In 2CardsCollege‘s previous article about the history of online poker, we told you about Planet Poker, the pioneer of this new-world business. The success of the poker site was phenomenal, but at the same time its owners ran into every trap possible and made a lot of mistakes, as the correct strategy was nowhere to look for. New problems were waiting for the site around every corner and there was serious competition snapping at its heels.

In the end of 1999, a second player, Paradise Poker, entered the market. By a strange coincidence, at the moment Paradise launched, Planet Poker started to experience serious technical difficulties. In fact, the poker site had been down for several days in a row. And when the staff managed to restore the servers, Paradise already had both feet on the floor. It’s hard to imagine, but the site actually became successful overnight.

Paradise Poker’s owners got their money’s worth with their promotional strategy. They started a partnership with Google, which was breaking the ground back then, and if someone typed “poker” into Google, he or she would get redirected right to Paradise Poker. Only two months later, more than 1,000 people were playing at Paradise in the peak times, two times more than at Planet. Their software was way of higher quality and it performed almost seamlessly, so the gap between the poker sites grew even wider.

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Then, another player, PokerSpot, entered the market. It was founded by Dutch Boyd, one of the most popular players at that time and the owner of two WSOP bracelets. He founded the site with his brother, Robert.

One might say that the brothers were ahead of their time. It was PokerSpot that first introduced MTTs, although MTTs did not become popular, mainly for two reasons. The first is that Limit Hold’em remained the most popular game of that time and the players thought of the tournaments as something boring and unnecessary. The second is that Dutch’s website was horribly malfunctioning.

PokerSpot started to experience serious troubles when first players began withdrawing their money they earned there. The users complained that they had to wait for their money for months. Boyd apologized in person on 2+2 forum to all of the players and promised to fix everything. As a result, some players got their money.

According to different data, by 2001, up to $400,000 was “lost” in transactions between PokerSpot and players’ bank accounts, and Boyd himself has turned into an outcast of the poker community. In 2012, he declared bankruptcy.

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Meanwhile, the struggle between Planet Poker and Paradise Poker went on. Paradise was the first to introduce statistics. For example, they started calculating the average pot size at the table. It was also there that players had the chance to play at two tables simultaneously.

Planet, seriously lagging behind in terms of software, concentrated on improving the reputation of their poker site. Mike Caro, one of the main stars of that time, made tireless statements about the site’s fair RNG. It was also at that time that Planet offered the game with the highest stakes back then: $20–40 LH.

Both restless rivals had no idea that their confrontation was not only shaping the online poker industry, but also essentially burying them both. Both of these poker sites do not ring a bell for the modern players, as in 2001 the new era began, the era of such monsters as PartyPoker, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet. But that’s quite a different story…

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