By Alexis Russell

09/03/2008

            The numbers are in and it seems online poker rooms are doing just fine as other industries slump from a weakened economy.  Another trend that has come to light upon examining player traffic numbers for numerous online poker networks, is that the U.S. players make a real difference.  So which poker rooms are enjoying the surge in players?

                Well, overall online poker has shown no signs of slowly down or reaching a saturation point, which it might never with a whole globe to draw players from.  Reports from Pokerscout show that the online poker industry as a whole had a 25% increase in player traffic.  However, that new player base hasn’t been distributed evenly throughout the poker rooms and as some have flourished others have started to slip.

                Of the networks that have had rough years one in particular has had it hard as they’ve fallen from the coveted top position.  Party Poker saw a 29% decrease in traffic over the last year.  This is mainly due to their decision to halt all U.S. player accounts after the UIGEA went into effect, the first sign of evidence that the U.S. online poker market is a powerful force in the industry.

                The other big loser this year was Absolute Poker which saw the same 29% decrease that Party Poker saw, but there drop was largely due to a recent scandal that involved an Absolute Poker employee cheating at the tables.  Even though Bodog has been scandal free and does accept U.S. players it also saw a similar decrease in traffic of 28%.  Their problem is simply not being big enough to compete with the poker rooms that are becoming the masterful giants of online poker.

                But just as many poker networks faired as well as those that flailed.  The two that showed the strongest signs of growth are of course the two giants of online poker, PokerStars and Full Tilt.  This should come as no surprise since they are the ones that have the U.S. poker base cinched, have the best traffic and market more heavily than anyone else.  PokerStars grew to the tune of a whooping 72% this past year and Full Tilt Poker saw an increase of 54% in traffic making them number one and two respectively in the race for the largest poker network.

                Other poker rooms that have experienced increased player traffic were the third largest poker network, the iPoker Network, with a 53% increase and Cake Poker which moved into the top 10 with an increase of 89%.