Online Poker Traffic Update

Online poker sites worldwide lost player traffic for the ninth week in a row, as 3% less players logged on at ring game tables than the week before.

When we compare player traffic to just one month ago, all but one of the top ten poker rooms and networks lost cash game action since the middle of May. The poker site that did not, PokerStars.it, managed to remain stable, keeping its seven-day player average of 1,150.

While top dog PokerStars deals with suspected bot rings and re-examines rules regarding third-party software, the industry leader does so with a current player average of 15,500, according to PokerScout.com. That's 50 players less than a month ago.

Runner-up 888poker lost twice as many players in the same amount of time, falling from 2,100 to an even 2,000. Perhaps the recent signing of Dominik Nitsche as 888poker's newest ambassador will drive some more traffic to the site.

Bodog/Bovada continues to hold down third place in global online poker popularity, but also saw its player average lessened by 100 from 1,700 to 1,600. Despite the decrease, Bovada blows away the competition among unregulated U.S. poker sites, with more player traffic than the Chico (450), Winning (425) and Merge (375) poker networks combined.

Those three, currently 18th, 19th and 21st globally, all averaged 475 cash players in mid-May. Merge lost the most ring game action since then, likely due to the fact that flagship skin Carbon Poker no longer uses affiliate sites to woo players.

Speaking of unregulated U.S. sites, two more worth mentioning further down the food chain are the Equity and Revolution networks. Both experienced a decrease in ring game players along with the rest of the industry over the past 30 days. Equity dropped to an average of 130 from 150, and Revolution lost 5 players and sits at 85.

Back to the top ten, we find the iPoker Network remaining in fourth place worldwide, albeit with 150 players less than a month ago at 1,450. While iPoker's "It's Always a Full House Slogan" is quite catchy, that house is not as full as it used to be with regard to player traffic.

Full Tilt tumbled from fifth to seventh in worldwide rankings over the last month, losing 16% of its cash game player traffic. Now averaging 1,050 players, down from 1,250 last month, Full Tilt is banking on its Double Bust promotion that runs through June 20 to attract more action.

Benefiting from Full Tilt's decline were Partypoker and PokerStars.it, who are tied for fifth place with a 1,150 seven-day player average. As stated previously, PokerStars.it is the only site that didn't lose players as of late. Partypoker averaged 1,200 a month ago.

Keeping their 8-10th place positions were Winamax.fr (950), PokerStars.es (850) and PokerStars.fr (750), respectively. Ninth place PokerStars.es saw its player average fall by 50, while the other two each experienced declines of 100 players since the middle of May.

Hoping to soon bump another site out of the top ten is the Microgaming Poker Network, trailing only by 50 players with 700. MPN recently welcomed Thrill Poker to the fold and rolled out a new platform entitled MPN India.

The WSOP in Las Vegas has been in action for 2 and 1/2 weeks and has predictably boosted player traffic at WSOP.com in Nevada and Delaware, both operating in tandem as the Multi State Poker Network. The average has gone from 170 to 200 ring game players and may creep higher in coming weeks.

In New Jersey, the alliance between 888poker and WSOP.com remained steady over the past month at 170 ring game players. The Garden State's other partnership, between Borgata and Partypoker, didn't fare as well, dropping 10 players to 110.

In analyzing year-over-year statistics, the online poker industry as a whole is 16% off the pace of mid-June 2014. However, that's better than the 17% decline from one month ago when compared to mid-May 2014.