Online poker traffic declined by a scant 0.3% last week. Among the top 10 sites and networks, advancers outpaced decliners 6-4.
Full Tilt Poker has staged a remarkable comeback in the last two weeks, rising 50% from its pre-holiday low. Some of the increase can be attributed to promotions, including a deposit bonus and happy hours. However, the status quo has been fairly stable for more than a week, which could mean that a new equilibrium has been reached. After falling briefly into third place, Full Tilt currently holds a lead of approximately 50% over PartyPoker.
Meanwhile PartyPoker faces a number of cross-currents. After absorbing bwin's players in mid-December, Party's traffic is up some 30% from last month. The new platform and larger player pool stimulated players' curiosity and excitement, and as a result Party's gain was greater than Ongame's loss.
The novelty was bound to wear off, though. PartyPoker traffic has declined 6% in the last week. In addition, Party is not running any cash game promotions this month for the first time in recent history. A seasonal uptick may at least partially offset the decline, however, making Party's near-term future hard to predict.
Top 20 Movers
This week we'll be comparing the current rankings to the standings in mid-December, before the holidays.
PartyPoker pulled ahead of iPoker Network to take over third place.
Winamax.fr sailed past PokerStars.es and into seventh.
PokerStars.fr climbed two notches to ninth.
MPN lost a spot, falling to 10th.
Revolution Gaming and Bodog each moved up one, ending the week in 11th and 12th, respectively.
Ongame Network dropped from 10th to 13th.
PartyPoker.fr surged into the top 20 in 16th place.
iPoker.it slipped a notch to 17th.
Merge Gaming Network rose from 20th to 19th.
iPoker.fr slid from 17th to 20th.
PeoplesNetwork.it dropped from 19th out of the top 20.
Year Over Year
The relaunch of Full Tilt Poker has brought a significant number of players back into the online poker market. Nevertheless, the total worldwide market continues to feel the effects of a tough regulatory environment and a global stagnation in poker's popularity. The introduction of fast-fold poker in the last 12 months has also had the effect of reducing player counts for the same amount of play volume (or increasing the rate of hands dealt for a given number of players). According to PokerScout's ACES indicator, online poker player counts have decreased by 4% in the last year.
8/1/2013, 9:50 pm