The NJ Online Gaming Scoop: Cash Game And Tournament Traffic For The Week Of November 26
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But Stars was never able to pull away from partypoker or 888poker in the market, and based on recent cash game and tournament data, it’s starting to look like 888poker is now beating PokerStars on the cash game front while partypoker is now the top dog in tournaments.
Still, PokerStars is still the clear leader in the New Jersey clubhouse when it comes to revenue.
Reason being, cash game traffic, and looking at the site’s largest weekly tournament isn’t the be all end all of what sites are winning and losing. New products like Spin & Go’s aren’t tracked in either category, and the measure of a site’s tournament bona fides among players goes far beyond its biggest tournament.
These are worthwhile metrics to analyze, but it’s important to not overstate their importance.
That said, here’s US Poker’s weekly look back at the cash game and tournament trends in the New Jersey online poker market.
New Jersey’s online poker operators
New Jersey has seven online poker sites operating on four separate networks.
During the week of November 22-28, New Jersey online poker sites averaged 255 cash game players.
Peak traffic numbers were around 650 players.
* There was a reporting error at PokerStars NJ during the week of November 14-20, that caused a significant drop in cash game traffic numbers.
Here’s how those players are distributed across the four online poker networks.
*Cash game traffic data provided by PokerScout.com. Collected on November 21, 2017.
Borgata/MGM/partypoker
- Platform provider: partypoker
- Sites in network: BorgataPoker.com, NJ.PartyPoker.com, Poker.NJ.PlayMGM.com
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 68 cash game players – down 4.39 percent compared to previous seven days
WSOP/888poker
- Platform provider: 888
- Sites in network: WSOP.com, US.888Poker.com
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 100 cash game players – up 10.19 percent compared to previous seven days
PokerStars NJ
- Platform provider: PokerStars
- Sites in network: PokerStarsNJ.com
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 86 cash game players – down 4.43 percent compared to previous seven days
Pala Poker
- Platform provider: Pala
- Sites in network: PalaPoker.com
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 1 cash game players – no change compared to previous seven days
Evaluating cash game traffic trends
The New Jersey online poker market is one of the more interesting in the world.
As noted above, PokerStars continues to lead the way in terms of revenue, but 888poker is tops in cash game traffic, while partypoker seems to be the number one choice for tournament players.
The three-horse-race dynamic could end when New Jersey pools online poker players with Nevada and Delaware, as it will provide a massive boost to 888poker – the only operator active in all three jurisdictions.
However, 888’s reign might be short-lived… if Pennsylvania decides to pool players when it’s online gaming industry goes live.
Basically, right now it’s a dogfight, but in the long-run, US market supremacy will likely come down to how many jurisdictions an operator is active in.
Tournament Report: A look at the Sunday Majors
Three of the four online poker networks host a signature Sunday tournament:
- The Borgata/partypoker/MGM online poker network offers a $40,000 guarantee tournament. The tournament has a $215 buy-in.
- The WSOP.com and 888 network also host a $215 buy-in, $40,000 guaranteed tournament that it’s dubbed, “The Warrior.”
- PokerStars NJ hosts the Sunday Special, a $200 buy-in with a guarantee of $45,000.
*Pala Poker is in beta-testing and doesn’t offer a signature Sunday tournament at this time.
The two largest tournaments at Pala, each boasting a $10 buy-in and $250 guarantee, have been consistently drawing close to 20 players, which means these tournaments are still overlaying $75-$100.
This past Sunday the two tournaments drew 17 and 18 players respectively.
Half-price week at PokerStars
As reported by Katie Stone, PokerStars will be cutting buy-ins in half for its Sunday Majors (full list here) as part of its Christmas Celebrations promotion. The Guarantees for these tournaments will remain the same.
Major tournament results for November 26, 2017
With no major tournament series on the schedule, things returned to normal this week.
With each network on equal footing, partypoker is now the clear choice for New Jersey tournament players, at least when it comes to the big weekly tournaments.
The site’s Sunday major had the largest prize-pool and the most entries, and it was the only one of the three to exceed its guarantee; it did so by more than 20 percent.
Here’s a look at the total number of entries for the largest tournament held on each of the three main online poker networks in New Jersey events:
And here’s a look at the total prize-pool for each tournament:
