Some random thoughts on the good and bad of the Party split

[Ghazban]

I've played some hands this morning and some yesterday evening of the 1/2 6-max games on the skin network (i.e. not Party-- Euro/Empire/whatever) and here are some preliminary thoughts:

-- not many tables available. Right now (12:30ish EDT) there are only 11 tables going at this level and only one with more than 6 players. If you play full ring, good luck finding a game. A benefit of a small player base is that, if you pay attention, you will rarely sit at a table where you don't know anybody; since players at SSNL generally don't mix it up much, good reads on the static styles of your opponents will add a lot to your bottom line. Playing a mediocre player you know can be better than playing a bad one you don't.
-- I see fewer loose-passive fish but more bad LAGs (maniacs). This isn't surprising and doesn't really bother me. I feel like I'm pretty good at countering maniacs and letting their aggression work against them. I don't need to bet at calling stations all day to turn a profit. There does not appear to be an increase in the number of 'tough' opponents; just increases in rocks and bad LAGs.
--The games are still good. Based on the threads in the Zoo, you'd think all the skin tables would be -EV but there are still plenty of bad players. Is it as soft as Party? Probably not (from what I've heard-- haven't tried Party yet) but if you are getting rakeback on the skins but not on Party, you would do well to figure out how much better the Party games would have to be to compensate financially for the rakeback loss. I doubt anybody beating the games before the split would not be able to beat the skin side now.