Poker News

Online poker cash game tracking site PokerScout.com released its Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update yesterday and for about the gabillionth time this year, traffic declined from the previous week. To be a little more exact, rather than rounding up to the nearest gabillion, online poker traffic decreased for the eighth week in a row and the eleventh time in the last twelve weeks. It wasn’t a significant loss – only 0.1 percent – but a loss is a loss.

Compared to the same time last year, online poker traffic is down 12 percent.

As usual, PokerStars is in the top spot of PokerScout’s rankings. My grandmother used to be reckless and use a red pen on her crossword puzzles; I think we will all be safe if we do the same with PokerStars’ name in the rankings. With a seven-day average of 21,500 cash game players, PokerStars has zero competition. 888poker is next with 2,300 players, followed by PartyPoker and the iPoker Network, both of which have 2,000 players. Full Tilt Poker, owned by the same company as PokerStars, rounds out the top five with 1,900 players. So, at least there’s drama in the two through five slots.

PokerScout makes particular note of Unibet, which left MPN (Microgaming) to go independent in March. A month ago, Unibet was 27th in PokerScout’s cash game rankings, but now, with an average of 550 players, it ranks 17th. For comparison, MPN had an average of 1,250 players when Unibet’s decision was announced in December and is now down to 800 players. PokerScout theorizes that Unibet’s traffic will decline when the initial independence fervor wears off and promotions end.

On the negative side, SealsWithClubs, the largest Bitcoin poker site on the internet, is struggling. Bitcoin, the trendy digital currency, has taken a hit recently with the closing of Mt. Gox and China’s fight against the currency. A month ago, one Bitcoin was worth about $620. Now it’s down to around $450. To quote PokerScout, “What’s bad for Bitcoin is bad for SealsWithClubs. The site dropped 15% for the week.”

On the U.S. regulated poker site front, it is still a three horse race in New Jersey. The Party Borgata Network is the top dog with a seven-day average of 180 cash game players, followed by WSOP.com with 140 and the All American Poker Network (AAPN) with 95. Ultimate Poker’s New Jersey site is no longer registering on PokerScout. WSOP.com is the leader in Nevada with 110 players with Ultimate Poker in second with 75.

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