Head-to-head Carbon vs Cake - Which Is The Best US Poker Network?

Here I Compare The Two Biggest US Friendly Poker Sites Head-To-Head.
Carbon Poker vs Cake Poker – Which Will Come Out On Top?

Carbon Poker are now the single largest US poker network, with Cake Poker the only viable alternative now that Bodog have announced their withdrawal in 2012. Here I take the two biggest networks and compare them side-by-side. This covers cash games, tournaments / SNGs and their software – and of course the all important money in terms of bonuses, promotions and loyalty rewards.

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Carbon Poker vs Cake Poker – Cash Games

US readers do not have the same number of cash games to choose from as before, however I think many would be pleasantly surprised by how many are still available – particularly in the evenings and at weekends. Cake Poker sees peaks of approximately 3k players across all formats, while Carbon Poker is bigger – with peaks now approaching 10k+.

I'll start with a description of what is available on each site, then add my thoughts comparing and contrasting below.

Carbon Poker: Even during the day you are going to have a good selection of 6-max and 9-max NL Holdem and PLO Omaha, with a smaller number of Limit tables and Hi-Lo. Other games are available though rarely see more than a couple of tables, these include Stud, 5-draw, Badugi and mixed games. Blind levels start at 2c / 4c with most of the action at $1 / $2 and below – you will find games up to $5 / $10 in the evenings and a good choice below this. Carbon poker have Bad-beat jackpot tables, which have a higher rake (fee) per hand played which goes towards the jackpot.

Cake Poker: Again a focus smaller stakes NL Holdem, with some choice of Omaha games and a few Omaha Hi-Lo games also running. 2C / 4c blinds are the lowest with the choice tailing off rapidly at $1 / $2 and over. Proportionally more 9 player tables are active, through the 6-max tables are the busiest overall – some tables are designated as shallow stacked, with 10 BB buy-ins possible.

For choice, Carbon Poker are way ahead, with around twice as many games running as Cake. The action seems similar on both sites – which have a greater proportion of recreational players than the pre black-Friday venues (think: softer overall, though more variance due to player's reluctance to fold hands).

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Cake And Carbon Poker Compared - US Poker Tournaments + SNGs

Tournaments reply on a good volume of players. Once a site reaches a certain level, they can run bigger and better tournaments – creating a 'virtuous circle' where better offerings attract even more players. I believe that Carbon Poker are approaching this inflection point – and that their ever improving tournament schedule will only get better... their recent 'Poker Maximus' event was a clear indication that this point is here!

Cake do offer some good tournament action for NL Holdem fans and mostly at the lower to low-mid buy-ins (think $22 and under, with most games in the $3 to $11 range). While these are certainly soft, Cake only have enough games for those players who take their MTTs 1 or 2 at a time. If you want any volume of action then your should check Carbon, or even have both sites running at the same time.

Carbon have a 'Sunday Major' in the form of the $100k guaranteed, this is a $109 buy-in event with a growing following. Other larger buy-in events are satellites to live tournaments, you can qualify for both the Sunday and Live satellites through a series of online sub qualifiers.

Sit N Go Tournaments see a lot of similarities between the two sites. Again Carbon's higher player numbers see more games kicking off and more variations (knockouts for example). Both sites run a lot of Double-or-nothing Sit N Goes as well as turbo variations of their regular games. I have read about some huge volume being possible for grinders at Carbon if you include the hyper-turbo games and are prepared to mix and match your buy-in levels.

My vote here has to go to Carbon, whose bigger traffic numbers let them spread a better variety and more guaranteed prizes in their tournament selection.

Biggest US Poker Sites Compared – Software And Features

When it comes to the software sites use to power their sites, it is often down to your personal preference which is the 'best'. With Cake Poker's 'Cake 2.0 client' ironing out a lot of the lags from the old software, the gap between the two sites is far narrower than it was a couple of years ago. Where Carbon start to pull ahead is actually with a gimmick. Players can trigger animations while they play which are visible to everyone, by typing special words into the chat box. These range from a simple animated smile through to things like headbanging pandas and sharks eating fish... there are a huge amount of these. Even though this might not appeal directly to many players, they do make the games entertaining – as all experienced players know, a fun game can be a very profitable game.

Carbon Poker Screen Shots - Click To Enlarge

Overall another win for Carbon for me, their software is smoother and easier to navigate.

Best US Site – Head To Head: Cake vs Carbon – Lets Talk About The Money!

Of course the games are key, but hey – I know the money matters, and I know you know that the ongoing incentives are just as important as the 'headline' welcome bonuses. This section of my heads-to-head review addresses this area.

Again, I'll take the sites one at a time and show what they offer, then end with my thoughts.

Carbon Poker: I have an exclusive readers welcome bonus offer of a 200% match + $11 SNG token for free with coupon code SNGPLANET. After this you get a whole bunch of promotions, leader-boards and different combinations of point-races. Carbon's loyalty scheme is a standard 'earn points to climb tiers' system – though I consider this one of the more generous of this type, with daily cashback possible in addition to the ability to buy yourself bonuses. Where Carbon are strongest is their irregular and one-off promotions, which often tie in with sporting events or holidays, these can involve challenges with increasing prizes and are great for topping up your bankroll. Note: You'll now get a powerful poker calculator on top of these great offers!!

Cake Poker: Cake have an odd number for their welcome match, being 110% up to $600. This is complimented by their world-class 'gold cards' and 'gold chips' loyalty schemes. Chips take the place of points at many sites and are usually exchanged for tournament or SNG entries (some very generous prize pools!!). Cards are distributed randomly during play (more at higher buyins). You keep collecting these until you make specific hands form big bonus payouts – there is now a special exchange so that Cake Poker players can buy and sell (or swap) their cards. If you collect all 52 during a given period you can claim a massive $52,000 bonus! On top of this Cake have leader boards and races, they do have one-off promotions, though less frequently than Carbon.

This category is tougher to call. While Carbon have a superior welcome bonus and more promotions, Cake have one of the best loyalty schemes anywhere in online poker... on balance I think you'll be better off at Carbon, though only just!!

Head To Head Carbon Poker Against Cake Poker - Mark's Verdict - Carbon Clearly The Best!

Overall I'm going to rate Carbon Poker as the best US poker site. Thy come out best on games and game selection, tournaments, software and (just about!) on the financial criteria too. With the player liquidity numbers in their favor, I expect Carbon to keep building on their offering – and attracting a lot of those players who are still on the fence when it comes to playing online. N

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More Articles For US Players:

- Best US Site For SNGs

- Detailed Cake Poker Review

- Detailed Carbon Poker Review