As 2011 draws to a close, it’s time to take a look back over some of the major events in the world of online poker. Black Friday and the downfall of Full Tilt Poker have caused a major shift in the internet landscape, sending players searching for new homes. This, of course, results in a lot of fluctuation in the online traffic figures. In order to see how these events have shaped the current gaming climate, let’s take a look at a few numbers.

To set the stage, let’s examine some of the network traffic data collected from just a few days before Black Friday. On April 10 of this year, some 180,415 players signed in and threw down on PokerStars, giving them the largest share of the day’s traffic. In second place was Full Tilt Poker, with 87,953 users. CEREUS boasted just under 14,000, while both Ongame (the group behind bwin Poker) and iPoker (Titan Poker) managed 9,000-plus. Several other networks managed to boast decent numbers, led by a showing of 6,615 from Microgaming (Ladbrokes).

Fast forward to October 16, exactly six months after the US Government booted the major players out of the American market. With Full Tilt no longer in the picture, much of their traffic has migrated to other sites. PokerStars showed just under 150,000 players, with Ongame’s tally of 11,252 coming in as a distant second. iPoker continues to show numbers in the near-10,000 range, with the Merge Network (the makers of CarbonPoker, who did not even appear on the pre-Black Friday charts) drawing just over 7,000.

A look at the figures from as recently as yesterday yield nearly identical results. The winners, in terms of increased popularity, are fairly obvious. Ongame has increased their average by nearly 2,000 players per day, with iPoker and Microgaming remaining solidly in the picture.

The biggest loser here (other than Full Tilt), has been CEREUS. Six months after Black Friday, they posted less than 4,000 players. The two main faces on this network were, of course, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet/UB. Both have been in trouble with the American Justice Department, and have seen a substantial amount of their assets frozen. In the meantime, the network has been left to survive on its skins, most of which aren’t too terribly popular.

But the far and away story here has to be the stability and sheer market dominance of PokerStars. While their total traffic numbers remain a bit below pre-Black Friday levels, they remain, without question, the largest poker site on the planet. Even with the absence of US players, they have managed to increase their hold in the online realm with unprecedented success.