Cake Poker Network traffic rose by 45% in 2009, which is impressive considering the dominating market share held by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. The addition of Doyles Room to the network certainly contributed to the increase, but it’s also telling that most online poker sites experienced growth in what was predicted to be a dismal year for online gaming. Full Tilt nearly doubled it’s traffic in 2009, up 89% according to Poker Scout. PokerStars experienced 24% growth, and surprisingly Entraction gaming was way up at a 44% traffic increase. The big suprises of 2009 were the networks in decline, both Ongame and Ipoker as well as Everest.
It is also worth noting that Doyles Room has brought better poker deposit methods and a much improved cashout system as a Cake Network skin, but I have no way of knowing which rooms are responsible for the significant increase in depositing players at Cake online poker sites because to my knowledge the data isn’t published. It could be due to sports betting sites adding Cake poker skins like BetUS, and maybe it’s somewhat of a cumulative effect but it’s the market share alone is proof again that poker rooms need to compete at the cashiers counter, and rakeback to the players never hurts loyalty either.
Going into 2010 I predict Cakes growth will remain moderate, and I still look to see some mergers and acquisitions involving networks like BetFair and Everest. All that remains to be seen, but it’s good to see more solid online poker networks available to US players. Cake needs to improve tournament and sit and go selection and structure, but ring games are great on all network sites. Sportsbooks and betting sites all contribute to loose, fishy players. So far for 2010, Doyles Room looks to be the go to network on the cake skin, not to mention that you can also get Doyles Room Rakeback, an extra initiative to join their site.
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