We all know that PokerStarsrules the roost in the online poker world in terms of cash game volume. It has been at the top of PokerScout‘s cash game traffic rankings for years and shows no signs of coming close to relinquishing that spot any time soon. With a seven-day average of 20,000 cash game players, it is eight-and-a-half times as large as its closest competitor. And that does not even take into account tournaments, where PokerStars is also king.

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It is that closest competitor, though, where things get interesting in the industry. As PokerScout pointed out in its weekly Scouting Report, the fight for second place in the cash game standings is strong. 888 Poker and the iPoker Network are almost in a dead heat, with 888 just 4.5% ahead of iPoker, 2,300 cash game players to 2,200.

iPoker has been trailing 888 for most of the year, but since the end of August, it has seen its cash game traffic rise 11%. PokerScout believes some of this improvement could originate from some of the iPoker Network’s sites hosting rakeback and leaderboard promotions this month, which tend to draw people in.

Two years ago, according to a graph provided by PokerScout, the iPoker Network was comfortably ahead of 888, at times by close to 1,000 players. The gap had closed a bit by the Q2 2013, as while 888 wasn’t much higher than it was to start 2012, iPoker had taken a fairly steep downturn.

888 began to climb in late 2013 and by the beginning of this year, it had surpassed the iPoker Network. Both have been on a steady decline most of the year, but are now on the upswing. 888’s 11% uptick is stronger than iPoker’s 7%, though, leading to them be close to even.

In fact, PokerScout says, the iPoker Network inched ahead of 888 briefly last Thursday before falling back.

On the whole, online poker traffic increased 1% last week, according to PokerScout, the second straight week the numbers went up. However, the figures are down 9% from the same time last year.

PokerScout’s Scouting Report is a daily newsletter for the online poker industry, with in-depth data and analysis of the market. More information can be found by clicking here or contacting support@pokerscout.com.

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