[excession]

The Party and skins were always amongst the easiest to release bonuses on the net - that's how they overtook Paradise as the No. 1. Most other bonuses were 10x release, Party and skins had standard 7x (and sometimes 5x to release).

Why else - their great customer support? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

As of right now Party has 47,662 online and Stars has 43,618.

Party have basically abolished (or is about to) the three reasons a lot of players would pick them over Stars - good bonuses (for casuals), rakeback (for semi-pros/pros) and datamining (for PT users).
Stars is launching a new VIP program that may well be better than what Party is offering in that regard.
And Stars has lower rake I think as they are 'no flop, no drop' and I don't think Party are (I could be wrong on that one).

Anyone else think 3 months for Party to lose No 1 slot is unrealistic?

As for being an apologist for Stars I actually hardly ever play Ring there - as my $1000 in outstanding bonuses will attest. Their bonus release is one of the worst around for sub $200 NL players and I played at Party, Prima, UB and Crypto mainly over the past 2 years..

I just think Party is blowing it - the markets certainly think so judging by how fast their share price has headed south..