There is $100,000 up for grabs courtesy of Cake Poker this month in the $100k Points Race that starts today and runs throughout March.  If you are the most frequent player on Cake Poker in the month of March then you have the chance to win up to $7,500 (that would involve winning all four weeks and the overall month races).

How It Works

The frequent player points that you earn at both cash games and tournaments will be added to your total and you will compete against all other Cake Poker players for places on the Cake Poker points race leaderboard.

In cash games you earn 1 frequent player point for every $1 in rake that the table you are sitting at rakes and you earn 7 frequent player points for every $1 that you pay in tournament fees.

You can check where you stand on the weekly or monthly leaderboards by visiting the ‘My Account’ section when you are logged into the Cake Poker software.

How Much Can I Win

As mentioned earlier the top prize for each of the weeks and the monthly leaderboard is $1500.  The weekly and monthly leaderboard gives out exactly the same amount of cash, so there are basically 5 different leaderboards throughout the month that award the same cash prizes of online poker real money.  The top prize is $1500, 2nd is $1000, 3rd is $750 and so on right down to 350th spot on the leaderboard earning $15 in cash fro mCake Poker.

Strategy

So you want to get as many frequent player points as you can this month without breaking the bank and risking a ton of money.  The best way to do this is to play extremely tight on a bunch of Cake Poker cash game tables.  This means you should fold preflop the vast majority of the time, only playing on big hands that you have a good chance of winning.  Because Cake Poker uses the dealt method for distributing frequent player points even if you fold preflop you will still receive the same amount of points as the loose aggressive player at the table who is pushing the pace and upping the rake.  Playing extremely tight will also allow you to play more tables because you will not need to concentrate as much playing the flop, turn or river because you will usually be folding or pushing the action preflop.  This strategy may not be the most exciting for players who like to get involved in the hands, but if you are just interested in quickly and quietly racking up FPP’s this is the strategy you should employ.

Ready to start vying for that $1500 from Cake Poker this week.  Visit Cake Poker now to set up an account.  Be sure to use Cake Poker signup code SIGNUP600 to receive a 110% matching bonus up to $600 on your first deposit.

It’s most poker players dream to win a live tournament and at Cake Poker players have the opportunity to do just that.  Cake Poker is currently hosting satellite poker tournaments to both the Super Poker Event of Europe 2012 and the Irish Open 2012.  Each of these tournaments are high profile events where poker players striving to make a name for themselves can do so.  Qualifying for either event is straight forward, you just have to qualify through one of the poker satellites available at Cake Poker.  Learn more about each event below:

2012 Super Poker Event of Europe

This tourney, dubbed ‘Super 2012′ is expected to be the biggest poker event to ever occur in Europe.  There is expected to be over 4,000 players participating in the tourney that will take place in Dublin, Ireland on February 25th and 26th.  The tourney has an estimated prize pool of  €1.2 million and this is from buy-ins of just  €300.  The tournament plays down to a final 8 players on the 26th, but the final table takes place at a secure location on March 31st with all of the action streamed live on the internet.  This is a great tournament for players hoping to get noticed.

Cake Poker is giving players the opportunity to win  $1000 prize packages, which include the  €300 entry buy-in and  cash to help with travel and accommodation expenses.  There are still two Super Poker $1000 Final satellites that you can participate in (January 15th and February 12th).  Each of these satellites has a $50 buy-in and awards as many $1000 prize packages as possible.  There are also 3 smaller buy-in “step like” satellites that you can participate in if you don’t want to shell out the $50 for one of the finals.

Visit Cake Poker Now!

2012 Irish Open

The Irish Open will not have as large a player pool as the Super Poker Event of Europe, but the buy-in and prize packages are much larger.  The buy-in for the event is  €3500 and the prize packages being awarded by Cake Poker are for $6000, which includes the event buy-in plus spending money for expenses.  The Irish Open is set to take place in Dublin in early April at the Burlington Hotel.

You can win the prize packages every other Sunday in the Irish Open $6K Finals, which are $200 + $15 tournaments where at least one package to the Irish Open is guaranteed.

Both of these tournaments are going to be high profile tourneys that could launch a player into poker stardom.  Visit Cake Poker now to start attempting to qualify for the events and be sure to use Cake Poker sign up code SIGNUP600 to receive the 110% matching bonus up to $600!

It seems like more and more online poker rooms are adding online casino extensions to their poker rooms.  This may be in the form of a full blown online casino or maybe just a few online casino games such as mini roulette, black jack, video poker and some of the other more popular online casino games.  Titan Poker and PKR, two of the more prominent online poker rooms have launched full blown online casinos, while many other poker rooms such as Carbon and the rooms on their network have launched some sidegames that players can play if they get bored of the casino.  The casino not only brings in more money for the online poker room, but it also gives players more variety and choice if they just feel like gambling a little bit.  It’s actually surprising that Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, the two largest online poker rooms have decided not to branch into the online casino spectrum, but instead are focussed on providing players with the best online poker experience possible.

So What Is Cake Poker Doing in Regards to Casino Games?

Cake actually recently added some different games that are similar to online casino games, but they are played as an online poker format.  These games include tournament blackjack and Cake war.  The problem with these games is they require others to play them as well, but it doesn’t seem like there is much interest so its hard for the games to get off the ground.  Here is a brief overview of the games:

Tournament Blackjack

Tournament blackjack involves playing against other players so there is actually no house advantage.  Instead players must have more chips than their opponents after the final round of the tourney blackjack game.  The tournaments have a set number of hands and it is the goal to have the most chips at the end of the last hand.  Needless to say a lot of strategy can come into play making tournament blackjack a great alternative to poker.

Cake War

This is a Cake Poker invention and is a very interesting game.  Each player is given a bin of cards from 1-10 to start the game.  There are then 10 rounds where a dealer card is turned up in the middle of the table.  Each player then selects which card from their bin they would like to bet in order to try to win the card.  The highest card bet takes the dealers card, but if two players bet the same card they cancel each other out and the next highest card wins.  At the end of the tenth round, whichever players cards add up to the highest total wins the game.  This is another game that is played against other opponents, but it is moving towards casino games because it is a bit similar to casino war.

Cake Pokers Casino

In simple terms Cake Poker does not have an online casino and does not even offer online casino games.  If you are interested in learning more about online casino games click here.  Casino games are a lot of fun and can provide a great break from the thinking and strategizing of online poker.  Sometimes people just want to gamble and that is what casino games are great for.  It makes good business sense for poker rooms to offer casino games to their players, so I expect a shift in this direction very soon.

Cake Poker is giving 6 players a chance to play in the 2009 Irish Open in Dublin for absolutely free. 

From February 15th up until the final satellite on March the 15th Cake Poker will be running satellites to the final event via gold card daily lottery satellites.

The final on March 15th will have a 250 player field, which will battle down to the 6 players who will earn their tickets to Ireland.  Each Cake $7K prize package includes a 3500 Euro seat, four nights accomodation at the CityWest Hotel and $1400 in traveling expenses.

The Irish Open is being held April 10th to April 13th and would be a great experience for any player!

Sign up at Cake Poker now using our Cake Poker sign up code to fight for your chance to play in Ireland!

Cake Poker gold cards are awarded to players taking part in Cake cash games.  Basically, what happens is every time a table reaches a predetermined amount of rake a gold card is randomly taken out of the vault and if the gold card matches one of your hole cards, even if you folded during the hand, you are awarded that gold card and it is added to your collection.  Therefore, playing in a gold card hand can happen at any time, even on your first hand, but the more time you spend at the tables, the greater chance a gold card will be issued.

Different gold cards hold different values based on the card and series.  The cards that are more rare and harder to obtain have a higher value.  Check out the gold card odds chart.  The odds range anywhere from 1 in 7 to a super rare 1 in 5,000,000.  Safe to say the Ace of spades is quite valuable.

Your gold card collection can be viewed in your Cake Poker rewards section and don’t worry there is no time limit on using your cards, as they don’t expire.

Speaking of using your cards, there are a bunch of ways your gold card collection can help you.  The gold card daily lottery is one way to use your gold cards.  It’s very simple.  Every day Cake poker chooses a gold card and attaches a prize to it such as instant cash, or tournament tickets, etc.  If you have the card that is chosen in your collection, then you can redeem it for the days prize.

The gold card 500 is a race every month of Cake Poker, where each gold card received is worth a set amount of miles in a race.  Also, the lower the limit you receive the card at the more miles you earn, because there is less opportunities for you to receive gold cards.  This keeps it fair and allows players at any limits to win.  The player who gets the most miles in the month wins $500.  There are also prizes for 2nd through 10th, with 10th being the lowest at $110.

If you see your gold card collection growing quickly, then maybe there is hope for you to win the $52K gold card jackpot.  The first player to collect all 52 cards in the series wins the jackpot.  I assure you this is no easy feat, and only the most dedicated Cake poker players have a real shot at winning this prize.

There are also a few other ways to use your gold cards, so make sure you check them out here.

Don’t have a Cake Poker account?  Well use our Cake Poker sign up code and get started earning your very own gold cards.  Win the jackpot and report back here .

Simply put a Cake Poker gold chip is what you earn when you reach a set number of Frequent Player Points by playing at any Cake Poker ring game or tournament. 

Every time you are dealt a hand at a ring game and the rake of that hand equals or exceeds $1, you FPP’s equal to the amount of rake.  For example if the rake is $1.50 you earn 1.5 FPP’s.  As for tournaments, you earn 7 FPP’s for every $1 in tournament fees that you pay.

Now for how these FPP turn into the gold chips.  Every month begins by your first 120 FPP’s turning into a gold chip.  Then the subsequent gold chips are earned with fewer and fewer FPP’s until your 5th gold chip just requires 70 FPP.  The 6th gold chip is then free, and 7th and beyond all remain at 70 FPP.  Check out the table from Cake Poker below:

Now that you have your gold chips you can figure out how to use them.  There are always gold chip tournaments that you can enter on Cake to increase your gold chip totals.  Then every week or so there is a big tournament with a gold chip buy-in.  These tournaments range anywhere from $5000 guaranteed to $15000 guaranteed, just for using your gold chips.

You can also purchase Cake merchandise from the Cake shop for as little as 100 gold chips.  The Cake shop has a lot to offer, with XBOX 360′s, Ipods, Poker Books, and even entry into live tournaments.

To earn some of your own gold chips, sign up at Cake Poker using the Cake Poker Sign Up Code.

Cake poker has a ton of ways to get your money onto their site, but not all of these options allow cash outs as well.  Lets take a look at some of the most common deposit methods, what their limits are and if they also allow withdrawals through that same means.

The best way to deposit onto Cake poker is through one of the methods that allow withdrawals.  These methods include Moneybookers, Neteller, EcoCard, UseMyWallet and eWalletXpress.  Of these 5 options only UseMyWallet and eWalletXpress allow USA deposits and withdrawals, but players from other countries can use any of the above.  All the above methods have a $25 deposit minimum.

Players (including Americans) can also use more traditional means such as Visa or Mastercard to deposit, each of which has a $50 minimum.  Diners Club International is another common options with a $25 limit.  However, none of these methods allow withdrawals.

There are also plenty other country specific deposit options, but none of them allow withdrawals.  You can see the entire list here.

Cake’s maximum deposit is $500 per day, $1000 per week and $2000 per month.

If you are going to make a deposit make sure you use our cake sign up code, ‘THE500′ to ensure you get the best deposit bonus possible!

Cake Poker is starting a new promotional poker series on the 18th of December, and running it until the 24th.  This promotional series is called The Reindeer Games and all 10 tournaments include either a bonus prize, added cash or an added prize pack.  In addition the top 9 finishers in each of the Reindeer Games events earn entry into the $20K guaranteed Reindeer Games Finals.  This means the finals will have a max of 90 players, which equals out to a buy-in of $222 per person.  Here is the schedule:

Schedule
Dec. 18 – 9:30pm EST – 10 Gold Chips – 1st place wins a 50? Plasma TV, 2nd – 10th win $100
Dec. 19 – 9:30pm EST – $5 Rebuy – Satellite to $250K Guaranteed with 5 seats added
Dec. 20 – 1:00pm EST – 1 Gold Chip – $5000 Guaranteed
Dec. 20 – 9:00pm EST – $15 NLH – 1st place wins a 50? Plasma TV
Dec. 21 – 2:00pm EST – 2 Gold Chips Rebuy – Satellite to $100K Guaranteed, top 5 win
Dec. 21 – 9:30pm EST – $10 NLH Bounty – $5000 Added
Dec. 22 – 8:30 pm EST – $20 NLH – 1st place wins 2 Super Bowl tickets
Dec. 23 – 4:00 pm EST – Satellite to Irish Open satellite, 10 seats
Dec. 24 – 7:00pm EST – 1 Gold Chip - 1st place wins seat in WPT Caribbean Cruise, 2nd – 15th win $100

Play in any of these tournaments at Cake Poker.

If you are thinking of signing up as a new player at Cake Poker, you should remember to check out our Cake Poker Sign Up Code.