Game Softness in Relation to Advertising

[Artsemis]

I would believe that the network with the softest games would be directly or almost directly proportional to the TV advertising they do. Party was the first I saw all over TV and now it has the most fish.

With PokerStars advertising alot now with moneymaker and raymer... and with full tilt getting more popular with the pro's wearing their gear, are these two among the next softest?

I play Party now but would like some more options to play at regularly but of course I'd like to stick with the softest games as Im a winning player on party but want to keep it that way. My stakes are only .50/1 or 1/2 right now though.


In summary, despite bonuswhores.com reviews, has stars and fulltilt become more soft with the more recent advetising?

[revots33]

Stars is so much better than Party in every respect - I'm glad to see that lately their user numbers have caught up to Party and even overtaken them some nights. I'd like to think the better product will eventually win out and if that is true then it's only a matter of time before Stars has more players than Party on a regular basis.

I personally have found the $50NL games to be a lot looser at Stars lately, to the point where I see no difference in the quality of play between there and Party. As Stars continues to grow it's user base I'd expect Party's one advantage - # of fish - to disappear.

Bottom line, I think Stars is on their way to being the #1 online poker site, and as that happens the misperception that Stars is nothing but a bunch of expert players and rocks will go away. It's already far from the truth.

My question is: As of today, is Party still an easier site to win at than Stars? I think it's debatable.

[playersare]

in terms of large sites, Paradise low limits also got much softer after merging with sportsbook.com, and I'm sure their $1M freeroll helped too.

IMO here's how I think the big networks have changed over the course of 2005 so far (I play mostly LHE):

Party - softer
X-skins - harder
Paradise - softer
Stars - softer (slightly)
Full Tilt - softer (slightly)
UB - same
Pokerroom - same
Crypto - same
Prima - same, but more players
Absolute - same, but more players
Bodog - same

smaller networks generally tend to have a nice share of bad players as well. Tribeca, iPoker, Action Poker are all pretty easy at 50c/$1 and $1/2, even if their bonuses sometimes aren't.

I think overall there are more noobs coming into online poker than vets burning out, so expect good games at least for the rest of the year.