[JamieO]

"All the advertising and marketing from their mega-profits bring in a ton of players to the game.
PokerStars wouldn't have 100k+ players on all at once if nobody knew about them.
That's how you benefit."

PLEASE GIVE ME #'s. Guess how much stars spends on ads. 20% 30% 40%? How much of the $180 fees goes to advertising?
How do you know they are doing enough advertising to justify the cost? You seem to accept it as a given. I DONT. I know that i personally dont ever see any pokerstars ads anywhere besides on commercials during poker events on tv, and at poker sites online. Also, i see a good amount more ads for FTP than Stars, shouldnt stars be running more ads? how do we know that stars couldnt have 200k+ players if they spent more on ads?

I really do not understand your reasoning. You basically start from the conclusion that stars is giving you a great deal, and dont offer any PROOF.

Break it down for me please. Someone who thinks that stars rake is a good deal. Where does the $180 from a 180 man 11+1 sit and go go?? how are the players getting a good deal.

"Microbob is dead on. People don't mind the rake because they don't SEE it."

And they would SEE it if stars made a point about it. If stars came out in there ads and said," Full Tilt is ripping you off, come to stars where we take half as much for you to play the game." Even the most dense fish will respond to this type of advertising. the sites wont do this however, because they are "colluding" to keep the rake up. They dont compete and wont compete cuz they wont have to anytime soon.