Cake Poker Review

Cake Poker was a little late to join in on the poker scene but that hasn't stopped them from setting up a great poker network and expanding the business in only a few short years. The poker room was opened in 2006 by experienced internet poker players who had a vision of creating a poker room that saw things from the individual player's point of view. The founders knew what poker players liked and disliked about every other poker room and tried to model a typical poker player's ideal poker site.

They got just about everything right with the software and features but the player traffic still leaves something to be desired. They've come a long ways from the beginning, however, and have managed to attract several other large poker rooms to the Cake Network, giving them the power to reach more potential players.

Cake Poker Bonus and Rewards System

100% Bonus up to $500

Cake Poker matches all first time deposits with a 100% up to a maximum of $500. This is a one time bonus only so make sure you deposit enough to get the full bonus. Simply enter the Cake Poker bonus code IPB500 when making your first deposit.

After depositing, the money is added to your bonus account and is released in $10 increments as you earn frequent player points (FPPs) at real money cash games and tournaments. Every dollar you pay in rake nets you 1 FPP and every dollar you pay in tournament fees nets you 7 FPPs.

Gold Chip Rewards

Cake automatically credits your account with Gold Chips every time you earn a certain number FPPs. These chips can be used to enter tournaments, participate in Cake's promotions and win various prizes.

Gold Card Rewards

Gold Cards are randomly given out in real money cash games and can be used to get a piece of $150,000 worth of rewards every month. These cards can be redeemed for free entry to tournaments, cash prizes and giveaways. On top of that, the first person to collect all 52 Gold Cards each season wins $52,000.

Cake Poker Software

I can just about guarantee that you'll like the Cake software from the first moment you play on it. The graphics are great, the software runs quickly and there are enough features to keep even the pickiest poker players happy.

The Cake founders know what poker players want in a room so they have included resizable tables, four color decks, bet/pot size labels, advanced table sorting options and even the ability to change your nickname once a week if you so desire. Interestingly, they have decided not to allow 3rd party data-mining programs in an effort to make the site appeal to casual players as well as hardcore grinders. This has limited the traffic somewhat but it's also made the site more accessible to the general public.

Cake Poker Game Variety and Traffic

You'll find all the usual games at Cake including Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo. The Texas Holdem and Omaha tables are the most popular, followed by all the rest. During evening hours you'll usually find somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 players logged in.

Limit stakes start at $0.04/$0.08 and go up to $100/$200.

No limit stakes start at $0.02/$0.04 ($4 buyin) and go up to $50/$100 ($10,000 buyin).

Tournaments

Cake runs a lot of promotional tournaments at a wide variety of buyins ranging from free to over $400. Every Sunday they hold a $100,000 guaranteed tournament and once a month they hold a $250,000 guaranteed tournament that awards over $50,000 to the first place finisher. Tournament types include freerolls, sit-n-gos, freezeouts, satellites, shootouts, bounties, rebuys and turbos.

Competition

The Cake Poker competition is about average for the size of the site. Medium-sized sites like Cake usually have pretty soft competition because the high stakes grinders usually stick to the biggest sites. Some of the other poker rooms on the Cake network also run casinos and attract a lot of inexperienced players to the network. Since all the sites on the Cake Network share players, this is a direct benefit to you too. As the site grows, you'll get more fish but you'll also get more sharks looking for the fish.

Cake Poker Support and Security

Cake is a secure site but the customer support definitely needs some improvement - like maybe getting a phone line! I don't like it when poker sites make e-mail the only method of contacting customer support. You probably won't ever need to contact the Cake support team but I still like to know the option is there if I need it.

To ensure fairness, Cake is regularly audited by Technical Systems Testing, an independent company well-known for testing poker sites and casinos around the world for randomness and fair payouts. In addition, they are registered with the Curacao e-Gaming Licensing Authority.

Deposit Options

All players can deposit at cake with Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, UseMyWallet and eWalletXpress.

Non-US players can also deposit via NETeller, Moneybooker, ECO, Maestro and instant debit.