The world of online poker is an incredibly crowded one. There may not be as many online poker rooms as there used to be, but you could still play at a different site every day of the month and still have a few left over to try out. Even though there are tons of different poker rooms out there they don’t all stack up.
If you want to judge by traffic alone then the king of the industry is PokerStars. PokerStars is famous for sponsoring World Series of Poker champions Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer. They also have WSOP champ Joseph Hachem as a spokesman, but he didn’t earn his way into the main event through a PokerStars tourney. Their famous faces and overwhelming advertising on T.V., in magazines and all over the Net has seen PokerStars’ player numbers grow so much over the past year that they now boast the highest traffic of any online poker room.
However, just because a lot of people like something doesn’t mean it’s the best. PokerStars may lead the way in players, but they’ve got company in the online poker leading brands discussion. (Along with PokerStars you’ve got lots of discussion about Full Tilt Poker and Bodog’s poker room.)
Full Tilt also boasts plenty of advertising and they seemed to up the ante in their online ads after the online gambling trouble in the U.S. started to stir last year. Everyone knows Full Tilt because of the ton of poker pros that sport their logo, from Chris “Jesus” Ferguson to Phil Ivey. One thing that you hear about Full Tilt from online poker vets is that they know how to treat their customers. One thing I like about Full Tilt is that it’s the only place you can go online to see if Mike Matusow can type as fast as he can talk.
Last, but certainly not least is Bodog Poker. Since they decided to stay in the American market while other books pulled out, Bodog has seen tremendous growth in their poker room numbers. Bodog is quickly becoming one the best-known Internet brands through its stylized marketing and simple word of mouth from satisfied customers. Look for Bodog’s growth to continue as more players are introduced to their top-notch software and game-play.
