Nevada Online Poker Review: Is WSOP Increasing Traffic as Predicted?

Each year, the poker community flocks to Las Vegas to partake in the World Series of Poker spectacle. They are annually greeted by Caesars, the Rio, and the WSOP staff.

This year, WSOP.com, Caesars’ online poker room in Nevada, also welcomed them. The company hopes that the WSOP can boost the languishing online poker industry in the state.

Traffic has increased significantly since the WSOP started last week, so things are going well so far.

This week’s Nevada Online Poker Review will examine the effect of the WSOP on the state’s online poker statistics, recap the most significant happenings of the past week at the Rio, inform you about the current “winner” in the federal online gambling battle as per one reporter’s perspective, and much more.

WSOP Boosting Online Traffic

Caesar’s choice to cross-promote the WSOP and their WSOP.com online poker room in Nevada appears to have revitalized the site. This is primarily because the average cash game traffic has markedly increased after just a week of WSOP action.

Despite the impressive results, there is still significant potential for further growth. If Caesars can resolve some minor issues experienced by players, like the shortage of IP addresses at the Rio, the results will continue to improve.

Moreover, history has shown us that the more players a site has, the more it attracts. I anticipate that as the WSOP progresses, WSOP.com’s traffic will persist in its upward trend.

Traffic at WSOP.com has already increased by nearly 20% since the start of the World Series (additional information about traffic trends in Nevada can be found below). If the company could somehow introduce a mobile app during the WSOP, traffic would likely surge dramatically.

Hellmuth Denied, Parker Wins Third, and More from WSOP

Vanessa Selbst dominated the Rio last week, starting the 2014 WSOP with a bang by winning the prestigious $25k Mix-Max event, and securing her 3rd WSOP bracelet in the process. Since her stellar performance, several players and events, including Phil Hellmuth and the Millionaire Maker tournament, have attempted to overshadow her early WSOP success.

Hellmuth Denied #14

Phil Hellmuth might have surpassed Doyle and Johnny “F’ing” Chan, but there are some rising stars beginning to challenge him on the all-time bracelet list. Most of you are aware that the all-time bracelet leader is the most significant poker ranking for Phil Hellmuth.

When you’ve achieved as much as Phil, it’s likely the near misses that hurt the most. This was exactly the case for Hellmuth when he narrowly lost the bracelet in the $1,500 Razz tournament to Ted Forrest, ending up in second place.

Hellmuth’s goal of reaching 25 is still pending, with #14 on hold. It remains to be seen if he can accomplish this before he ends his career.

Parker wins #3

Phil failed to secure #14, but Brock Parker bagged his third bracelet in the $10k Limit Omaha 8 Championship. Parker, who is recognized as one of the most skilled limit hold’em players in tournament poker and won his first two bracelets back in 2009, has recently triumphed in both the 6-max limit and no-limit tournaments.

Milly Maker Nearly a Record Maker

Event #8, with its decent field of 7,970 players, did not quite match up to the 8,773 participants in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Despite this, the Millionaire Maker surpassed all other Main Events and also set the record for the largest non-Main Event tournament in the history of WSOP.

Commendations to the WSOP staff for successfully conducting this tournament, given that both starting flights took place on the same day.

Weekly Guaranteed Tournaments in Nevada

WSOP.com Sunday $15K Guaranteed

WSOP.com hosted a series of minor events during the opening weekend of the 2014 World Series of Poker, causing a temporary pause in this tournament. Moving forward, during the WSOP, the weekly guarantee will be joined by a variety of tournaments from the WSOP.com Online Championships. We will also post the results of these tournaments.

WSOP Main Event Satellite

Although the World Series of Poker is currently taking place, the WSOP Main Event seat saw one of its poorest attendance records this past Sunday. Only 36 players registered for the satellite tournament.

Just a week after surpassing the one-seat guarantee and giving a minor second-place reward, WSOP.com had to boost the pot with a $2,800 overlay this week.

I’m certain that “PongPong” doesn’t mind!

PongPong’s seat at the 2014 WSOP Main Event

The $10K Guarantee tournament at Ultimate Poker

Ultimate Poker experienced a minor decline as only 86 participants (a decrease of 4 from last week) were attracted to the $10k guarantee, compelling UP to contribute over $2,000 to the prize pool.

You might remember the player who finished in 4th place as the one who strongly criticized Ultimate poker player, William Reynolds earlier this year. This was after Reynolds tampered with the site’s “Draw for the Button” policy to provoke “money beets.”

These are the final payouts from the tournament:

1. m1a1tank19k $2,900
2. Ranney $2,000
3. cyanever $1,500
4. Money Beets $1,000
5. Shadowman $800
6. THORDOG $600
7. aironie1 $500
8. JP $400
9. lvlioness $300

Traffic trends in Nevada

Thanks to the WSOP, WSOP.com has significantly boosted its performance, going from an average traffic of 110 cash-game players to 130 in the past week, as reported by www.pokerscout.com. There’s even a more marked increase in peak traffic: WSOP.com Nevada is now closely trailing Party/Borgata in New Jersey, positioning itself as the largest licensed online poker provider in the US.

At this point, the spike in traffic hasn’t affected Ultimate Poker, with the cash-game traffic remaining around 50 players.

The Word On the Street

Forbes Nathan Vardi Says Adelson is “Winning”

Nathan Vardi of Forbes established his reputation in the poker world during Black Friday, with his coverage becoming essential reading. Vardi was viewed as one of the select mainstream journalists who truly understood the industry and gave online poker fair representation in his coverage.

Therefore, when Nathan wrote an article titled “Sheldon Adelson Is Winning His War Against Online Gambling”, I naturally became very anxious and hurried to read it.

Thankfully, the headline was slightly exaggerated. Vardi highlighted the progress Adelson has made in hindering the expansion of online gambling, particularly highlighting the AGA’s recent decision to withdraw from the conflict, which I personally don’t believe is as significant as he makes it out to be. However, he failed to mention that his proposed ban has received minimal attention since it was proposed.