Massive rumor that could shake online poker

[The Buzz]

The big rumor floating around right now is PokerListings has purchased the Cake Poker Network. That could certainly make things interesting. What you think?

http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/cake-p...istings-18480/

[onlinegambling]

Massive story.... but need to wait until its confirmed.

[cassy]

"The Cake Poker Network has not released any statement about the rumored sale."

I agree with online gambling. As stated on the article, we still need to confirm this spreading rumor. On the other side, if ever the said rumored sale will be proven right, then for sure they will give poker players a great deal!

[alexpratt]

I like cake and am also keen for there to be an alternative networks to stars and tilt from a player and affiliate perspective to ensure there is variety but also healthy competition.....

if they do buy it I think it will be fine as long as they make sure the business has a separate management team and that they still keep the poker listings content independent.....of course there will be some blurring in the middle but this is nothing new with many operators owning affiliates and affiliates owning operators....at the end of the day poker listings may rank cake a little higher but they will also rank their best converting/earning programs even higher as they are the ones that make that particular business more money

[joeyl]

Well it's a completely bad idea for obvious reasons.

[grem]

that must mean pokerlistings makes a lot of money

[AceHigh Pino]

Cake has some pretty solid software - just no players right now at their main site. The skins they sold off in the past hurt their bottom line and players jumped ship accordingly for better operations like the one over at Merge. Maybe PL will be able to help them improve their player base and make it a popular room again.

[TravG]

Very Interesting. My Cake conversions are next to nothing so it may be good if they can get some players over there. Unreal how well PL does to able to do this.
I personally think the software is a little suspect on Cake and don't promote it very heavily.

[Casinorep]

This is big news indeed.

[andreea]

This may be of interest to everyone: http://www.pokerlistings.com/pokerli...tnership-57037

[vinism]

And here's the press release from Cake.

Cake Network Undertakes Strategic Partnership with PokerListings

Partnership Will Allow for Both Companies to Leverage Opportunities

Curacao, Dutch Antilles, March 24, 2011 – Cake Gaming NV announced today that it will be undertaking a strategic partnership with PokerListings.com. The partnership brings together two companies with extremely complimentary resources: PokerListings.com being the most comprehensive poker news and poker strategy website in the world and the Cake Network, a popular global poker network with a number of strong consumer-facing poker brands.

"We are extremely excited to become a major component of PokerListings.com’s massive online presence,” said Cake Network Marketing Director, Andrew Turner. “The value of being integrated into one of the premiere leaders in new player acquisition and poker-related search can not be overstated and will have a significant impact on the Cake Network ecosystem and overall liquidity. This partnership positions the Cake Network for future growth in terms of new depositing players as well as for the addition of several strategic network partners.”

With its significant Poker and Casino holdings, PokerListings.com can stake a claim to being the largest single gambling affiliate business in the sector. Through a very close working relationship in the areas of web development, content production and traffic conversion, PokerListings.com is positioned to substantially contribute to future development of the Cake Network.

A notable aspect of this partnership includes an ongoing commitment from PokerListings.com to drive a minimum of 2,000 new depositing players per month to the Cake Network which will have a significant impact on the number of recreational first time depositors. This partnership adds considerable strength to the position of the Cake Network by ensuring a steady stream of new depositing players every month which will soften games and increase liquidity across the network.

“We have been looking for this kind of partnership for some time now and we are very happy to have closed this deal with Cake Network. Not only does the partnership bring great commercial value to our respective companies, but we are very proud to secure the best possible deals for PokerListings.com' visitors” said PokerListings.com' representative, Martin Carlesund.

In addition to an influx of new players to compete against, Cake Network players will enjoy several other benefits from this partnership including: syndicated high quality content, added functionality and fantastic deals for those referred to the Cake Network by PokerListings.com.

[andreea]

This is the key line for most people I think: fantastic deals for those referred to the Cake Network by PokerListings.com

[TravG]

Cake is now the #1 site on PokerListings - kinda funny. They must have gotten a minority stake or something for this. If according to the press release, if they didn't outright buy them, they had to have been given some kind of stake in the network.

I have a lot of inactive players at Cake so this may actually help me. For PokerListings I hope the Cake Network really greased the wheels, because for them to claim that Cake is the #1 site is a joke. PokerListings may lose a little creditabilty for that one.

After a little more research, actually the top 3 sites on PokerListings are on the Cake Network - even funnier.

[davenewgates]

I'm excited about this! I hope PokerListings soon have their statement about this rumor. There is a big chance that this is true.

[joeyl]

An affiliate site in a deal like this does not help other affilites, nor players for that matter in the long run.

We shall see.

[andreea]

I'm excited about this! I hope PokerListings soon have their statement about this rumor. There is a big chance that this is true.

It's just 5 posts above in case you missed it.

[Simmo!]

An affiliate site in a deal like this does not help other affilites, nor players for that matter in the long run.

We shall see.

Agreed. But is it particularly detrimental? The only negative I can think of is for other operators who may have enjoyed prime exposure on PL. For affiliates & players, I can't see how it can really matter - unless I overlooked something?

[Chips]

Wonder if Cake will be shaving off the majority revenues generated like they do all the other affiliates?

[jackten]

Oddly their rating went from 8.2 to 9.2, #1, overnight. Man Cake Poker is swift at improving its network in 1 day
Pokerlistings is coded pretty poorly apparently.. when you click on a link, I still see the old rankings for a second before the new ones appear. 888 used to be #1

[joeyl]

For a start Ian: I don't think it's particularly helpful for Pokerlistings, a rival aff, to have access tio your personal details, website portfolio, traffic details via your aff links, and so on across the aff network.

Bad idea from the getgo. We shall see.