With the new year almost a month old, we took a look at the latest shifts in cash game player traffic at U.S.-friendly poker sites.
Bodog/Bovada continues to be the site most favored by U.S. players, with a current seven-day average of 1,350 ring game players on its anonymous tables. Action at Bovada has dropped 3.5% since 2015 began, which translates to 50 less players.
Remember when the anonymous table concept was introduced a little over three years ago? Bovada was heavily criticized by many in the online poker industry at the time. Those critics have since disappeared and Bovada’s vision to make the games better for recreational players has been copied in many ways.
The Merge Gaming Network featuring lead skin Carbon Poker has remained stable over the past four weeks. Player traffic clocks in at an average of 575 players, identical to calculations reported by PokerScout on the 1st of January.
Carbon Poker continues to offer the industry’s best Welcome Bonus at 200% up to $5,000. That generosity has prompted many U.S. players to make their way over to the top Merge skin to take advantage of the bonus offer.
The Winning Poker Network (WPN) has seen the largest increase in players over the past month, a whopping 58%. Led by Americas Cardroom and Black Chip Poker, WPN now finds an average of 475 players on its cash tables.
That number may decrease come February 13 when the Online Super Series Rematch begins. More than five dozen events over 10 days that will conclude with the $1 million guaranteed Winning Millions on February 22 will likely see a number of cash players transition over to the tournament tables.
Player traffic at the Equity Poker Network (EPN) has dipped a modest 5% since Jan. 1, falling from 190 to 180 players on average. EPN’s main poker room, Full Flush Poker (FFP), continues to entice U.S. players with a number of offers.
A first-time deposit bonus of 150% up to $1,500 plus Instant Cashback is there for the taking at FFP. The drop in players at EPN is likely due to FFP’s generosity. No Fee Sit ‘n Gos for January has pushed regular cash game players over to the SNG tables.
The Bitcoin-only SealswithClubs now finds 23% less players than it averaged at the end of 2014. The decrease to 85 players from 110 is similar to the volatility of the cryptocurrency that can shoot up or down at the drop of a hat.
The jury is still out on whether Bitcoin will enter the mainstream as a currency someday. It remains a risky proposition for investors, as well as for poker site operators who offer no other deposit alternatives.
