly 4 years after 60 minor version updates. Customers who purchased a version 2 license in the past 90 days (after February 20, 2012) will receive a free upgrade. All others can upgrade at a 50% discount. As always, Lite to Pro and Pro to Gold upgrades are also available at the difference in cost. Contact me at [email protected] for upgrading instructions.

Prices (US Dollars)

Lite: $29.95 ($14.95 upgrade from Lite 2)
Pro: $99.95 ($49.95 upgrade from Pro 2, $70.00 upgrade from Lite 2 or 3)
Gold: $499.95 ($249.95 upgrade from Gold 2, $400 upgrade from Pro 2 or 3)

New Features (Lite, Pro, and Gold):

Added Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo games.
API, Remote Admin, and player passwords are now encrypted on the server with one-way hashes.
The Remote Admin interface now has a Logout button, improved compatibility with Internet Explorer, improved security with session keys, and a corresponding "Administration timeout" option added to the Server Settings group.
Max buy-in increased to 1 billion chips for ring games and tournaments.
Added 5M, 25M, 100M, 500M, and 1B chips, representing denominations up to 1 billion.
Buy-ins abbreviated with K/M/B suffixes in lobby window when applicable.
Added "Number format" menu option in client Lobby for choosing commas or periods as separators and decimal marks.
Added "Refresh table" menu option in client table windows.
Added SystemLobbyMessage command to API to remotely add Administrator comments to lobby chat.
Added AccountsPassword command to API for verifying a player password.
Added "Show net chips" option to Client Settings group for turning off the display of chips won or lost in ring games.
Password recovery feature changed to a password reset feature using validation codes.
Cards and corresponding cardback graphic reduced to 46x64 pixels in size to fit four hole cards used by Omaha.
Directory Key setting replaced with License Key setting in Site Information group.
Player client upgraded from Flash 8 to Flash 10.

New features (Gold only):

Added "Background logo" and "Background logo link" options to Client Settings group.
Added "Remove About dialog" option to Client Settings group.
Added "Use fractional chips" option to Server Settings group so that buy-ins, rake and ring blinds can use 0.01 chip increments.

Version 3 Import Utility

Version 3 uses a different data folder and registry key than version 2 for saving program settings and player accounts. An import utility for importing version 2 settings is available on the Utility Programs page:

http://www.briggsoft.com/docs/pmavens/Utilities.htm

Rake Stats

Also, the Rake Stats utility has been modified to work with fractional chips that are now available in the Gold version. That can also be downloaded from the same Utility Programs page.

[PokerMavenDeveloper]

Congrats Kent!!! excellent work.

[Kent Briggs]

A few comments on upgrading from version 2 to 3.

Settings and accounts are completely separate from version 2. You can actually run both versions on the same machine simultaneously as long as you use a different File Port and Packet Port value. Legally you still need a separate license for each running instance but for the purpose of transitioning, it's ok to do that temporarily.

The default program folder has changed from:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Briggs Softworks\Poker Mavens 2\
to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Briggs Softworks\Poker Mavens 3\

The (x86) part only appears on 64-bit versions of Windows.

The default data folder for version 2 was located here:

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Poker Mavens\
or here for Win XP and earlier:
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Poker Mavens\

The default data folder in version 3 just added a " 3" to the end:

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Poker Mavens 3\
or here for Win XP and earlier:
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Poker Mavens 3\

The Windows registry key that holds the system and language settings has changed from:

HKCU\Software\Briggs Softworks\Poker Mavens 2\
to
HKCU\Software\Briggs Softworks\Poker Mavens 3\

The Import Utility mentioned in the first message will copy all of the various settings and players accounts over. Since player passwords are now encrypted with one-way hashes, the import utility will hash those automatically. Speaking of that, if you are using any API code to retrieve a player's password for authentication using AccountsGet or AccountsList, that will no longer work. Instead there is a new AccountsPassword command that is used for verification. The server will hash the PW you give it and compare that to the stored value. If it matches, a Verified=Yes result will be sent back. Other than that, all existing API code should work as before.

On a related note, the password recovery option is now a password reset option. If a player forgets their password, it cannot be recovered. Instead the system will email them a validation code and they will enter that along with a new password and if the code matches, the new password hash is saved. If you are using the secure option in your SMTP settings for connection to an email server, don't forget to put the two OpenSSL DLL's into the version 3 program folder as you did in version 2. The Import Utility does not do that for you. You can get those from http://www.briggsoft.com/download/OpenSSL.zip

[Kent Briggs]

Some comments on the new Gold-only features:

Added "Background logo" and "Background logo link" options to Client Settings group.
Added "Remove About dialog" option to Client Settings group.
Added "Use fractional chips" option to Server Settings group so that buy-ins, rake and ring blinds can use 0.01 chip increments.

In the previous version, the "About" dialog with the copyright message on it was simply removed in the Gold. Now there is a setting for removing it or leaving it in. Similarly, the "Briggs Softworks/Poker Mavens" logo that appears in the background was also removed previously. Now you have the option of leaving it in, blanking it out by specifying "none", or replacing it with your own logo, centered on the page. In addition you can specify an optional link that will open a new browser page if someone clicks your logo.

Gold site owners can now use fractional chips, in increments as small as 0.01. In ring games this applies to the buy-ins, rake settings, and blinds. In tournaments this applies to buy-ins, entry fees, prize bonuses and payouts (chips and blinds remain as whole numbers). To enable this feature, set "Use fractional chips" to Yes in the Server Settings group. If you are using the Rake Utility, you'll need to grab the latest version, which supports the floating point rake values.

[Kent Briggs]

Did I mention there's Omaha now?

Personally it makes my brain hurt. Too many hand combinations for me. Especially in the Hi-Lo variant. Typically Omaha is played in Pot Limit and Omaha Hi-Lo is play Limit. But either can be played in limit, pot limit, or no limit. I've prepared a simple page that explains the basic difference between it and Hold'em:

http://www.briggsoft.com/docs/pmavens/PMOmaha.htm

[PokerMavenDeveloper]

its possible to download a demo?

[Kent Briggs]

its possible to download a demo?

All my software has trial versions. You can only play limit hold'em and limit omaha, however.

http://www.briggsoft.com/pmavens_download.htm

And my official demo site is listed at http://www.pokermavens.net

[royala10]

Thank you for the great job Kent,
I thought using Flash client 10 would resolve our RTL typing problem but it didn't since all text boxes (in chat) are set to LTR and ctrl+shift doesn't help at all. it would be awesome if there was a toggle button to change text direction.

However, I guess you could have another discount offer for people who has purchased the Gold version between 3 to 6 months ago... many of them like me (bought it in Jan) are still working on website design and programming back and fort so it would be a nice support if you offer (maybe around %70) discount for that particular buyers.

[Kent Briggs]

I thought using Flash client 10 would resolve our RTL typing problem but it didn't since all text boxes (in chat) are set to LTR and ctrl+shift doesn't help at all. it would be awesome if there was a toggle button to change text direction.

I just looked at the docs for that and there is a direction field available to me for the input text component. So I'll look at it and see about putting that in the first update.