Party Poker was once the world's dominant poker site since they held a commanding share of player traffic. But then America signed the UIGEA into effect, which forced Party Poker out of the US market.

Even without American players, this site has remained among the industry's top three poker rooms. However, their lofty position appears to be slipping these days, which is why Party Poker recently made a desperate move that could turn things around.

Good Bye High Stakes

Many online poker sites are making a big commitment to recreational players. The reason why is because they're trying to encourage beginners to keep playing and infusing new money into the poker world. After all, regulars don't bring new money to sites; they merely win profits and cash winnings out.

Party Poker is apparently adopting the recreational business model, and their first move involves getting rid of high stakes tables. Now the highest cash game stakes offered are $5/$10 No Limit and $30/$60 Fixed Limit. With all stakes above these games now eliminated, many professional players are likely to move on from Party Poker and create a more recreational-friendly environment.

The site released a statement about their big changes that read, "We have removed some of our super high stake games, this decision has been taken to make improvements to our poker ecology and in our players best interests. We believe this change will improve the action at our tables and is in the best interest of the poker room as a whole."

Direct Competition

In changing their player environment, Party Poker is hoping to combat some of the grinders that they've lost to PokerStars. Since launching Zoom Poker a few months ago, PokerStars has become an even bigger hotbed of player activity. And this has definitely put a crimp in Party's business because they've reportedly lost 50% of their cash game players in the last year alone. 

Only time will tell if the newfound commitment to amateur players pays off for Party Poker. However, it's obvious that they're willing to give something new a try and get back some of their lost traffic.