Cake Poker
In 2004, a “small team of passionate poker players set out on a mission to design a better poker site.” Just two years later they unveiled their finished product, Cake Poker, to the gaming world. The traffic at Cake Poker is on the slower side, but with a gorgeous website, excellent software, loose competition, and an open policy towards US players, this ambitious young poker room has the potential to quickly become a major industry player.
From the clever graphics to witty catch-phrases, the “cake theme” at Cake Poker is carried through the entire website, which is not only visually stunning, but also impeccably organized, making it a pleasure to navigate. The room offers a nice variety of ring games, large guaranteed tournaments, qualifiers and special events, awarding over $20 million dollars a month in cash and prizes.
Cake Poker’s software is impressively good, even better than what you’ll find at most of the larger rooms. The lobby is well organized, and the tabs make finding the game you want a piece of cake (pun intended). Cake has created one of the most realistic playing environments designed for extended periods of play with stunning table graphics and animations, unique 3D human avatars and an easy on the eyes color scheme. Multi-table functionality is supported, as well as player notes, table and background customizations, hand histories and a tournament monitor that helps you keep track of upcoming games.
Cake Poker has done an exceptional job at developing their tournament offerings, which include plenty of guarantees, freezeouts, re-buys, bounty tournaments, and of course satellites to major events. While the tournament pots are no where near as juicy as in the larger rooms, like Full Tilt or Party Poker, you also won’t find as many pro sharks, giving the more casual player better chances at winning and improving their tournament skills.
Game selection at Cake Poker is pretty standard with Texas Hold'em available at No Limit, Pot Limit and Fixed Limit. Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo are also available. Ring games limits start at $0.10/$0.20 and go up to $100/$200. Omaha games can be relatively tough to find, but this should change as the room gets busier.
Player traffic averages around 5000 tournament and 2000 ring-game players during peak US hours. Competition at Cake Poker is generally considered some of the softest you’ll find anywhere. More experienced players can easily pad their bankrolls with the chips from the many inexperienced and casual players to be found at the tables.
Customer support is available 24/7 via email only, but is for the most part quite excellent. Emails are usually answered within a few hours, and the responses are generally of good quality and quite thorough. Hopefully as Cake Poker grows they will expand their customer service to include phone and live chat support
Overall, the team at Cake Poker has done a superb job with the poker room’s launch and development. The room has great potential for growth, so long as they continue to expand their tournament and game offerings, enhance their software and maintain the highest levels of customer care. If you’re looking for a high traffic site with lots of heavy competition, this slice of Cake may not be for you. However, if you’re looking for a more boutique like experience with a more casual level of play then sit yourself down and help yourself to some Cake.
