The Skinny: CakePoker.com
is one of the better medium sized poker
rooms available today. They really go
above and beyond to provide a positive
player experience that really can not
be matched at many of the other middle
sized (or big sites) for that matter.
Cake Poker entered the online poker market
in the fall of 2005. Today they boast
qualty traffic across both their real
money cash tables, sit-n-go's and multi
table tournaments.
I just checked the table count (Winter
2008) and there are tons of tables going.
In the 25c/50c NL Texas Holdem stakes
alone there were about 65 tables, and
similar selection was available at a lot
of other stakes as well, up to $10/$20.
There was some traffic at the even higher
stakes, but only a few tables.
You won't see any huge name pro's wearing
cake poker gear on tv, that's not their
style, or in their advertising budget.
They prefer to spend that money rewarding
their players.
CakePoker.com built their poker room by
constantly offering their loyal players
excellent games and software, constant
bonuses and player rewards, high quality
customer service, and excellent games.
CakePoker.com
Accepts US players
- This is a good place to play for USA
poker players and they offer a 100% Deposit
Bonus up to $500 with promo code KAP500.
USA Players, have you seen the recent
CakePoker.net TV commercials lately? Cake
Poker.net follows same brand as sites
like PokerStars.net and FullTiltPoker.net.
The CakePoker.com game client was very
easy to download and set up and playing
was nice and user friendly. You can play
completely for free and it is easy to
get play chips and get to the tables right
away
My favorite feature about the Cake Poker
Game client is the scroll bar for bet
sizes at the bottom right hand of the
poker game client.
You can easily adjust your bet size using
the scroller... great for lazy guys like
me who don't always want to type in my
amounts.
Cake Poker Table Screenshot, notice
the slider / Scroll Bar.
Visit www.CakePoker.com
to play now
The scroll bar was easy to use and not
super touchy... you know how sometimes
if you barely move it it shoots up to
"all in" right away or is
just difficult to use. This It is an
easy to use feature that works
the way intended, unlike other
scrollers that are unresponsive and
so 'touchy' that it is easier to just
type in the numbers. This scroll bar
works, and works well.
I know you're saying whippy f'ing doo...
a slider bar... right?
Yeah, I understand, but that's not it,
it's that CakePoker.com
takes care of the little things, tons
of the little things just like
the slidbar to make playing poker at
Cake Poker enjoyable.
It really is a quality poker room available
to USA poker players.
The cards are plenty big and easy to
see and read. The pot is easily displayed,
the action is simple to follow, all
the standard buttons are available to
auto post your blinds, sit out, auto
muck, fold any, call any, raise any
etc...
Speaking of hand histories, Cake Poker
offers web viewable hand histories so
you can send the link to your friends
for review. It's also easy as hell to
dechiper via use of graphics. One more
of those little touches CakePoker.com
puts into their poker room.
Here is a screenshot of the Cake Poker
Lobby.
Cake Poker Lobby - Easy to Navigate
and Find the Game You Want
There are a few nice features about
the Cake Poker Lobby and features. First
is that you can easily see the average
players seeing the flop, the avg pot
size and the hands per hour. The tournaments
also show an estimated time frame for
starting and winning the tournament,
so you know how long you have to play
before registering.
You can also add to a list of personal
tournaments so you can keep up with
the tournaments you plan to play in.
The lobby itself is user friendly to
browse around in, the hand history is
simple and effective. .
The CakePoker.com team was tasked to
develop a better poker room and they
delivered. It is easy and enjoyable
to play at CakePoker.com.
One cool feature I also liked is that
the avatar selections are photo's of
real people. It gives a realistic look
without going for the cartoonish or
3D poker, and I'd like to meet that
blonde in the top left. Once you download
the Cake Poker Software you can scroll
through about 40 or so Avatars to find
one you like.
Cake Poker Players and Game Traffic
The players at CakePoker.com are sub-par
in terms of skill and competition. I would
go so far as to say really, really bad
overall and for the tight aggressive player,
you can win money at Cake Poker.
I chose the Jesus as my Avatar
because you know he can see the
other players cards, duh. See
All Avatars when you Create
Your Account
Player Traffic is pretty strong at the
stakes that I'm playing (low to medium
stakes). I have checked the traffic levels
at the other games also, and there are
usually tens of tables to choose from
at each stake level starting from the
smallest stakes (2cent / 4 cent nl) up
to the $10/$20 nl tables.
In terms of total real money poker players,
according to PokerSiteScout.com there
are around 1500 real money players. They
are actively growing their network with
the addition of top notch skins like PlayersOnly.com,
Sportsbook.com
and Superbook
Poker.
CakePoker.com is on an updward trend,
it is a good time to be a poker player
at cake poker. It is like a smaller poker
room with the perks of the big ones.
One of those perks is the guaranteed tournaments
and player traffic (or lack of it). Tournament
traffic is moderate, which is actually
currently a positive as the guarantees
in their monthly events.
The guaranteed tourneys start at the $3.00
+ .30 rebuy with a $500 guaranteed prize
pool, and they have a daily $1,000 $2,000
guaranteed tourneys with buy-ins as low
as $5.00 + .50.
Plus, the size of the fields are relatively
small.
If you are tired of playing in the 1000
+ player fields on sites like FullTiltPoker.com
and PokerStars.com but still want to play
in a high quality (well structured) multi-table
tourney that you have a reasonable shot
at winning then you will really like being
a player at CakePoker.com.
CakePoker.com Poker Tournament
Information & Structure
Multi-Table Tournament
Structure at CakePoker
The tournament structure for the multi-table
events is good, very similar to that of
sites like Bodog Poker. In the $5 + .50
buy-in, $2,000 guaranteed they start you
out with $3000 in chips, 12 minute rounds
and starting blinds of 10/20. Antes kick
in on round 7.
CakePoker.com Multi-Table Tourney
Structure
It's a good structure that allows you
to play poker and build your stack early.
They have a lot of guaranteed tournaments
and are actively looking to grow their
tournament base. It is a good time to
be a multi-table tournament player at
CakePoker.com because of the constant
overlay offered in their multi-table events.
(Extra money in the prize pool provided
by the poker room).
Sit-n-Go
Tournament Structure
CakePoker.com offers a few different types
of sit-n-go's and they all have the same
starting structure which is:
$1500 starting chips, 10 minute rounds,
10/20 starting blinds. Antes at round
7. Standard SNG Structure
There are heads up SNG's, 6 man, 10 man
and 30 man (no females allowed - just
kidding ladies, you know I love you) sng's
all day. Traffic is steady, you won't
wait too long for a game at your stakes
unless you are playing the really high
stakes, up to the $300 SNG's.
Turbo Tournaments have 6 minute rounds
instead of 10 and are offered in all variations
of the SNG's.
Cake
Poker Freerolls
Daily there are freerolls that win a seat
into a $500 freeroll, these are called
the $500 bankroll freeroll satellite where
the top 7 finishers out of around 200ish
players avg will win a seat into a $500
freeroll. You can play daily.
They are also running a Million Dollar
Freeroll that you might have seen advertised
in various poker magazines and publications.
This is the same setup that many of the
other poker sites have used, and that
was pioneered by ParadisePoker. You get
1 free seat into a Million Dollar Freeroll
Series Satellite, 1 free seat and if you
finish in the top 5 in that tournament
you win a seat into the Million Dollar
Freeroll on November 3rd.
If you don't win your initial free satellite
seat into the million dollar tourney you
can play in $2 + .20 satellites to get
your seat in the million dollar tournament
at CakePoker.com.
Cake Poker Satellites
One thing I always like to check at poker
rooms is their satellite tournament offerings...
these are smaller buy in events that award
seats into the big event, and having a
selection of satellites, that aren't so
competitive as to never have a realistic
chance to win one of them, is a must have
for the medium sized poker rooms like
Cake Poker.
Cake Poker offers satellite events into
all of their larger tournaments, like
the $50k guaranteed. They offered multiple
types of satellites like the $3 rebuy
event that only drew 27 players and the
top 3 got a seat into the $50k event as
well as normal freeze outs. Traffic was
modest, but game selection was plenty.
Good value here as well.
.
CakePoker.com Games
Poker Game Types offered
at Cake Poker Include:
Texas Holdem is by far the most popular.
Limit, No-Limit & Pot Limit. Stakes
from $0.02/$0.04 up to $100/$200 Fixed
limit and $50/$100 No Limit. Most of the
traffic falls between the low stakes through
$10/$20.
There are also a few games of Omaha and
Omaha Hi-Lo going, but I have never seen
any traffic in the 7 card stud games or
7 card stud hi-lo. One Notable exclusions
was that there were not any H.O.R.S.E
sit-n-go's, if you want to play HORSE
(Holdem, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or
Better aka Omaha Hi-Lo) then I'd recommend
this FullTiltPoker.com
review).
CakePoker.com Bonus
Codes and Promo's
100%
up to $500 for first depositors from our
links. Download
Cake Poker - Use Cake Poker Sign Up
Bonus Code: KAP500 to
lock in bonus.
Earning
the Cake Poker Bonus
When you have bonus money in your account
you can earn it back by playing in real
money ring games and tournaments. Be sure
and read the full t's and c's at CakePoker.com,
but here is our synopsis.
Tournaments: each dollar in tournametn
rake earns you 7 FPP's, if the rake is
less than $1 then you still earn the right
amount of fpp,s for example if the rake
was $0.50 then you would earn 3.5 FPP's.
Ring Games: for each dollar that is raked
at a table where you are dealt cards you
earn 1 FPP. They are also accurate to
the penny, so if your table was raked
$1.25 then you receive 1.25 FPP's.
Each FPP is worth $0.06 to your bonus.
60FPP's to earn $1 and for ever 600 FPP's
you will earn $10 of bonus money into
your account to play with.
You have 3 months from the time of the
creation of the pending bonus to earn
it. This is a very reasonable play through
rate.
Additonal Cake
Poker Promotions
Cake Poker rolls out monthly promotions
that are constantly changing. so just
visit CakePoker.com and click on the 'promotions
tab for the latest and greatest promos.
I also recommend Comparing
Cake Poker and DoylesRoom as these
are two similar rooms.
Here are a few noteworthy promos you might
want to know about.
Cake
Poker Gold Cards - these
gold cards are randomly distributed to
cake poker players whenever they are playing,
you collect cards for entries into daily
drawings, exclusive kick ass poker tournaments
and other rewards and races including
an instant $500 cash race where the top
10 gold card earners win money and $52,000
jackpot that is underway.
Any minute you could win a gold card,
so it's a pretty cool rewards promo even
if you aren't a high stakes player. I
know, we've heard people saying that cake
poker is rigged the way the gold cards
come out but the more you play the more
time you are availble to win a card.
Cake Poker Final Thoughts?
We
like CakePoker.com
as it is one of the shrinking number of
quality poker rooms serving the USA market
and it is quick and easy to play at CakePoker.com.
The traffic isn't the biggest online but
it is full of bad players with money to
lose. This is the premier room on the
Cake Poker Network which is also home
to Sportsbook.com Poker room which is
reknowned for it's horrible players. Get
in at Cake Poker and reap the rewards
of playing on one of the winners from
the online poker arena. Plus the affiliate
manager, Shenaz, is excellent to work
with and helps make sure that our players
are well taken care of!
Cake Poker Deposit Options include Visa,
Mastercard, Neteller, Moneybookers and
ePassporte.
Cake Poker's Customer Support answers
emails within 30 minutes usually.
Cake Poker is soon to be added as one
of the best choices for USA
Online Poker.
CakePoker.com
Accepts US players
- This is a good place to play for USA
poker players and they offer a 100% Deposit
Bonus up to $500 with promo code KAP500.
Cake
Poker Freerolls
100%
up to $500 for first depositors from our
links. 
Cake
Poker Gold Cards - these
gold cards are randomly distributed to
cake poker players whenever they are playing,
you collect cards for entries into daily
drawings, exclusive kick ass poker tournaments
and other rewards and races including
an instant $500 cash race where the top
10 gold card earners win money and $52,000
jackpot that is underway. 
We
like 
