When the poker world looks back on 2021, one of the biggest stories of the year will be how PokerStars ‘ 15-year dominance of the online marketplace was finally reined in by GGPoker .
Throughout the past 12 months, the heavyweight has been seriously challenged by the young upstart. As we approach the end of the year, the two operators could not be more closely matched in terms of cash game traffic — a scenario which seemed unlikely when the year started.
Back in January, PokerStars’ traffic was close to double that of its rival , with a seven-day average of 8723 concurrent players compared to GG’s 5,325. And while the new kid on the block had seen remarkable growth, few could have known just how far GGPoker would come in 2021 (although as we moved into February, there was at least one site making just such a prediction ). Data provided by GameIntel GG Rock Steady as Stars Declines
Between February and May, GGPoker’s cash numbers stayed more or less at the same level; PokerStars however, saw a decline in cash players, meaning that by the middle of June, the two goliaths of online poker were neck and neck .
On Sunday June 22, GGPoker overtook Pokerstars in cash game traffic. What would have been unthinkable a year previously had suddenly become a reality. The lead was slender, and it lasted only a month, but it marked a paradigm shift in online poker worldwide .
It is hard to pinpoint exactly why PokerStars numbers dropped so dramatically in the first half of the year. Almost all online poker sites have struggled — as the surge of traffic that came with lockdown inevitably tailed off. Nevertheless, PokerStars struggled more than most.
In early February, it was still averaging 8500 concurrent players. By July 3, that number was down to 4800. Its traffic virtually halved in less than five months . However, if we pull back and look at the longer-term trends, the drop is no more severe than it had been pre-pandemic. GGPoker is one of the leading online poker sites in the global […]
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