BestPokerRooms Weighs Remaining Options For US Poker Players

    ALBANY, NY, May 05, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The fallout from Black Friday -when the US government seized the domain names of the three largest online poker rooms operating inside the United States, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and the Cereus Poker Network of Absolute Poker and UB Poker--has gone beyond simply affecting these three online poker giants, and a number of smaller sites have also decided to leave the US market in the wake of the government crackdown.

Three of the sites that have decided to forego the US online poker market are Victory Poker, which operates on the Cake Poker Network; and Sportsbook Poker and PlayersOnly Poker from the Merge Gaming Network -unlike Victory Poker which withdrew entirely from the US market, both Sportsbook and PlayersOnly have allowed current US players to remain, but are not accepting any NEW players from the US market.

Fortunately, since all three of these rooms voluntarily left the US market players were able to withdraw their funds without delay, but as the US market continues to contract the choices for their next online poker room is becoming increasingly difficult, which is why BestPokerRooms.com has revamped their website in order to provide the most up-to-date information on the US online poker market.

Despite the decision by these poker rooms, other rooms on these networks are still accepting US poker players, so players that were content with the software at any of the above poker rooms have the option to simply move to another of the network's many poker sites, or to simply switch from a Cake Poker Network site to a Merge Gaming site, or vice versa.

As US poker players look for a safe, reliable, poker site to play at the playing field has been forever altered, and players who have previously been a member at either a Merge Gaming Poker site like Carbon Poker or Lock Poker; the independent US-friendly poker room Bodog; or a Cake Poker Network poker room like the eponymously named Cake Poker may want to give these networks another shot.

Merge Gaming Network

In the aftermath of Black Friday, the Merge Gaming Network has seen the most growth in the industry. The previously modest-trafficked poker network is now in the Top 10 according to online traffic reports in terms of overall real-money traffic, and has been steadily increasing ever since Black Friday.

Merge Gaming is now the #1 ranked online poker room/network in the US in terms of traffic, more than doubling the traffic of their nearest competitor.

The exit from the US market by Sportsbook and PlayersOnly will not have much of an impact on the network since the two sites have allowed current US players to remain and play at the site.

Bodog Poker

Bodog Poker also experienced a major growth spurt in the wake of Black Friday, with the site's traffic increase over 30% since April 15, 2011. Having thumbed their nose at US prosecution in the past -and having won their cases against the US government--Bodog Poker is the most likely online poker site to continue serving the US market.

Cake Poker Network

Like Merge Gaming poker rooms and Bodog Poker, the Cake Poker Network also experienced a traffic spike after Black Friday, but the site hasn't been able to match the growth rate of its competitors. However, players who may have left the network in the past due to a lack of traffic may want to give the network another chance now that the sites have seen a 20% increase in the wake of Black Friday.

For more information, be sure to check out http://www.bestpokerrooms.com

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