Winamax Overtakes PokerStars As France’s Top Poker Site

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Tuesday, October 28th, 2014 | Written by Shane Larson

PokerStars is used to monopolizing the individual regulated markets it joins, which is why the poker headlines have been dominated recently by the surprise news the site’s French offering, PokerStars.fr, has been overtaken by Winamax as the country’s most popular online poker site.

According to online cash game tracking site PokerScout, Winamax.fr is currently showing 1,250 cash game players over a seven-day period, with a 24 hour peak of 2,609 players, whilst PokerStars.fr is showing 900 cash players over the same period, with a peak of just 1,604 players.

France’s two main poker rooms have been in direct competition with one another for months as they seek to dominate a rapidly changing online gambling market. Since September, however, PokerStars.fr cash game traffic has taken a turn for the worse, while Winamax has continued to attract more players to the site.

Spin & Go Lowers Cash Game Traffic

Analysts seem in little doubt that PokerStars has largely engineered its own drop in cash game traffic by introducing its new mini sit-and-go tournaments called ‘Spin & Go’. Soon after the main dot.com site introduced the 3 max hyper-turbo format allowing players to win up to 1,000 times their initial buy-ins, PokerStars noted a 9% fall in cash game traffic as many of its cash players moved from ring games to give the exciting, fast paced format a go.

In the French market, however, PokerStars.fr was late to the show with Winamax.fr having introduced its own format, known as Expresso Poker, back in August of 2013, resulting in more PokerStars players migrating over to Winamax poker rooms. While Winamax has seen its market share increase steadily ever since, PokerStars.fr latest ‘Spin & Go’ offering has seen less seats being occupied in its more traditional cash games, a situation which could be just the start of a worrying trend for the world’s most popular poker site. As Elbert Pruitt from cardschat.com, explains:

“Although PokerStars France attempted to regain its base with its own Spin & Go offerings, the site’s cash games traffic is down 20 percent compared to before the introduction of Spin & Go. And worse yet, the figure of 20 percent could potentially be even larger, considering the fall season is when cash games typically grow in traffic.”

PokerStars Lack Of Sponsored Pros

PokerStars has also hit the headline recently on account of a number of high profile sponsored pros the site has released from their contracts, including such top players as 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada, Dutch pro Marcel Luske, Russian’s Alex Kravchenko, Costa Rican Humberto Brenes, and Argentinan Jose Barbero.

PokerStars.fr also has a very limited roster of sponsored pros in the guise of Vanessa Rousso and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, which may have contributed to its recent decline, whilst Winamax.fr sponsors a full team of professional poker players, including the likes of Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes, Ludovic Lacay , Davidi Kitai, Michel Abecassis, Patrick Bruel, Sylvain Loosli, Gaëlle Baumann, Ludovic Riehl, and Yann Del Rey.

Regulars Animosity Towards Spin & Go’s

PokerStars is currently attracting a great deal of heat from its regular poker players who have traditionally supported the site’s stance when it comes to offering just poker games. Previously, PokerStars had tried to differentiate itself from the competition by offering just poker games, instead of also including other casino style gambling games such as roulette and blackjack. PokerStars’ previous approach was to promote poker as a ‘game of skill,’ which is why its ‘Spin & Go’ format has been criticized by poker purists who view its as a gambling game and therefore ultimately unbeatable.

Experienced PokerStars regular analyzing the game have pointed out that while ‘Spin & Go’ players can win up to 1,000 times their buy-ins, 75% of the time the winning prize pool is actually just double their initial buy-in, odds which are less than attractive for experienced players used to more favourable odds playing against inexperienced competition at PokerStar’s cash game tables.

Nevertheless, the poker industry relies heavily on money from recreational players to keep the game’s liquidity afloat, and PokerStars’ Spin & Go’s are currently regarded favourably by such players who are attracted by the lure of a big payout comparable to winning a lottery.

PokerStars Pro Attacks Site’s Regulars

In addition to risking the support of its regulars by introducing Spin & Go’s, PokerStars’ new owners Amaya Gaming have said they intend to introduce casino style gambling games in the near future, which could risk further alienating its regular poker player base. The site’s new stance is unlikely to be helped much by the comments of Daniel Negreanu, PokerStars’ main brand ambassador and recent inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame, who recently had these choice words for the site’s regular customers:

“If Spin N’ Go’s deterred pros from playing, that actually HELPS the poker ecosystem immensely, it just may not help YOU personally. I love, love, love, and love this concept and if it helps to level the playing field a little bit, while allowing rec players to stretch their dollars a bit further than before, I think in the end that is a win for everyone- even the winning players who are upset about it now.”