If these figures are accurate, this deal would mark something of a first in the online poker industry, wherein what is essentially a marketing entity chose to swim upstream by purchasing the comparatively complex (and lower margin) operations of a poker network. Cake, which has suffered of late from the loss of some high-profile poker rooms, the abrupt exits of a few prominent executives and, just for fun, a patent troll lawsuit, would clearly welcome the traffic PokerListings can steer its way. What’s less clear is how PokerListings benefits.

PokerListings’ existing business model is well designed and highly profitable. They do an exemplary job of driving traffic to online poker sites through stellar SEO work and by producing strong poker-related content. But how much do they know about the nitty-gritty aspects of running an actual poker site – payments, anti-fraud, customer service, scalability, product development, etc.? PokerListings’ relative inexperience in these areas will not be aided by Cake’s less than optimal business model. PokerListings could find itself as the new Doyle’s Room, i.e. offering up a steady stream of losing players as sacrificial lambs for the rakeback-receiving sharps on Cake’s 60+ skins.

Then there’s the optics of the deal, which has already seen Cake’s elevation to the number-one US-facing (and second overall) recommended site on PokerListings.com (and some of its related affiliate sites). In the press release accompanying the deal, PokerListings describes itself (in part) as a “poker site comparison website.” That mandate will suffer a significant credibility hit if PokerListings is now Cake’s controlling stakeholder. The issue of consumer fraud could even come into play if the precise nature of the relationship is not explicitly detailed on the PokerListings site.

There’s also the more immediate issue of how this will affect PokerListings’ relationships with other poker sites. Any site that has an affiliate deal with PokerListings will likely not appreciate the knowledge that it is now sharing revenue with a direct competitor. With or without a non-compete clause in its contract, a company like PokerStars could conceivably cite this as justification for not only severing its partnership with PokerListings, but also to kill all historic revenue-sharing deals. PokerListings could well expect its legal expenses to skyrocket over the coming year.

Cake will undoubtedly benefit in the short term from this deal with PokerListings, but without modifications to Cake’s business model, the network will continue to face significant long-term challenges. PokerListings, on the other hand, was doing just fine on its own before this deal. The effect it will have on PokerListings’ trajectory remains, like many other details of this deal, unknown.

Business News

Turner also added, “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. ”

In accordance with the new partnership, PokerListings has committed to drive a minimum of 2,000 new depositing players per month to the Cake Network. As stated in the release on the PokerListings website: 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.

PokerListings CEO, Martin Carlesund commented in the release, “We have absolute confidence that PokerListings will make a substantial impact on the overall traffic of CakePoker.com and the entire Cake Network to both companies’ mutual benefit…We have been very impressed with the software and team behind the Cake Network. This partnership delivers on our strategic plan of further deepening our engagement into the player lifecycle.”

Additional benefits of the agreement will see Cake Network receive: syndicated high quality content, added functionality and attractive deals for those referred to the Cake Network by PokerListings.

Business News

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.

About Cake Network

Cake Network caters to a select group of partners; ones that uphold its company values and require a more tailored service rather than a standard “off the shelf” solution. Whether partners are looking to add poker to an existing site or upgrade their current poker offering, the Cake Network positions them to succeed by providing a wide range of customizable services and solutions. Partner success is ensured by the Cake Network’s flexibility, liquidity and integrity. Cake’s philosophy towards partnership is simple: offer world class solutions to world class partners.

For more information visit www.cakenetwork.net or email the Cake Network directly at pr@cakenetwork.net.

About PokerListings

PokerListings.com is the largest driver of poker traffic volume on the Internet. As the most comprehensive website focusing on poker and online poker it boasts extensive amounts of high-quality content with in-depth analysis of online poker rooms, details on strategy, poker bonuses, promotions, tournaments and freerolls. For more information visit www.PokerListings.com.

Checkout the article here Cake & PokerListings deal: an online poker industry game-changer? regarding this poker industry news.

Press Releases

The extortion is rumored to have been tied to Oscarsson’s sale of PokerListings.com. After he sold the company its value dropped (due to the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). It was then that individuals who may have been involved with the deal are believed to have attempted to extort money from Oscarsson.Read more…

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