The NJ Online Gaming Scoop: Cash Game And Tournament Traffic For The Week Of October 29
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On the tournament side of the ledger, it was the same old story. The prize-pools of PokerStars’ and partypoker’s Sunday Majors were within $600 of one another, while 888Poker fell well short of its $40,000 guarantee.
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.
| Network platform provider | Online poker sites | |||
| partypoker | BorgataPoker.com | Poker.NJ.PlayMGM.com | NJ.PartyPoker.com | |
| 888 | WSOP.com | US.888Poker.com | ||
| PokerStars | PokerStarsNJ.com | |||
| Pala | PalaPoker.com | |||
During the week of October 25-31, New Jersey online poker sites averaged 230 cash game players.
Peak traffic numbers remained consistent this week, with combined cash game traffic peaking at around 650 players.
Here’s how those players are distributed across the four online poker networks.
Cash Game traffic trends
*Cash game traffic data provided by PokerIndustryPro.com. Collected on October 31, 2017.
Borgata/MGM/partypoker
- Platform provider: partypoker
- Sites in network: BorgataPoker.com, NJ.PartyPoker.com, Poker.NJ.PlayMGM.com
The Borgata/MGM/partypoker network saw cash game traffic numbers dip during the final week of October.
The slide drops the network into third place as it continues to play leapfrog with 888-WSOP.com for the number two spot behind PokerStars.
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 67 cash game players – down 8.19 percent compared to previous seven days
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WSOP/888
- Platform provider: 888
- Sites in network: WSOP.com, US.888Poker.com
A nice rebound by 888/WSOP.com saw the network pass partypoker, but as the two jockey for position, they continued to lose ground to PokerStars.
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 71 cash game players – up 12.13 percent compared to previous seven days
PokerStars NJ
- Platform provider: PokerStars
- Sites in network: PokerStarsNJ.com
PokerStars solidified its hold on the top spot last week. After a few weeks of converging traffic numbers, PokerStars started to diverge. Average cash game traffic at PokerStars NJ was over 20 percent higher than its competitors for the week.
PokerStars cash game market share is once again at 40 percent.
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 95 cash game players – up 12.63 percent compared to previous seven days
Pala Poker
- Platform provider: Pala
- Sites in network: PalaPoker.com
Pala is still trying to find a player base beyond the small contingent of loyal players it’s attracted.
The long-term outlook is pretty bleak, as the recently signed interstate agreement with Nevada is going to make 888 even more appealing when the markets merge.
Seven-day rolling cash game traffic data:
- Seven-day rolling average: 1 cash game players – no change compared to previous seven days
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 still 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 15-20 players, which means these tournaments are still overlaying $75-$100.
Results for October 29, 2017
The big series (PokerStars NJSCOOP and partypoker’s GSSS Fall 17) are in the books, which means the big Sunday tournaments are the ones listed above.
Partypoker continued to beat its guarantees by several thousand dollars, while 888 was once again left with a substantial overlay. PokerStars, which guarantees $5,000 more than its competitors, beat its guarantee, but just barely.
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:
