Almost 40,000 Cash Game Players On Stars?

Despite the economical and financial crises, the poker industry is still booming, and an end of the rush is not in sight. As many players as never before gather at the virtual tables.

Especially PokerStars proves almost daily that the global potential for poker is far from being exhausted. With 35,000 participants, Stars hosted the biggest tournament of all times in December 2008, and probably one could have easily gotten 40,000 players to the virtual tables. However, not only the micro limits explode in terms of player numbers. The Sunday Million regularly entices over 8,000 players - it only seems to be a question of time before the guaranteed prize pool will increase from now $1.5 million to $2 million.

The number of cash game players increases to the same extent. Only twelve months ago, Stars celebrated 20,000 players - nowadays, it breaks the mark of 35,000 cash game players regularly. Thus, it's not unrealistic to assume that over 40,000 cash game players will be found at the same time on the tables within the first semester of 2009. That the boom is not only going strong online was also shown at the PokerStars EPT Caribbean Adventure. It attracted an unbelievable 1,347 players to the Bahamas, from which over 750 players qualified online.

Not only PokerStars is able to profit from the on-going boom, however. Full Tilt Poker recorded strong increases in 2008 as well, and also PartyPoker, the iPoker Network (Titan Poker & Mansion Poker), as well as the OnGame Network (PokerRoom) developed positively. That there is still room for individual offers despite the big platforms, was proven by our newest affiliated partner Cake Poker which established itself as another solid player on the market last year.

Thus, the industry seems to be healthy and well-equipped for the new year. New players will probably provide for new records in 2009, and one can look forward to an exciting poker year with a lot of action.