For online poker giant PokerStars, there was a time when the ability to mass multi-table online poker was a major part of their marketing plan. On Tuesday, a large part of that came to an end.

PokerStars has announced that they are dropping the ring game table cap from 24 down to 4 tables at a time. According to a post on the PokerStars blog, the change is being made in an effort to maintain “a healthy poker ecosystem” and “ensure that every poker player has a safe and enjoyable poker experience.”

According to the post written by The Stars Group Managing Director Severin Rasset, PokerStars notes that the majority of their players play on one table at a time.

“Without careful management, we risk ending up with an environment where the majority of players find themselves at tables disproportionately populated by multi-tabling players,” the post reads. “This can lead to a difficult playing experience. Action at the table can be regularly interrupted, and many players can feel outmatched and that their chances of winning are diminished.”

With an eye on protecting their recreational players, PokerStars tested a 6-table cap in their ringfenced cash games in Italy. After reviewing the data the company has moved to cap the cash games at 4 tables effective immediately. This effects the worldwide client as well as all of their country-specific clients (.be, .bg, .com, .desh, .dk, .ee, .eu, .uk, .ro, .cz, .se, .fr, .es, .pt, .it).

“We want to maintain a sustainable poker ecosystem and a platform that players of all abilities are excited to play on well into the future. Attracting and retaining new poker players is crucial to the future of the game.”

The post outlines that the change will lead to a reduction of multi-table grinders across the cash games giving “more casual one-table players” the ability to last longer in the games and experience more a community by meeting players like themselves. All the while the strongest players at these tables should continue to have high win-rates. Overall, PokerStars feels that the games will have a longer life as players have a greater chance of booking a win.

“We’re poker players ourselves,” Rasset writes. “We understand that this change will have a very real impact on many players, particularly those of you who rely on multi-tabling as professionals. We haven’t taken this decision lightly, and we are confident that is the right thing to do for the future of the game.”

To read the PokerStars post in its entirety, click here.