Cake Poker.com Overview
is a part of their own independent network, CakePoker. This is one of the newer poker networks, and accepts US players. Although traffic is currently slim, expect to see growth with its many unique promotions in the near future.
Cake Poker offers the standard - Limit, Pot Limit, and no Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo - that you find at most poker rooms. However, with an average of only 200 active tables during the weekdays there were no Stud games running, and only two Omaha Hi tables. Most of the players connected are playing micro/mid-stake no-limit Texas Hold’em.
Cake Poker’s Sit & Go tournaments were fairly popular in relation to the average number of users connected. During the evening I always noticed quite a few games running for every limit up to $50. Cake Poker’s most popular SnG tournaments are their shorthanded turbos, which are 6max and 6 minute blind levels paying the top 2 places. They also offer heads up, 10 max, and 2 table tournaments for every limit.
Tournaments at Cake Poker have really come a long way since their inception. At one time a few hundred people would be enrolled, but they now have several thousand. Their buyins range from $.25+$.10 and go up to $200+$15. Right now they have a lot of guaranteed tournaments with large payouts like $7,500. These are getting the most attention, and if Cake Poker keeps up this kind of interest then they will surely keep rising in the online Poker world. They also have a handy “Freeroll” tab which shows that they have nearly hourly Freerolls running every day, always a crowd pleaser.
Cake Poker.com Software Interface/Usability
has a very well organized lobby making it very easy to find whichever game, tournament, or limit you are looking for. Near the top of the lobby, you can switch between ring and tournament games, and sort tables by any means. In the tournament tab, you will find all the regular, satellites, freerolls, and sit n gos. You can also sort these by type and limit.
The tables Cake Poker offers are 10 player full ring and 6-max shorthanded. They currently do not offer any heads up tables (except for heads up SnGs). When you sit at a table, you can chose one of the built in “real person” avatars that they have available. I happen to find avatars like this distracting, and you can also disable them in the options. There is not much else you can do to customize tables, except for enabling a four color deck and showing bet amounts.
Play seemed much faster on Cake Poker than other poker rooms I have played at. Cards are dealt much faster and players are given less time to make decisions. This is good for getting more hands in but can take some time getting use to.
Hand histories are instantly available right at the table. In the upper left corner, you can click on last hand to be taken to the last hand played. You can also sort through the previous hands you had played at the table. One thing I did not like was the hand history viewer was in picture format, showing cards and actions on every street. Hand histories can be saved to your computer or requested via e-mail in text.
CakePoker Poker Room Action
Because is a newer room/network, action is pretty limited. I found an average of about 200-300 tables active and about 1500-2000 players connected. I was informed via support that during peak times (evenings in EST) they see about an average of 3000 players connected, and this number has grown in the past few months.
You will find most people playing micro - mid stakes no-limit Hold’em ($.20 up to $2). Also, I noticed there were usually 4-5 tables running of games higher than $1 - $2, even as far up as $10 - $20. This is a fairly good amount of traffic for high stakes games with a smaller player base. Virtually no one at Cake Poker plays any other game besides Hold’em.
Because of their promotions (more on this below) and accepting US players, you can expect to see some nice numbers and more growth coming from Cake Poker in the near future.
Cake Poker's Ease of Game, Ease of Making Money, Fish Rating
Being one of the remaining sites still accepting US players, you can expect Cake Poker to be swimming with fish. Players at Cake Poker seemed fishier than other sites I have noticed in the past. At the mid-stakes Hold’em level, expect to see a large number of whales at every table, making this a great poker room to try!
CakePoker.com Bonus and Promotions
is currently offering a 100% deposit bonus up to $500! Make sure you use the links on this page to qualify. This bonus is earned by playing real money ring games and tournaments, which will earn you FPPs. Here is a description as to how FPPs are earned:
“For each dollar that is raked at a table where you are dealt cards, you will earn one Frequent Player Point (FPP). We are accurate to the penny, so if your table was raked $1.25, you will receive 1.25 FPP or if your table was raked $3.00, you will receive 3 FPP. Also, for each dollar worth of tournament fees you pay, you’ll earn 7 Frequent Player Points (FPP) for them once you’re done in the tournament.”
This bonus is earned in increments of $10 and you have three months to complete it. As it states on their website, each FPP is worth $.06 towards your bonus. If you wanted to take advantage of the full $500, you would need to earn about 8,300 FPPs and you would earn $10 about every 160 FPPs. How fast this bonus is earned depends on the limits you play because FPPs are earned much easier at higher stakes.
By comparison to a lot of other sites, Cake Poker does not have a wide variety of bonuses. But this does not mean that they do not have some great bonuses you can claim. Right now they have a live event where you can win your way, by playing Satellites, to the WPT North America taking place in Canada while overlooking Niagara Falls! Each prize pack includes a seat valued at $10,200 at the main event October 10th – 16th, 2008 and $1800 cash deposited to your Cake Poker player’s account! There are some specifics about going through the lead up tournaments; you can check it out under “Promotions” on their website.
Noticeably missing from their promotions is a Bad Beat Jackpot, which virtually every other site has. But since those do not have very good odds anyway, nobody should really miss it.
Also they have they have loyalty rewards such as Gold Card 500 and $20,000 Gold Chip Guarantee. In the Gold Card 500 players earn as many gold cards as possible, and the top 10 instantly win $500! Their Gold Chip Guarantees are immensely popular. These have prize pools up 20k and currently have the most people enrolled in anything on the site. Given the popularity of these tournaments the site’s activity should keep rising steadily.
Check out their site for more bonuses like $100,000 Gold Card Event and Gold Card Prize Hand for $2,000.
Click here to join !
Cake Poker.com Customer and Technical Support
’s support desk was very professional and timely. I had sent them a few e-mails and received answers within 30 minutes every time. They were very willing to explain anything about their site, especially their bonus and depositing options. If you need to contact their support, you can do so by e-mail:
E-mail: support@cakepoker.com