Gaming Edge releases third edition of Poker Edge scorecard
PokerStars leads the way ahead of PartyPoker, while Full Tilt Poker and Cereus have been removed from the latest version.
PokerStars has retained its place at the top of Gaming Edge Associates’ Poker Edge scorecard, which ranks the top poker networks and standalone sites on a variety of criteria.
The Isle of Man-based operator recorded a score of 81% to sit atop the third version of the scorecard, which only scores 17 poker sites compared to the 18 covered in its second edition.
Both Full Tilt Poker and the Cereus network, second and fourth respectively on the last version of the scorecard, have been removed on the grounds that they were “unavailable at the time of scoring,” although dot.fr operator Winamax has been added to the scorecard, entering in seventh position.
PartyPoker replaces Full Tilt in second with a score of 77%, while the performance of pure poker networks – led by Microgaming with 71% – demonstrates the efficacy of recent investment according to Gaming Edge partner Ben Fried.
“The scorecard highlights that poker networks such as GTECH G2 [which showed the greatest increase in percentage terms, rising more than 10%], Microgaming and Dragonfish (888) are investing heavily in poker improvements,” explains Fried, the former Betfair head of poker who heads up Gaming Edge alongside Anton Bell, the one-time marketing director for the betting exchange.
“The data also clearly shows the excellent work that Winamax have been doing in France with their product,” Fried (pictured) added.
Among the 13 areas assessed on the latest version of the scorecard is a ‘social’ category, led by Zynga but with PKR also impressing, and other categories include website, lobby, table view, responsible gaming and games offered. This version, unlike its predecessors, also includes a report detailing the strengths and weaknesses of each room or network assessed.
Gaming Edge, which last year signed a strategic partnership with eGaming Review data partner H2 Gambling Capital, notes that takeover speculation has limited the amount of new features developed by Ongame, while Entraction has suffered a similar lull although this may change in the coming months under the ownership of IGT.
Other operators failing to improve on their previous showing were Bodog and OpenBet, although the former did launch a new version of its software at the end of 2011, just weeks after the scoring for this version of the Poker Edge scorecard – released to licensees in December – was completed.
The next version of the six-monthly scorecard, scheduled for June 2012, will take into account both the new Bodog software and the latest software upgrade from Playtech’s iPoker network.