PKR Hits 3 Millionth Player on 3rd Birthday

[scrawnybob]

hi all

amazing growth ...

PKR Hits 3 Millionth Player on 3rd Birthday

3D Poker Site PKR Hits 3 Millionth Player One Day Before Its 3rd Anniversary

cheers scrawnybob

[Whatsthepassword?]

That really is amazing growth. I don't want to rain on their parade, but if they have three million players, how come they only have around 7,000 playing at any one time? A lot of these will be on the play money tables too.

Their cash game players hit a high of 1,600 over the past 24 hours, according to PokerScout. But they only had a seven day average of 830.

I suppose it just goes to show you can register as many players as you like but it's pretty tough to get them to play on a regular basis.

Pitbull - a real minnow of the industry - claims to have a million registered players, but PokerScout shows they pulled in a measly 32 as a seven day average on cash tables.

[scrawnybob]

hi

yep all good points - ALL sites will have a massive difference between a big signups number(eg. 3 million), a lower active including play money tables number, a lower still active real money number & then there is the peak daily player number (eg. 1600 or 7000 depending on the measure)

BTW personally I wouldnt touch pitbull with a barge pole and their traffic is really reall woeful ... I'd guess most of their "1 million signups" were attracted by the free bucks and then found they had virtually no-one to play against

however PKR is a very very different kettle of fish - 3 million registered signups IS impressive IMHO as they dont run desperate incentives to try and get signups

all sites will have a vastly higher number of signups in relation to their peak daily player stats ... BTW those stats on pokerscout are pretty accurate BUT they are for Peak daily players and they have a breakdown on the real money CASH tables ie. only ring game traffic

so they're really only a guide - some sites will be stronger at tournaments (think of the numbers pokerstars must be pulling in with the huge field gtd games)

PKR's general success and growth by all the measures is IMHO pretty decent for a stand alone site that isnt relying on a network to boost player numbers ... there are ALOT of sites that if they werent part of a network would have a very small volume of players ...

this is why Networks can be a good idea and also why PKR's achievements are noteworthy

once you get down below the top 3 biggest standalone sites (pokerstars, full tilt poker & Partypoker) and the top 2 biggest networks (ipoker & ongame) ...

there is a middle grown where this isnt really alot traffic wise between IPN/boss network, Cake Network, Micorgaming, Bodog, PKR & Pacific

then merge network brings up the rear in terms of viable networks / sites and AFIAKS site with lower traffic after that really arent viable or worth playing

cheers scrawnybob

[Whatsthepassword?]

Thanks, Bob. That's a really good analysis. I'm pretty much a fan of PKR. Now I've got a laptop with some decent RAM, the software runs like a dream.

I'd be interested to hear your view on the level of bots playing on the bigger sites. I don't think they are a factor at PKR. But I've heard claims that a significant number of bots operate at PokerStars and Full Tilt, which will skew the numbers they claim are at their cash tables.

Again, these may just be wild claims. Do you think they have any substance?

[scrawnybob]

hiya

just meant to add, not 100% but I seem to remember the comparitive figure to the PKR 3 millions signups for pokerstars was around 12 million (but that figure is a bit outdated I think now) anyway hope that makes sense as they equally never have 12 million online

in terms of bots - I know that PKR are very anti any tracking HUD type things giving any players an advantage ... its very much their aim to keep the fish / rec players happy and enjoying the experience rather than getting totally eaten alove by the sharks

I think with alot of the conspiracy theory stuff the biggest 2 sites are the biggest two by some margin - so inevitably they come in for more random / unbased criticism

I dont think Stars if FT have their own bots to boost games - its just not worth it - why spoil a good thing ?

however I do know on good authority that there are still some very small (and not recommended) sites that are basically 90% robots to get any kind of activity ... I'm not going to name them for obvious reasons but these ultra small sites are not popular sites and your not likely to come across them unless you really value a bit of free cash / free play over playing at a good site with trust and good solid traffic

As Ive said before some small networks - like Merge I think have good positive points even though they are smaller

but there are still a few rogue outfits out there - just stick with better know networks and sites

cheers scrawnybob