U.S. Online Poker Traffic Update – Outsiders Still Reign

The U.S. poker market is still alive and well. We have our state run sites in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware. And we still have a few un regulated sites that operate within their borders. Surprisingly, traffic has seen steady growth, small, but steady none the less. While many felt the introduction of Poker Stars into the market once again would immediately make them the front runners, we have some new leaders at the top of the list. Poker Stars kept up with most predictions, immediately capturing the majority share of the traffic in New Jersey, but other poker rooms are pushing to take it back. And doing a good job at it. The Borgata, one of New Jersey's largest live casinos is focusing on beating back the online giant – PokerStars. Responding to recent critics saying Borgata cannot compete with Stars, Borgata took to its blog, and their tournament schedule to fight back. Borgata was more than happy to announce the results of their latest tournament turnouts citing that all of their major guarantees exceeded the guarantee. And a few even had more players than similar tournaments over at PokerStars. Borgata also plans win back their share of players by offering re-entry tournaments, larger guarantees, and satellites into their own live casino tournaments. Their biggest attraction will be upcoming satellites into the WSOP that cover every tournament, including the WSOP. Speaking of the WSOP, their Nevada, Jersey and Delaware online poker sites currently own the top spot in player retention - barely I might add. Poker Stars is 2nd, with the Borgata just a few players behind in average traffic over the past 7 days. The real losers in all this is the Real Gaming Network in Nevada. With virtually no traffic, there's little hope left to climb out of the cellar. According to Poker Scout, 2 players were on the site on average over the past 7 days. Even with regulation, sites without permission are still thriving in the U.S. market. The top 3 sites in the U.S. are all outsiders so to speak, and hold the lion's share of the market. Bodog continues to lead the pack with almost 3,000 players on site over a 7-day average. Winning Poker Network is making a strong push with their updated tournament schedule that has become the unofficial home for American poker players. Their flagship site is called Americas Cardroom if that doesn't tell you anything. Rounding out the top 3 is the Chico Poker Network with an average of almost 2,000 players.