In mid-April, PlayersOnlyand Sportsbook.com, which currently make their home on the Cake Poker Network, will pick up shop and move to the Merge Gaming Network. Jazette Enterprises, which owns both sites, made the announcement earlier this month. As a result, traffic on the Merge Gaming Network may grow as much as 400%, potentially creating one of the top ten online poker networks in the world by traffic. PocketFives.com members who have signed up for PlayersOnly and want to continue playing on the Cake Poker Network can sign up for The Merge Gaming Network’s flagship room is Carbon Poker, which proudly sponsors the PocketFives.com Podcast. According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, it’s the 20th largest network in the world, boasting a seven-day running average of 220 real money ring game players. Contrastingly, the Cake Poker Network, which includes Cake Poker and DoylesRoom, is the tenth largest worldwide, with cash game traffic nearly ten times that of the Merge Gaming Network.
Anthony Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of the Merge Gaming Network, discussed the impact that PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com will have on their new home in an official press release: “This deal will bring massive liquidity to the network and see the online poker industry landscape change overnight. We are delighted to sign such an established partner to the network. It's through our great software and superior backend that we are able to attract a group of this size to the network.” The move will likely occur by mid-April, although no date has been released.

PocketFives.com members who would like to continue playing on the Cake Poker Network are welcome to create a new account with Cake Pokerand DoylesRoom. On Cake Poker, PocketFives.com members can take advantage of an exclusive $60,000 rake race February. The competition has a top prize of $5,000 and a total of 300 players will walk away with cash. Over on DoylesRoom, the February rake race is up to $35,000, the largest exclusive race we’ve ever held on the site.

Meanwhile, debate surfaced in a thread in Poker Discussionas to whether traffic on the Cake Poker Network would suffer significantly as a result of the sites' departure. Some members of the online poker community, including SuperNovaEli, explained why they prefer the Cake Poker Network over the Merge Gaming Network or vice-versa: “The reason I play on the Cake network is the fact huds are useless. I feel this form of poker should be outlawed on all site, but thats just mo… Most large poker sites love these things cause it allows people to play 152 tables at once.”

Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker was one of a handful of new skins to join the Cake Poker Network in recent weeks. PocketFives.com contributor Lee Jones (pictured at right), Cake Poker's Card Room Manager, noted in the same Poker Discussion thread that his site is looking forward to 2010 despite the changes: “Overall, we expect 2010 to be a growth year for Cake Poker and the Cake Network and we believe that the player experience at Cake will improve dramatically over the year as well.” Jones also added that new client software is in the works that will feature standardization of tables with industry norms, better graphics, and new features.

You can claim 30% Carbon Poker offers an exclusive $15,000 rake chase in February that offers a top prize of $900. On Poker Nordica, PocketFives.com RPM Poker, you can play with a contingent of sponsored pros and PocketFives.com members including Aditya Intervention Agarwal, Dan djk123 Kelly, Chris cdbr3799 Dombrowski, Jeff jpapola Papola, and Stephen Stevie444 Chidwick.

Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest on the move of PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com to the Merge Gaming Network.