PokerScout Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update

Every Sunday, our friends at PokerScout.com release their “Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update,” which gives us a feel for the current trends in player activity around the internet poker industry. PokerScout monitors real money cash game player traffic at over 30 different online poker rooms and networks and ranks them according to their seven day averages. Visitors to the site will notice that these numbers come in well short of what the poker rooms report in their lobbies. This is because tournaments and play money games are not counted. Players who multi-table, however, are counted multiple times; the traffic counts reflect the number of real money cash game seats occupied. For the first week of February, several poker rooms traded spots in the rankings.

The majority of the movement was in the bottom half of the top ten. The Cake Poker Network, home to Power Poker, Doyle’s Room, the brand new Unabomber Poker, and its flagship Cake Poker, jumped both the Microgaming Network and the International Poker Network (IPN), climbing from 10th to 8th in the cash game traffic standings. As of Tuesday afternoon, there is little separating the three networks, as Cake Poker has a seven day average of 2,250 players, while Microgaming and IPN are tied at 2,200. Microgaming, once one of the most popular networks for online poker, is comprised of almost 50 rooms, including Gnuf Poker and Unibet. Boss Media’s IPN is headlined by the once independent Paradise Poker, as well as Yahoo! Poker and Poker Heaven.

Just above those three networks, the Cereus Network, made up of Absolute Poker and UB.com, switched places with Everest Poker, the former falling to 7th and the later bumping up to 6th. At a seven day average of 2,500 and 2,450 cash game players, respectively, both a starting to feel the Cake Poker Network breathing down their necks.

Out of the bottom half of the top ten, only Cake and Cereus accept players from the United States.

Elsewhere in the rankings, the Everleaf Network continues to move since merging with the Universal Poker Network, moving up another spot to 18th. The launch of Victory Poker is also possibly giving the network a boost, as it is offering attractive bonuses and rakeback to attract new customers.

PokerScout.com named Pacific Poker as its standout performer, as it saw its cash game traffic increase 25 percent, likely because of new promotions.

At the top of the rankings, there has been no movement for the fifth straight week. PokerStars still dominates everyone, with 32,600 cash games players on average. Full Tilt Poker is next at 16,600, followed by Party Poker at 5,400 and the iPoker Network at 4,850. Overall, PokerScout reported that online poker traffic increased just slightly from the previous week after falling for three weeks straight.

Compared to the same time a year ago the most “notable” gainers in traffic are Full Tilt (68 percent), PokerStars (43 percent), and the Cake Poker Network (42 percent). The iPoker Network (23 percent) and Svenska Spel (20 percent) are the most notable losers since the first week of February in 2009.

Related Online Poker News:

Huge 100% Match Bonus up to $500 Free! Plus $75 Free Refer-A-Friend!

Full screen 3D animated & 2D ("bird's eye") view options, Extra games

Poker lexicon:

PAY STATION - A player who rarely folds, thus who frequently calls better hands and loses. Almost as much fun as a LIVE ONE.
BOARD - The exposed cards in Hold'em and stud. Also BOARD CARDS.
STACKED [DECK] - A deck that has been arranged to give one player a huge advantage. Also: RIGGED.
LATE POSITION - For a particular betting round, a player who does not have to act until most of the other players have acted.
LIVE [CARD] - In Stud, a card probably not held by other players.
CRYING CALL - A call made with little chance of ultimately winning, but marginally better than an immediate fold.

♥ Bookmark Us! ♠

Poker Information