Cake Poker Network VS the Merge Poker Network

The Cake Poker Network and the Merge Poker Network are two of the fastest growing independent poker networks online. One of the driving factors in the growth of these two networks is that they still allow their partner sites to accept players from the United States, although the final decision is left up to the actual poker site. When choosing a poker site to play at the network, that the site is on, plays a big role in the site’s traffic, promotions and tournaments, and quality of software. Current sites on the two networks that we feel are safe and secure to play on are:

Rake Comparison

Rake is a very important consideration when choosing a place to play poker because the higher that the rake is, the less opportunity that you have for profit. Overall the rake that is charged by these two networks is very similar and only slightly higher, in some cases, at the Merge Network sites, but not a significant difference.

The other issue with rake that needs to be considered is the method that is used to credit poker points from the rake that is paid. Merge uses the ‘weighted contributed’ method and Cake uses the ‘Dealt’ method. There is a significant difference between these two methods and based upon your playing style you can figure out which one is the best for you.

The ‘Weighted Contributed’ method attributes points to players that have put money in to the pot based upon the percentage of the pot that they contributed. The ‘Dealt’ method divides the poker points up equally among every player that was dealt in to the hand. Now if you are an aggressive player then you will find the contributed method will benefit you the most and if you are a more conservative player and you play less hands then you will be much better with the dealt method.

Traffic & Competition

The Merge Poker Network has about 4 times the player traffic as the Cake Network. This is a significant difference and means that you find more cash games and tournament tables at a Merge site. The Merge Network also is known to have a slightly softer level of competition than you will find at the sites on the Cake Poker Network.

Software

Both networks have fast and reliable software so this is pretty much a dead heat. The game selection is also similar. The sites that partner with these networks have their own graphical interface called a ‘Skin’ and this means that the visual appeal would be based more upon the site than on the network.

You really can’t go wrong playing at a poker site on either of these two networks with a slightly lower rake at the Cake sites and considerably more traffic at the Merge sites.