Cake Poker Review

I’ll resist the temptation to shoot for the obvious and fill this analysis with confectionary based puns but Cake Poker is a site that has all the ingredients to make itself a sweet success.

The software developers at Cake poker have captured the current trend in the poker community excellently by fusing 3D and traditional 2D elements. Many 3D poker sites have sprung up recently and received a fair reception as players are starting to want a more realistic experience from their time online.

Cake has caught onto this trend and has created their avatars using real models. All the traditional 2D elements are still in place but the avatars’ realistic appearances creates a more authentic looking gaming experience.

Overall this creates an interesting gaming experience and is infinitely more interesting to look at than several round coloured disks.

The one drawback though is the high concentration of large graphics makes the game play feel a little heavy and less slick than other sites. While this may not be immediately problematic it will certainly affect the number of hands you can play per hour and can start to become frustrating over time.

One way to overcome this is to turn the avatars off and select the “simple” background in place of the traditional one. This improves the overall feel however it loses the realism and charm that the standard layout sets out to achieve and leaves players having to choose between style and substance.

Players can choose to have a four coloured deck (good for those who regularly miss-read their flushes) and there is also the option to automatically bring your action table to the front of your display. Down on their luck players can also choose to have a congratulatory message accompanied by fanfare and fireworks displayed each time they win a pot.

This virtual pat on the back might provide a timely boost to those in need but after the first few pots slide your way it becomes a little tedious and only serves to slow down the game even further. Thankfully Cake Poker has implemented the ability to manually resize their tables in addition to being able to tile or cascade them.

The quick resize buttons are the easiest way to sort out a large number of tables, while the manual option allows players to single table and still browse the internet without any overlap. The one flaw in the design is that the smaller table size renders the graphics blocky which affects legibility.

The main lobby is very clear and concise and the ability to perform quick searches makes finding the perfect table a breeze. Each tab has its own quick search feature so players can drill down and find the style of game that suits them best.

The lobby doesn’t suffer from the frustrating “jumping syndrome” that many sites do and getting to the right table is easy as pie (cake / pie – sorry no more cake jokes).

The amount of bonuses and promotions that Cake Poker runs is excellent. These promotions are complemented by their excellent dual loyalty scheme: the gold chip and gold card systems.

The main gold chip system allows players to use their FPPs to buy all the traditional store items and tournament tickets. While the gold card system offers players an extra loyalty bonus, something other sites fail to do.

This dual system is one of the biggest selling points for Cake and something regular grinders should definitely consider if they want more benefits than they are currently receiving.

If there is one black mark over Cake poker then it’s their capacity for transferring funds in and out of the site.

On first inspection punters are given a seemingly endless choice of deposit options ranging from debit cards to online brokers. However, while getting money in is easy, getting it out is a little trickier.

Compared to a possible 25 deposit options there are only a total of 5 withdrawal options, which means that many players will have to set-up a different online broker account to withdraw their cash.

Indeed, for those who deposit on a debit card it is essential to set up an account with a site such as Neteller because there are no provisions for withdrawals back to cards. While it certainly isn’t the end of the world it is definitely something that will put a lot of potential punters who don’t want the hassle of opening multiple accounts in order to transfer funds through the site.

Overall, despite the inconvenience one might experience withdrawing their money; Cake Poker is a site worth considering.

With an ever increasing player pool, lots of mouth-wateringly loose cash action, plenty of high stakes entertainment and first class bonus schemes, Cake Poker is a poker room on the rise.

If you’re a casual player looking for a site with a high quality and entertaining interface or a serious grinder looking for some extra bang for your buck then Cake Poker will satisfy your appetites.