Planet Poker - Coffee Talk

[RollaJ]

How did they F up so big? They used to be the premier site on the web, and was the first room I ever played at..... before I read my first poker book. Why dont they offer bonii, and advertise...... why have they given up on themselves? Why dont they sell themselves to a sportsbook who knows how to advertise?

Discuss.......

[TobDog]

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Discuss.......

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Cant, tooo busy whoring and collecting rakeback.

later /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[MaxSquat]

I got "mail" from Planet Poker...Free $50 plus deposit bonus on my next deposit... I downloaded the site last year.... only 3 or 4 tables going? yeachh....i'll wait till it gets busy

[scotty34]

I wasn't part of the online poker community back in the days of Planet Poker. However, I have read an article about someone cracking their dealing algorithm (the one in the FAQ). I would assume this would be extremely damaging to their reputation. Would you still play at Party if their algorithm was cracked (legitmately, not some conspiracy)? Could you be convinced to go back even if they said they corrected it? A possible answer is yes, with a big enough bonus. However, many players would still not trust it, and they may not be able to afford giving out such a bonus either.

[RollaJ]

Thats the thing they can build volume by offering bonii which dont cost them any money along the lines of UB bonii

[scotty34]

I still don't know. Take Pokermountain for example. They are offering an incredible bonus, and still seem to be having trouble attracting players. And Pokermountain has the advantage of being backed by two celebrity pros, and has no previous reputation damage like Planet Poker. I think it would be extremely difficult for them to reattract a lot of players.

[RollaJ]

But Planet has name recognition, a lot of email addresses, and a lot of old customers who either didnt know about the deal problem, or forgot about it....like myself

[scotty34]

Good points, well except for name recognition, which I think works against them. How many old players did not hear about that fiasco? I assumed that was why the site essentially died.

[offTopic]

Caro is letting the site die as an image play.

[RollaJ]

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Good points, well except for name recognition, which I think works against them. How many old players did not hear about that fiasco? I assumed that was why the site essentially died.

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I think the thing that hurt them most was lack of advertising and affiliates which is what launched Party to the top. Planet and Paradise resisted affiliate deals and it killed them. Paradise also had no MTTs for the longest time.... probably what hurt them the most

[kdog]

Some random thoughts and observations from someone who was there in the early days. Actually I still have them on my desktop.

Whoever was in charge of marketing there a few years ago focked up BIG TIME. They had a three day server issue right when Paradise launched and were instantly #2. Never did a thing to try to regain the top spot.

They stayed with their original software far too long and when they finally did upgrade it was to a horribly ugly design. I really think a lot of sites underestimate appealing graphics when it comes to attracting customers.

As for ther software being hacked...yes it hurt them but this was the early days and probably could have happened to any site then. Planet had just been around longer so the hackers had more time to work on it. In Planet's defense they were very upfront about it and repaid all of us what we had been cheated out of. Kudos for that.

Lack of bonuses over the years I truly do not understand. I played my first hand there on February 12,1999 and in six years the only bonus I can remember is a $50 coupon I got thru Cardplayer.

Caro didn't help them the way they thought he would.

How many firsts in any industry make it? Everyone learns from your mistakes (at no cost to them) and introduces better products. To keep up costs a lot and I don't think Planet had/has the capital behind them for that. To say that they should have acquired new investors is easy but savvy investors realized there was more to be made in start ups than Planet.

So now they're a third tier site with a few loyal players, (probably)little or no debt and really no hope of growing.
Unfortunately, I think this site dies whenever the poker boom does.

[beernutz]

This could have been part of the problem they had attracting and keeping customers but it wasn't my primary issue for deciding not to play there any longer. Planet was the first poker account I ever opened back in early 2000 and from the start the software was clunky and slow, the interface was buttugly, the players seemed to be very cliquish (and not in a nice way), and the bonuses were pathetic. One of my fondest memories in poker is finally deleting this software from my system. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
I wasn't part of the online poker community back in the days of Planet Poker. However, I have read an article about someone cracking their dealing algorithm (the one in the FAQ). I would assume this would be extremely damaging to their reputation. Would you still play at Party if their algorithm was cracked (legitmately, not some conspiracy)? Could you be convinced to go back even if they said they corrected it? A possible answer is yes, with a big enough bonus. However, many players would still not trust it, and they may not be able to afford giving out such a bonus either.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Exsubmariner]

You old salts sure do know how to spin a good yarn.... "back in the old days (six years ago) we had to play on the company mainframe...."
I somehow get the feeling that we are only on the very early ripples of a high and beautiful wave.
I'm sure there were people who said that Vegas was a temporary infatuation....How could a town built on immorality ever survive?
Planet has once again upgraded their software. If you were planning on going out of business, why would you spend the money to upgrade the software?
BTW does anybody know if party ever plans to progress beyond the bronze age. They are essentially the same as Planet before their last upgrade.....

[DocMartin]

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And Pokermountain has the advantage of being backed by two celebrity pros..

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Lets not forget BrownThumb!

[RollaJ]

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Some random thoughts and observations from someone who was there in the early days. Actually I still have them on my desktop.


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I think Im on my fifth computer since I had them installed /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[ewile]

Planet Poker was my first real $$ site too. I lived at the .05/.10 tables for a long time!

[StevieG]

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I think the thing that hurt them most was lack of advertising and affiliates which is what launched Party to the top. Planet and Paradise resisted affiliate deals and it killed them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yet Paradise still ranks highly while Planet languishes. Why is that?

I play at Planet. The players there seem to be low key, at least micro limits. The game moves fast enough (faster than Pacific, anyway) and the cashouts clear quickly. Customer service is good. The truth is, though, that there are very few tables running.

[RollaJ]

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Yet Paradise still ranks highly while Planet languishes. Why is that?


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I think there are 4 things Paradise had that made them do better than Planet:
1)Great software
2)Although rare, more reload bonii
3)Granny
4)Hotdogs

[beernutz]

WTF is that little stream-of-consciousness rant supposed to mean? You have strung together so many non sequiturs you have come to resemble Larry King on acid.

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You old salts sure do know how to spin a good yarn.... "back in the old days (six years ago) we had to play on the company mainframe...."
I somehow get the feeling that we are only on the very early ripples of a high and beautiful wave.
I'm sure there were people who said that Vegas was a temporary infatuation....How could a town built on immorality ever survive?
Planet has once again upgraded their software. If you were planning on going out of business, why would you spend the money to upgrade the software?
BTW does anybody know if party ever plans to progress beyond the bronze age. They are essentially the same as Planet before their last upgrade.....

[/ QUOTE ]

[vegasforest]

Planet was also the first place I played poker on the internet, so all this talk about the site had me feeling a bit nostalgic. I logged on and checked out the site, and quickly remembered why I was so excited when I finally discovered Party.

I check my account balance, and it was 67 cents. Good, I didn't leave a meaningful balance. I also check my player points. Damn, I had a ton. So, I ordered hats, polos, cards, chip, and golf balls with the Planet Poker logo proudly displayed on each. I have to admit I was influenced by the Stacysmom post with the pix of their new Party gear.

So, in a few weeks, I'll be able to look like a bigger dork than I usually do, thannks to the new clothes. I wonder if wearing that stuff in the local B&M's here in LA will get me more action? Hmmm, soething to think about.

[kdog]

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Planet has once again upgraded their software. If you were planning on going out of business, why would you spend the money to upgrade the software

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I don't think they are planning it but I do think that when the online poker market matures and the inevitable fallout occurs they will be one of the casualties.

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I think Im on my fifth computer since I had them installed



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I think I'm on my third. I like to take a look into different sites every now and then just to see what's going on. Consequently, I have 20 some sites downloaded.

[Terry]

It just so happens that I am wearing a Planet Poker t-shirt at this very moment. They sent it to me years ago. I haven’t played there since Paradise opened because of Planet’s ugly clunky software.

I downloaded the site a couple weeks ago to look at the draw games. They have 8 handed draw with a Joker but I don’t see enough games going at the few times I looked to make me want to deposit.

Their latest software is, well, still pretty ugly and clunky. The table statistics info doesn’t work – everything just says “0".

Whatever their reasons were for sticking with their software provider, it hurt them tremendously.

The Party / affiliate / Google thing also changed things in online poker dramatically, putting so so Party way out ahead of the excellent software of Paradise. As much as I hate the affiliate thing ... nah ...I’ll avoid that can of worms for now.

Planet was the first online poker site but they seem to keep missing the boat to the competition. If I were to guess why, I would guess that it is a single-owner business and that the owner simply does what he wants to do. He may not be a marketing wizard or a genius, but he is still in business and he pays the people who win money on his site.

[scotty34]

That reminded me of a question I wanted to ask earlier. What's up with that food/cocktail menu at Paradise? Is it just a funny little gimmick, or does it actually serve a purpose?

[Exsubmariner]

I wish 2+2 had the same sound effects as Planet Poker because I would say "tyvm"....