Cake Poker Review

Cake Poker Review

Cake Poker Summary
Cake Poker is one of the fastest growing online poker rooms, established in 2005 on its own Cake Poker Network. The rapid growth is attributed to the addition of other popular online poker rooms hopping onboard the Cake Poker Network. Though the player base is not yet something to gawk at, Cake Poker has the potential to compete with the big boys in the coming years. A host of valuable promotions, including a 100%/$500 welcome bonus, along with a lucrative tournament schedule and highly functional software platform, have kept loyal players returning to Cake Poker time and again. Cake Poker proudly proclaims itself a global card room, accepting players from all over the world (US, Europe, Asia and beyond).

Cake Poker Software
Cake Poker is powered by its own privately developed software platform that is both fast and reliable. The graphics, much like Carbon Poker are simply amazing, with incredibly realistic avatars and scenery. The avatars are actually photographed models, but are not limited to sitting in a particular seat and offer a much wider variety than most. Players can greatly customize their experience at the tables, while making use of the note taking feature and personal stats in-play.

The Cake Poker Lobby is very user-friendly and easy to sort, including a commendable Hide Full Tables option. The usual statistics offer average pot size, viewed-flop %, hands/hour, players seated and players waiting. Highlight a table to view each seated players name and chip stack, along with a waiting list. All in all, you simply can’t beat the interface and functionality of the poker lobby alone. Multi-tabling allows up to 10 simultaneous ring games, well above average.

Cake Poker Welcome Bonus
Cake Poker is offering a 100% welcome bonus on all new players’ first deposits, worth up to $500 in Bonus Cash. That’s a heck of a lot better than the PokerStars Bonus of $50. New players are also awarded one free ticket to a $500 New Depositor Freerolls, held every Saturday at 2pm EST. To release the Cake Poker Bonus Cash from the Pending Bonus to the Real Money Account, players must earn FPP (Frequent Player Points).

FPP are earned by contributing to raked ring games. Each $1 raked equals 1 FPP, accurate to the penny ($.10 rake = .1 FPP; $.75 rake = .75 FPP, and so on). FPP are also earned in real money tournaments. For every $1 paid in tournament fees (fees only, not the buy-in), a player earns 7 FPP. These are also awarded in fractions (i.e. $.50 fee = 3.5 FPP). Every point is worth $.06 of the bonus. The bonus is released in $10 increments for every 167 FPP collected, until the full bonus has been transferred into the player’s real money account. The bonus expires after 3 months.

Cake Poker Game Variety
Cake Poker offers the standard variety of online poker games Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. Texas Hold’em and Omaha Hi/Lo are played in all limits, Omaha in Limit and Pot Limit, Stud games in Limit only. No Limit and Pot Limit stakes range from $.10/$.20 to $10/$20, while Fixed Limit stakes start at $.25/$.50 scaling up to $50/$100. These are the same games that are offered by Full Tilt Poker, but with a smaller number of people, it’s easier to learn who everybody is and how they play.

Cake Poker Tournaments
One of the best advantages to tournament players at Cake Poker is the ability to play tournaments in all game varieties and limits. Sit-n-Go tournaments are the most popular, with buy-ins ranging from $10+$1 to $200+$8. The short-handed turbos are the most favored, with 6 seats and 6 minute blind levels, paying the top two spots. Heads-up, full-tables (10 seaters) and two-table Sit-n-Go tournaments are available as well.

On the multi-table side of Cake Poker tournaments, there isn’t too much traffic to boast about, at least not like TitanPoker.com, but Cake Poker doesn’t seem to notice, offering daily and weekly guaranteeds that scale from $750 GP (buy-in $5+$.50) to $12,000 (buy-in $30+$3). Freerolls are held regularly with prizes up to $500. The most popular MTTs are the bounty tournaments, where every player has a chance to cash in, no matter his finishing position. For every player you knock out of the tournament, you are awarded the bounty on his head. For example, if you enter a $20 cake Poker Bounty Tournament, $10 goes to the buy-in, $10 to the bounty. You would earn $10 for every player you successfully oust from the table. A player could potentially earn a lot of cash without even making the final table.

Cake Poker Promotions
Cake Poker presents plenty of lucrative promotions to amplify its player base, and to encourage loyalty from its existing players. Long-term promotions come in the form of high-yielding tournaments, such as a $1,000,000 series played and paid over the course of several months. As far as constant promotions, the online poker room is most famous for its Cake Poker Gold Card and Gold Chips Loyalty Rewards.

Take for example the Cake Poker Gold Card 500, a virtual race worth $500 each week. While playing real money ring games, no matter the stakes, players are randomly dealt gold cards. Each gold card is worth miles around the race track. The first 10 players to collect enough gold cards to win the race automatically win $500 cash. If less than 10 players reach the 500 mile mark, the top ten miles still win the prize.

Gold Chips are awarded as FPP. Gold Chips can be used to enter special Gold Chip Tournaments, and are in fact the only way to enter these tournaments. Gold Chip tournaments award either more chips, or real cash prizes. They can also be used to purchase Cake Logo Gear and other merchandise from the Cake Poker Shop.

Cake Poker Player Traffic
Cake Poker has drawn an average of about 2,000 players at peak hours and even higher on the weekends, far less than www.Poker Stars.com. Though these numbers are still relatively low, Cake Poker is constantly drawing in new members with valuable promotions and word-of-mouth. Ring game traffic is heavily concentrated in low to mid-level stakes of Texas Hold’em, but on the weekends you can usually find open tables in all game varieties. Take the time to sort through the poker lobby and you’ll find a few juicy tables running, especially in the lower stakes.

Cake Poker has a solid player base in the Sit-n-Go tournaments, with Multi-Table tournaments becoming increasingly popular. MTTs are much easier to win at Cake Poker than at today’s top ranked online poker rooms because the traffic isn’t nearly as high. Cake Poker offers plenty of guaranteeds that only draw 100-150 players, giving skilled players a chance to wipe the tables clean with little effort.

Cake Poker Customer Support
Cake Poker only offers customer support via 24/7 email. However, the response time is usually very fast, with friendly, knowledgeable service. Visit the Cake Poker Help page to find a detailed FAQ, list of all known software issues (and fixes), and a Network Status page. If you’re experiencing problems, visit this page to see if the network may be down.

Cake Poker Payment Methods
Cake Poker accepts players from all over the world, including all of Europe, Asia and US players. The minimum deposit varies by payment method ($25-$50) with a minimum withdrawal of $50 on all payout options except Checks, with a $500 minimum. There’s also a $35 fee when requesting a withdrawal by Check.

Deposits: Visa, MasterCard, NETeller, Moneybookers, EcoCard, eWalletXpress*, UseMyWallet*