Death of the 'Big 4'

[GrannyMae]

serious question alobar.

why do you think this? i know nothing of pokerchamps and don't understand why you think they are going to be so big.

[Sundevils21]

what about the new site that Daniel Negreanu is sponsoring, Pokermountain? here is what he has to say about the site and the people involved...
"It's up right now for play money and should be up for real money any day
now.

I'm extremely excited about the site and waited a long time for a winner
like Poker Mountain to come around. I've turned down several deals with
online poker sites because they lacked in one area or another.
Poker Mountain doesn't lack in any areas in my opinion. They are
extremely well funded and dedicated to providing a top notch product. All
of the people involved, while knowledgeable poker players themselves have
proven themselves successful in other business ventures in the real world
and that attracted me.
Poker Mountain developed an alternate payment option called Securus that
allows for speedy transactions as well as accepting all major credit
cards.
As for what will make them better? Well, I am confident that they are
willing to spend the kind of money it takes to fully promote a site
properly by giving back to the players in various ways.
Of course the one thing that will seperate Poker Mountain from the rest
is the speedy transactions. You can get money in your account quickly,
and will recieve your money faster than any other site on the net. From
what I can tell by reading RGP, that seems to be a pretty important factor
for most players."

I am in no way affiliated with Poker Mountain, Im just intrigued by what DN had to say about it.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
serious question alobar.

why do you think this? i know nothing of pokerchamps and don't understand why you think they are going to be so big.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been playing there alot the past week and I'm just really impressed with the software. The ability to multitable up to 6 tables with no overlap is a big plus for those recreational players who don't have a bitchin monitor.

I think their rake return and affiliate program is the best there is. The fact that EVERYONE is an affiliate and EVERYONE gets a rake return is huuuge IMO. If party is where it is today because of its affiliate program, then champs with a better program should do quite well. The rake structure is also much better than party.

I'm also impressed with the customer support so far. I've sent numerous emails and they were all answered in less than an hour, and by a real person, not some cheese dick form letter. But then I guess thats easy to do when you are still a young site and don't have a ton of emails. They've only been open real money I think for like 3 weeks now and already there are times when over 600 people are on the site. Mostly micro limit and NL, but there is usually always a 3/6 and 5/10 game going. And more often than not a 10/20 and 30/60. I've also seen the 100/200 game in action a few times.

The software is still in its infancy, right now you cant take notes, or get hand histories, and a few other things. But plans for all that are in the immediate future, as is poker tracker support, I've been told.

I just think its obvious that whoever is in charge of things over there actually knows something about poker and what it takes to run a poker site. As long as they are commited to spending the money on advertising, which I don't doubt they are as they paid for Gus's name/time, I think they will have a player retention far higher than any other site and grow to big levels.

[jek187]

[ QUOTE ]
what about the new site that Daniel Negreanu is sponsoring, Pokermountain?

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is what they're hanging their hat on:

[ QUOTE ]
Of course the one thing that will seperate Poker Mountain from the rest
is the speedy transactions.

[/ QUOTE ]

They'll just be another also-ran. We're in an age where speedy transactions are a necessity, not a differentiating factor. Silly thinking like this is why many sites will ultimately fail.

[jek187]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll put $100 even money on top 5

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, Alobar is wagering $100 to win $100. Here are my terms:

If PokerChamps is listed in the top 5 on www.pokerpulse.com at 1159PM EST on November 15th 2005 Alobar is the winner of this bet. If it's not, I am the winner.

If pokerpulse does not exist on November 15th 2005, the bet is void.

If PChamps is not listed on November 15th 2005, I win.

An agreed upon party will hold our $100 each. I offer the following list to choose from:
Granny Mae
Lorinda
Mike Haven
(pending their approval)

The holder of the money will also be called upon to arbitrate any dispute that comes up, and we agree to abide by that decision.

Should I win, I will give 10% to the holder.

[GrannyMae]

Should I win, I will give 10% to the holder.


12% or stick it up your ass

[GrannyMae]

if your answer is customer service, i don't buy the fact that people will move. party & skins get bigger everyday, and it would take superbowl advertising to move that population.

if you say the software, when complete, will be a draw for people, then we will see soon i guess.

cracking top 5 in a year with the current marketing restrictions is a tall order to fill imo.

[busguy]

Granny,

What I took out of what he was saying was that a big advantage of this site (IHO) is that everyone gets rake back (and is an affiliate in that sense).

I think a site that has good software, good advertising, good customer support, frequent and juicy bonus offers AND offers a percentage of rake back to EVERY player, is going to do VERY WELL.

I think the rake back might be a big seller.

my 2 cents

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] busguy

[BradleyT]

Well I think if gus starts wearing pokerchamps.com t-shirts or hats (he's not a hat type of guy though) on the WPT events you'll easily win your bet. People I know who aren't "into" poker but watch WPT love to watch him play.

[Mike Haven]

i would hold the money at stars again if you are both ok with that, jek (thanks for the generous and class offer, but i'm certain i speak for all of us when i say it is totally unnecessary)

if i'm picked as the holder i'll post it here for the record, but i'm off to Nice, France, for three days in three hours so will be off-site until thursday evening