What are Poker Networks?

If you have been playing online poker for a little while and played at a handful of poker rooms, you may well have noticed that a number of them look remarkably similar.

For example, if you take a look at Titan Poker and Bet365 you can see that whilst they have differing colour schemes, the basic structure and design of the poker clients are identical. This is because they are on the same network and share the same software (and players).

So to put it simply, poker networks are collections of poker rooms (known as “skins”) on one network that share the same software and players.

What is the point in having poker networks?

Let’s say that you are just starting your own poker room. Imagine how difficult it would be to develop your own poker client, and then on top of that build a strong player base from scratch? After all, if there are little to no players sitting at the tables in your poker room you are going to have an incredibly tough time convincing other players to sign up and start playing.

At the end of the day, starting a completely fresh poker room from scratch in this day and age would be impressively difficult, almost verging on the impossible.

So this is where poker networks come in. Companies looking to start their own poker room can join an existing poker network, use the network’s software and share their player base. As a result, there are no concerns about developing a poker room client and the player traffic is healthy right from the start.

Which poker networks are the biggest?

The top 2 poker networks in order of popularity are:

1. iPoker
2. OnGame

Popular rooms on the iPoker network include; Titan Poker, Bet365 and VC Poker. Popular rooms on the OnGame network include; Tower Poker, bwin Poker and Betsafe Poker.

Other respectable networks include the Cake Network, Microgaming, IPN Network and the Entraction Network. These networks do not receive as much traffic as the two above, but they still have enough players at the tables to keep the most popular stakes active throughout the day.

An honorable mention goes out to the US-friendly Merge Poker network, which plays host to some great software and some pretty well-known poker room names like Carbon Poker and Aced Poker. However, for some reason the network just doesn’t get as much traffic as it should, which is a real shame in my opinion.

How do networks compare to independent rooms?

The biggest independent rooms are currently more popular than the biggest poker networks. The iPoker network is currently at #3 in overall traffic rankings, whereas PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are #1 and #2 respectively.

However, poker rooms on networks are just as good as independent poker rooms, so there is no reason to give preference to independent rooms over rooms on networks or vice versa. The vast majority of poker rooms are part of a bigger network these days, so you would be restricting a lot of your options if you decided to avoid playing on a network.

A positive note about networks.

If you enjoy playing on a certain network like the iPoker network for example, there will be plenty of other similar rooms out there that use the same software and share the same players.

This means that you can move from one skin to another to take advantage of the new player bonus offers available at each, without ever having to get used to different software or migrate from the same opponents at the tables.

This is probably a little frowned upon by poker rooms, so don’t tell them I told you about doing this.

Poker networks conclusion.

Poker networks are great for new poker rooms to get started in the world of online poker. Even though the software and players on each skin at a network will be pretty much the same, the individual rooms are still able to offer their own unique promotions and bonuses to their players.

I personally have no preference when it comes to choosing between an independent room or a room on a larger network, and in all honesty neither should you. Just stick with the poker room that you enjoy playing at the most.

So aside from that, I guess you now know why some poker rooms out there look surprisingly similar!

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