Online traffic fell 1.7% this week. Seven of the top 10 sites and networks showed a loss for the week.

PokerStars led to the downside with a steep 8% drop. The loss almost exactly offset gains seen in the previous two weeks during the 40 billionth hand promotion. PokerStars traffic has now returned to the level of three weeks ago.

As might be expected, Full Tilt Poker picked up many of the players leaving PokerStars. Full Tilt traffic rose 9% this week.

Cake Poker Network experienced a service interruption for several hours on Friday. A power outage suffered by server host Cyberluck was reported to be the cause.

Merge Gaming CEO Anthony Taylor said this week that the Merge network will grow four-fold as a result of luring Sportsbook.com and other sites away from the Cake network. Taylor also predicted Merge would see a six-fold increase in traffic within six months, and aims to be in the top 10 within a year.

Top Of The Charts

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

Movers

Cereus Network moved up two spots to sixth with a 12% gain, jumping ahead of Everest and IPN.

Year Over Year

Despite the overall decline in traffic this week, the year-over-year picture actually improved due to an even steeper drop at this time last year. According to PokerScout's ACES indicator, online poker traffic is growing at an annual rate of 22%.

Notable gainers:

Full Tilt Poker 69%

PokerStars 32%

IPN 25%

Notable losers:

iPoker Network 24%

Svenska Spel 17%

Ongame Network 14%

Everest Poker 10%