Pokerstars Turns In Phenomenal Year
Published on December 31st, 2012 5:02 pm EST
Remember the days following "Black Friday"?Remember the poker rooms who were openly gloating about the severe trouble that Pokerstars and Full Tilt had found themselves in, courtesy of the US government?
Remember the talk of a new "even playing field" in the online poker industry?
Well, after another phenomenal year, Pokerstars finds itself with an even tighter grip over the online poker industry. Pokerstars' chokehold on the industry is so tight, in fact, that some of their competition is openly resigning themselves to being second-tier players in the industry.
Let's take a look at the top 10 online poker rooms as of this moment, courtesy of Pokerscout.com (ranked by 24 Hour Cash Game Player Peak):
1. Pokerstars (36,713)
2. Full Tilt Poker (7,683)
3. PartyPoker (6,334)
4. iPoker (4,614)
5. Winamax.fr (3,941)
6. 888Poker (3,738)
7. Pokerstars.es (3,573)
8. Pokerstars.it (3,389)
9. MPN (2,775)
10. Pokerstars.fr (2,548)
Pokerstars owns Full Tilt Poker, which means that Pokerstars controls 5 of the top 10 online poker properties in the world.
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Pokerstars earned a tremendous amount of goodwill from the poker community when they stepped in to purchase Full Tilt Poker earlier this year. Things were not looking good for Full Tilt Poker and the player balances on the site, but Pokerstars was able to step in and make everybody whole as part of their settlement with the US government (well, Pokerstars did their part to make players whole - US players are still waiting to receive their balances back from the US government).
As part of their settlement with the US government, Pokerstars will be able to potentially re-enter the US market when federal and/or state laws change in the country. Pokerstars is reportedly interested in purchasing the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in New Jersey - this purchase, along with the signing into law of an online gaming bill in New Jersey, would allow Pokerstars entry into a market within the borders of the United States. Quite a turn of events given that "Black Friday" took place less than two years ago.
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So, as we move into 2013, Pokerstars continues to grow and their competition continues to grow more frustrated.
I think it's pretty safe to say that 2012 belonged to Pokerstars.
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Filed Under: Miscellaneous King Articles
