Having Some Cake

[Bullajami]

Ive been ignoring Cake Poker for a while now. I don't know why, because they take Americans, have cashiering options I prefer (ePassporte), have good bonus terms, and rakeback. Many of my favorite things. . I think I was ignoring them because most of my recent bonus chasing experiences have been frustrating, and I am not as enthusiastic about The Chase as I once was.

The boss (SANDSSTORM) recently asked me to check them out for a possible future special promotion, so I finally had to stop ignoring them. After all, getting paid to check out a new poker site isn't half bad, even if the site disappoints - eh?.

I set up my account last night and played 252 hands at $2/4 FRLH. I do not hesitate to report that I am now enthusiastic about a bonus chase for the first time in a lo-o-o-o-o-o ng time. I feel a little stupid for ignoring this one for so long, but my self-esteem is pretty good, so I expect to make a full recovery soon.

The only thing I wish was better was the software for the game table interface. Its a bit clunky. The tables do not resize, and they overlap quite a lot when you have more than one open. You cannot change the way the seats are laid out at the table, either. If you're in seat 8 at the "9 o'clock" position, that's where you stay. I have also never liked a note-taking function that is tabbed with the chat window. Sure, its there, but its harder to use, IMO.

The registration and lobby software was all good. Sign up was fast and easy. Depositing with ePassporte is always simple, and the bonus was credited instantly without using a code. (Although you should use the code ITHRAKEBACK when registering so you get the rakeback, too.) When I earned a bonus increment (clears in $10 chunks) it turned into cash immediately.

I have mixed emotions about the apparent lack of Poker Tracker compatibility. I like to use PT to monitor my own play, but without it, the tables are usually fishier. This was the case at Cake Poker. 5-6 players seeing the flop at $2/4 FRLH? Man - that's been a while! Post flop play was also bad. I took two beautiful 2-outters to the jiblets, so I only ended up even on poker play for the day. (Those two-outters become beautiful once the stinging stops )

Traffic was good at $2/4, there were 5 tables to choose from on Thursday evening (US east coast). I didn't check the traffic at other limits - sry.

The bonus clears in $10 increments every time you reach 167 FPPs. FPPs are awarded on a DEALT RAKED system, and you get FPPs equal to whatever the rake is for the hand. If the rake is $1, you get 1 FPP just for being dealt into the hand. If it's $2.25, you get 2.25 FPPs. For my 252 hands I received 178 FPPs. At first I thought this was low, but then I realized that the pot was not being raked until it reached $20, so we were playing about half our hands for ZERO RAKE, which is way better than getting partial rake returned via bonus and rakeback.

As part of my evaluation for a potential special promotion I have access to the afiliate statistcs for each ITH player account, including my own. I see that I generated $19.94 in MGR, received $10 back in bonus (plus about $0.60 earned but not yet paid) and I have also earned $3.30 in rakeback that will be paid in November. (Cake pays it directly to the player account.) That comes to about 70% of MGR returned when chasing the bonus with rakeback.

I'd be interested if anyone is chasing this at micro-limits, and how that is going.

Bonus expires after 90 days, so you'll know where I can be found through the holidays.



At last, there's some Happy Chasing!

[tichodromia]

interesting....do they have micro limit nl - $5, $10 F'rinstance?

[Bullajami]

Looks like .25/.50 limit and .10/.20 NL are the smallest cash game stakes.

[therivierakid]

I'm very tempted. I have $500 sitting in Neteller doing nowt at the moment.

Do you think it would be possible to clear the full bonus at 1/2 (SH and FR)? I generally play 3 or 4 tables at once.

The lack of PT would be a bit of a PITA but I guess I can sacrifice it for extra fishiness.

[Bullajami]

The BW bonus grid lists the clearance rate for $1/2 FRLH as $1.90/hour (per table). Puts you at about 270 table hours to do the full $500 initial deposit bonus.

FWIW, the same source lists the $2/4 clearance rate at $3.03/hour. Based on my small sample size of 252 hands, that number looks reasonably accurate.

Happy Chasing!

[therivierakid]

[poker_Elmo]

Do they have HU NL Cash games?

How about HU NL SNGs?

Do SNGs qualify for rakeback/bonus?

[Bullajami]

Yes

No

Yes

[Bullajami]

One more thing...
Someone PM'd me and asked if joining now would eliminate them from using an ITH special promotion for Cake in the future. The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT. Our promotion (if we can pull one together) will be available to anybody who has joined Cake through the ITH affiliate link...not just new signups.

Happy Chasing!

[Neilis]

[Bullajami]

Thanks for the update Neillis. I guess I did not look closely enough.

[therivierakid]

[toffeeboy]

Since the demise of "easy" bonuses for ring games (which I never liked anyway) I only play S'n'Gs and MTTs. How does this bonus clear at those, if at all please?

[Bullajami]

Cake Poker Bonus clears as 42% of tournament fees returned as bonus. You will also get rakeback on the remaining 58%.

FYI to Everyone...
In the header to every forum page is a blue menu bar (look at the top of this page, you'll see it.) Directly below that blue menu bar there is a row of dropdown menus. The two drop downs farthest to the right are links to ITH site and bonus reviews. Piscivorous does a phenomenal job creating and updating those. I don't mind answering questions in the forum, but I'm not always available (it just SEEMS like I am always available!). You can always use those links to get a faster answer to many questions about sites and bonuses.

Happy Chasing!

[toffeeboy]