888poker Second Only To PokerStars In Online Poker Player Traffic (Dec 24)

According to the latest data released by PokerScout, 888poker has just moved up the poker traffic worldwide rankings list into second spot behind PokerStars, as the site benefited from a busy week in which cash game player action increased by a massive 10%.
888poker’s impressive runner-up position actually marks the first time the site has reached such a lofty height, and presently the iPoker Network trails in third place by 100 cash players over a seven-day average. Meanwhile, Full Tilt Poker dropped from second to fourth spot last week with an average weekly ring game traffic of 2,400 players, behind the iPoker network with 2,500 ring game players, and 888poker with 2,600 players.
Overall, ring game traffic was up by 9% compared to the previous week as the industry was boosted by the customary winter months spike, as well as PokerStars’ milestone hand promotion which ran for the entire week. In fact, PokerStars cash game player traffic increased by a huge 19% during the milestone promotion, but has since returned to its normal seven-day average level of around 27,000 ring game players.
In the US, Bodog/Bovada continues to lead the way with roughly 1,450 cash players weekly, whilst a fair distance behind in second spot is Winning Poker Network (375 players), followed by Merge and Chico both with 325 weekly ring game players. Rounding off the top five in the US is Party Borgata in New Jersey, which has also moved up to 30th place on a global scale.
Finally, worldwide online poker player traffic is currently 2% lower than at this time last year, which highlights the challenges facing an industry where year-on-year is the goal. However, as online poker legislation is expected to gain ground in the US throughout 2014, comparative figures should start to see an improvement.