Party Poker Eying return to American market

It's still very early, but it's possible Link to Forbes article

This would be awesome!
I never cared for Party before when I could use FT and Stars, but now being confined to Carbon (which I have adjusted to nicely) and Cake (I don't really care for it) I am open to finding sites with more traffic.

Their timing is perfect and it would be IMO brilliant timing, they would pick up so many new USA players from Tilt and Stars

Phase 1 might be to allow play money games from the US. The software is all important in a free market, and we have no idea how Party's software is these days.

That article also got me thinking about how a worldwide poker site might approach the US market. I believe the Stars deal with Vegas was an exclusive one. But why limit yourself (if you are a worldwide poker site) to just being name branded with one Casino entity.?

Well, for exclusivity, I would think that the worldwide poker site could get a much larger take of the action. Could be good or bad, but I think that a non-exclusive deal with many different casinos could produce the type of market we seem to want, and while per capita revenue from each player might be smaller, the hugely increased player base size would seem to offer greater rewards for that poker site.

dj11 said:

we have no idea how Party's software is these days.

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I think we probably do actually, DJ. Remember CC has an international membership and there are lots of folks here who don`t suffer American limitations.

What do you need ? Screen shots ? Reviews ?

Egon Towst said:

I think we probably do actually, DJ. Remember CC has an international membership and there are lots of folks here who don`t suffer American limitations.

What do you need ? Screen shots ? Reviews ?

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I'm sure our Non American friends are intimately familiar with Party, but the article was about the US and Party and we have not even been able to see the software for 5 years.

An unbiased comparison of all sites would be a great, but time consuming endeavor.

For me, the best available software for US is the Yatahay table. It runs smooth, is uncluttered, and while there are still a few creature comforts I could suggest, they have shown they are on the right track. Also noticed they are about the only company actively advertising in the US, saw an ad on the wsop for America's Poker Room (formerly Doyle's Room) just the other day. Carbon would be second I think, and about all they really have to do IMHO is to reduce the size of the player stations on the tables. And speed up lobby updates.

If the dam breaks, and all of a sudden the US is allowed to flock to a limited number of poker sites, it will be to the established software where each of us has found some level of comfort. So for that reason, a good move for Party would be to throw the play money gaming at us and let us get a feel.

This comes as no surprise as Party has been biding its time for years -- this is why they agreed to pay a hefty settlement with the DOJ years ago, so as to not find themselves on the US blacklist down the road. A couple years ago Harrah's hired one of Party's executives (might have been the President, but at least a VP) to start building their Interactive Gaming brand which many interpreted as a partnership between Harrah's and Party to bring legalized, casino-backed online poker to the US. I fully expect we'll see Party offered to US players long before pokerstars (and forget FullTilt or Cereus IMO).

dj11 said:

For me, the best available software for US is the Yatahay table. It runs smooth, is uncluttered, and while there are still a few creature comforts I could suggest, they have shown they are on the right track. Also noticed they are about the only company actively advertising in the US, saw an ad on the WSOP for America's Poker Room (formerly Doyle's Room) just the other day. Carbon would be second I think, and about all they really have to do IMHO is to reduce the size of the player stations on the tables. And speed up lobby updates.

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Haven't experienced Yatahay's yet, but I hear nothing but bad reviews about the "new" Doyle's room. Doyle was even frustrated by them and disassociated himself a long time ago even though they still had rights to use his name -- he used to catch flack on Twitter from disgruntled Doyle's Room players all the time, and he at least once tweeted in frustration that he apologized but was no longer associated with the room and wished he could pull his name from it. I'm assuming they renamed when their contract with Doyle ran out.

Carbon is of course a Merge skin, and despite theirs and all the skins attempt at appearing autonomous and in control of such things, they all run the exact same client software. Only the skin-specific themes really differentiate them. They *might* be able to implement data-driven changes like lobby filters, but the overall operation of the client, game types, etc. is universal across skins. Merge owns the software and developers. They all update in lock-step. All the skins can really do is lobby Merge on behalf of players, but when changes are made they are pushed out to all skins simultaneously.

I know the skins market themselves as unique competitors with their own advantages over other sister skins, but those are typically limited to promotional offerings or casino/sportsbook operations that don't fall under Merge's control. When it comes to poker and related client software, deposits, withdrawals, etc., that's all handled by Merge. I see a lot of players who don't realize that, and vent at the skins themselves about things the skins have no direct control of. But in order to appear competitive with each other, the skins don't like to admit it and so they act like they have more control than they really do.

Moved from live to online after party poker left. Never got to play there and always wish I could.

For your info, here is a typical tournament lobby:



and the table itself:



Graphically, Party is pretty dull and uninspired. The design philosophy seems to be functionality over prettiness. It runs smoothly and reliably. There is a reasonable choice of stakes and games available, including PLO and 7CS. Lots of tournies, including satellites to most of the major offline series. Player numbers are not so large as Stars but massively bigger than anything currently available to US players. The Company is as financially solid and reliable as they come and withdrawals will present no problem if your legislators lighten up.

Hope that helps a bit.

It looks pretty awesome to me. Software look better than what U.S is giving us like cake and carbon.

i've been hoping for party poker to get back in the usa. let's hope this happens.

nothing wrong with party, nice software ,good cashier, plenty off added tornys and a good player base. they do take some cash for non activitey.........joker131

You all realize that this only happens IF regulation passes in the US, right? In that case there are likely to be plenty of good sites to choose from.

Party will NEVER come back to the US market without regulation, or some type of clarification on Online Poker's legal status in the US. Just to confirm this the quote below is from the article linked in OP:

“My focus is on the U.S.,” says Ryan, who is in the final stages of negotiating partnerships with two U.S. companies. “Even though there is no guarantee that online gaming will ever regulate in the U.S.”

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I'd love to have the option to play at Party Poker also and I'm not try to be a huge downer, but I don't want anyone getting their hopes up. We all need to continue contacting our Lawmakers and let them know we want them to support Online Poker legislation/regulation.

^^ Of course that's what were talking about.

joker131 said:

nothing wrong with party, nice software ,good cashier, plenty off added tornys and a good player base. they do take some cash for non activitey.........joker131

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What do you mean-take some cash for non-activity? Are you serious?

dmorris68 said:

^^ Of course that's what were talking about.

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I'm not so sure that all posters ITT are aware of that. Comments such as the one below seem to point to some posters thinking the return could happen regardless of legislation:

Their timing is perfect and it would be IMO brilliant timing, they would pick up so many new USA players from Tilt and Stars

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Grind4moneyz said:

I'm not so sure that all posters ITT are aware of that. Comments such as the one below seem to point to some posters thinking the return could happen regardless of legislation:

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Not sure how you read that into that comment. I read it to mean the timing is great now that legislation is at hand while PS and FT are out of the US market, and won't be allowed back in the US market when pro-poker legislation happens (at least not FT, and likely not PS for some time if ever).

It's been well known and widely discussed for years -- as I noted a few posts above -- that Party has been waiting for regulation to re-enter the US market. It's why they agreed to pay millions to the DOJ years ago when they really didn't have to, and immediately ceased accepting US players. They bought their way off a blacklist, and have often been critical of PS, FT, Merge, and the other sites that continued to service US players after they ceased.

Charade You Are said:

What do you mean-take some cash for non-activity? Are you serious?

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Yes, it is a big black mark against Party. Some poker sites do that. Very poor service imo. More examples in this thread.

dmorris68 said:

Not sure how you read that into that comment. I read it to mean the timing is great now that legislation is at hand while PS and FT are out of the US market, and won't be allowed back in the US market when pro-poker legislation happens (at least not FT, and likely not PS for some time if ever).

It's been well known and widely discussed for years -- as I noted a few posts above -- that Party has been waiting for regulation to re-enter the US market. It's why they agreed to pay millions to the DOJ years ago when they really didn't have to, and immediately ceased accepting US players. They bought their way off a blacklist, and have often been critical of PS, FT, Merge, and the other sites that continued to service US players after they ceased.

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I got it from that comment for saying the timing would be brilliant. The timing wouldn't be up to Party and therefore wouldn't really be brilliant. I read the comment as since there are no real rooms now with traffic, if Party returned now it would automatically be #1. That would be the case if they returned without legislation, but with legislation they will be just another room with their only real advantage possibly being their software depending on what the B&M casino's had in the way of software.

Just wanted to make sure everyone realized that since there seemed to be a few comments that were unaware, and a lot of people showing a lot of excitement. Basically there is nothing to get excited about, IMO. If legislation passes we will likely have plenty of sites to choose from that will be regulated. To me at that point, I could care much less if Party returns. Even if Party returns, it's highly unlikely it would be with a shared international player base.

Again, nothing to really get excited about IMO. IF legislation passes then we have plenty of choices anyway and having Party is just another option at that point. The thing to get excited about would be IF legislation passes.

I wouldnt mind going back to party at all. I quite liked the site when we could play on it ions ago, right now anything would be better than CaRBON

Egon Towst said:

For your info, here is a typical tournament lobby:

View attachment 40441

and the table itself:

View attachment 40442

Graphically, Party is pretty dull and uninspired. The design philosophy seems to be functionality over prettiness. It runs smoothly and reliably. There is a reasonable choice of stakes and games available, including PLO and 7CS. Lots of tournies, including satellites to most of the major offline series. Player numbers are not so large as Stars but massively bigger than anything currently available to US players. The Company is as financially solid and reliable as they come and withdrawals will present no problem if your legislators lighten up.

Hope that helps a bit.

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Geez. The software looks ugly. I liked the old party poker when I was able to play there 5 years ago.

Love their table. I can actually see it. Hope we get it back. (Yeah, sure)

All I really know of party poker is that guy TUFF FISH, he cracked me up how much he would lose on his videos. But yeah, wouldn't mind trying a new site, I adjsuted to Carbon just fine, but after FT and Stars, I know it should just be better

Egon Towst said:

Yes, it is a big black mark against Party. Some poker sites do that. Very poor service imo. More examples in this thread.

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Thanks for the link. Good to know that's one site I won't have to download if legislation ever gets passed.

That's total bs. And I thought merge taking points for not playing was bad.

Here's an ugly thought for Amerikans.

If/when those Euro sites ever return, they would list the games at GMT!