Party Poker Market Share...

I found this insane when I stumbled across it while researching the Party Poker IPO documentation. Does anyone know what on earth happend in March 03, or how Paradise managed to drop the ball so badly?

[KKbluff]

Try X-posting this in the Stock Market forum.

Im sure it will yeild better responces.

[protocol]

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or how Paradise managed to drop the ball so badly?

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Well, since it's market share, not # of players, it's entirely possible that Paradise actually gained players during this time... but not nearly as fast as Party.

[lautzutao]

check the advertising revenue spent by both companies that year.

seems it did come down to marketing. that was about the time that they televised their PP millions cruise and seemed to be the start of the poker explosion on television. i think it is amazing to see they have held onto their market share even with such lousy software and service though.

[Mempho]

Paradise was #1 for quite a long time...then they got arrogant. They were far ahead of the others in fact. When i moved from Paradise to Party a few months before the WPT began airing, there were several $25NL games going at the time. The highest limit was $50NL (along with 2 15/30s) and I played with the same players every night. I immediately like Party. Party was eager and Paradise was complacent. In doing so, they did not feel that it was necessary to spend money on advertising when the television poker boom came about. Party was the first to take advantage of the boom and they really racked up.

[wonkadaddy]

don't forget about the mike sexton factor. when most folks were scared that internet poker sites could be a scam, sexton added credibility and legitimacy to PP.

[silvershade]

Hmmm, I think that Party lead the way for a number of reasons;

1/ They are the best known because they advertise heavily in the mainstream.

2/ They are big which generates confidence in their financial status and the cashier pays out fast too which doesnt hurt.

3/ The games arent ludicrously tight at low level in the way that they are at most other poker sites, tight games I think aren't much fun for casual players and they arent going to attract the sharks either.

4/ The software isnt that bad, it's not state of the art but it is easy to use and combined with the nice games it's good enough. UB has much nicer software but the games suck by comparison. Nice software isnt as important as a fun table.

5/ It's really easy to find a game on Party, very little waiting by comparison with other sites.