Online poker traffic surged nearly 5% this week. Nine of the top 10 sites and networks booked a gain for the week.

One of the strongest gainers was the International Poker Network (IPN), which saw an influx of players trying to take down a bad beat jackpot of more than half a million euros. On Saturday the jackpot crossed the €600,000 mark (nearly $900,000) and IPN pulled ahead of Microgaming to take eighth place in the traffic rankings. The two networks were tied for average players but the higher peak player count of IPN gave it the better ranking.

The IPN jackpot was hit shortly after reaching €600,000 on Saturday, and by Sunday afternoon Microgaming had already recaptured the eighth place ranking with a higher peak player count.

PartyPoker has been gaining steadily on iPoker Network in recent weeks and is now knocking on the door to rejoin the top three. In late 2006 when the UIGEA was signed into law, PartyPoker stopped accepting US players and was quickly overtaken by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, falling to third. Then in March 2008, Party fell behind iPoker and has been in fourth place for the last year and a half.

As recently as May, iPoker boasted nearly 50% more players than PartyPoker, but the gap has narrowed considerably since then. The two are now neck and neck, separated by only 1% in player volume, but perhaps more important than the ranking battle is the fact that PartyPoker has been able to grow player counts by almost 25% over the past year in a difficult economic and competitive climate.

Top Of The Charts

The top four ranked sites kept their positions this week. This makes 84 consecutive weeks without a change in the top four spots.

Movers

IPN edged ahead of Microgaming to take eighth place. PKR muzzled Bodog and took 14th place, while Everleaf Gaming Network dropped two places to 21st, allowing UPN and Action Poker Network to each move up one spot.

Year Over Year

The worldwide online poker market continues to grow quickly despite the global economic slowdown and the efforts of US prosecutors to shut down payment options. According to PokerScout's ACES indicator, online poker is growing at an annual rate of more than 35%.

Notable gainers:

Entraction Network 77%

Full Tilt Poker 76%

PokerStars 52%

Notable losers:

Svenska Spel 13%

Betfair Poker 8%

Everest Poker 6%