WSOP.com beats Partypoker after sharing liquidity with 888.com

Online poker site WSOP.com has taken over as the largest room in the New Jersey and Nevada in terms of cash game traffic, a week after its decision to share liquidity with 888poker New Jersey.

WSOP.com’s traffic has shot up to 49% while 888poker’s has risen even more sharply, with a 75% increase, putting it in second place.

The partypoker network, which includes partypoker.com NJ and Borgata Poker, has led the competition since the launch of its online poker in New Jersey in November 2013, now languishes in third, despite not losing any traffic. The 30-day moving average of cash game traffic at the partypoker network has remained constant over the last month.

The upsurge in traffic may not be completely down to liquidity sharing. It appears that the market is enjoying a mid-January boom, with the seven day moving average rising to 476 cash game seats compared to 356 a week ago.

Borgata is also in the midst of its tournament festival, the Garden State Super Series, which may be keeping players away from the cash tables.

Marketing efforts such as WSOP.com improving its rewards system, offering a higher level of rakeback for high-volume players and 888 offering a double VIP points throughout January; were also looked at as contributing factors to the change of lead.

The Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) report on regulated gaming revenues showed a good increase of 10% in December. The rise is expected to continue if rumors that PokerStars will be licensed as soon as March, attracting new blood to online poker and help reinvigorate the market.