CardSpike.com Poker Review

NOTE: CardSpike.com has closed for business! If you wish to play at a similar poker room, please read our Cake Poker review.

CardSpike Poker Overview (7.7/10.0):

CardSpike Poker is one of the newest online poker rooms to hit the market, as they launched in September 2008. However, with the traffic of the Cake Poker Network, and outstanding software, they have already made an impact on the market and are building their player base every day. We decided to play at CardSpike.com to test out their poker client, and to give you the full scoop on this USA-friendly poker site. Read the rest of this review to learn more.

Card Spike Software (7.5/10.0):

CardSpike Poker has the exact same software as Cake Poker or Sportsbook.com Poker, so if you're familiar with those rooms you'll know what to expect. However, if you aren't familiar with those rooms, you'll be pleased to find a clean poker lobby with easy navigation. When you open the CardSpike lobby you'll be presented with four of CardSpike's promotions, as well as upcoming tournaments and freerolls. From there, you can go to either Ring Games, Tournaments, Cashier, Rewards, My Account, or Help. Alternatively, you can choose one of the four promotion icons to learn more about each promo.

If you head to the Ring Games section, this is where you'll find your real money cash games. There are a number of filters you can use to dwindle down the total number of tables to a more manageable number. The first options you have to filter the tables is the game type you'd like to play: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, or 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo. From there, you can choose Play Money or Real Money, and then Fixed Limit, Pot Limit, or No Limit.

I recommend choosing those three options, then sorting the tables by Stakes so you can quickly find the table you are looking for. Also, if you click on a table in the lobby it will show you each player who is sitting at the table as well as their stack size. This is useful for finding games with deep stacks or short stacks - whatever you prefer.

If you decide to choose Tournaments from the main lobby screen, you will be taken to the poker tournament lobby. You are then presented with a number of filter options to narrow down all of the poker tournaments so you can find one that works for you. The options are basically the same as before, so I won't repeat myself on that. Ok, let's get into the game play...

CardSpike has a really solid table layout for a new room, mainly because their software is basically a clone of Cake Poker's. At the table you'll see all of your pre select buttons right where you'd expect them to be, along with a default setting to display pot size and player bet sizes. One thing we really liked about the CardSpike tables is their four-color deck, because it makes sure you'll never miss a flush again, regardless of how many tables you're playing.

The CardSpike tables are resizable, but unlike PokerStars you can only resize them to three preset options: minimum, default, and maximum. Also, there is only one theme currently available for the tables, but we like its simplicity and ease of use. Learn how to download CardSpike poker.

CardSpike.com Promotions (8.1/10.0):

CardSpike offers the same bonus as CakePoker, which is a 100% up to $500 bonus on a player's first deposit at the site. To redeem this bonus you just have to sign up at CardSpike through any of the links or banners on this page, and the bonus will automatically be tracked to your account when you make your first deposit. Once you make the deposit the bonus will be placed into your Pending Bonus account, from which you'll have to clear it by earning FPP's.

Each FPP you earn is worth $0.06 of your pending bonus money, and the bonus is paid out in increments of $10. So, each time you earn 166.6 FPP's you will release $10 of your bonus into your real money CardSpike account. Players earn FPP's when they play for real money at CardSpike.com.

At cash tables players will earn 1 FPP for each dollar that the pot is raked, as long as they were dealt into the hand. Even if you fold preflop, as long as you were dealt cards you'll receive FPP's. Also, if the pot is raked, for example, $2.40, you'll receive 2.4 FPP's because you earn fractional FPP's for fractional dollars of rake.

Points are also earned in tournaments and sit and go's, as long as they're real money games. For every dollar that is paid in tournament or sit and go fees, you'll receive seven FPP's. So, if you enter a $50+5 tournament, you'll earn 35 FPP's. Tournaments and sit and go's also use fractional points, so if you enter a $1.10 sit and go you'll receive 0.7 FPP's.

Make sure to start playing right away after you make your first deposit, because you'll have three months to clear the full bonus before any remaining amount expires.

Card Spike Games (7.2/10.0):

Since CardSpike is on the Cake Poker network, they already have enormous traffic even though they only launched in September. Poker Scout says that at the time of this writing there are over 1,500 real money cash table players online, so you can expect to find players at almost any game and limit. CardSpike offers tables running from $0.02/$0.04 to $100/$200 in the No Limit Hold'em variety. Also, for No Limit Hold'em there are your normal 10-handed games, as well as 6-handed and heads up tables if you prefer those.

In Limit Hold'em there are tables running from $0.04/$0.08 to $30/$60 at peak hours. Also, it is set up just like No Limit Hold'em, as they have tables in 10-handed, 6-handed, and heads up varieties. There are also Pot Limit Hold'em tables on the Cake Poker network, but the games rarely run and we've never seen multiple tables running.

The only other game that CardSpike offers that actually has tables running is Omaha in both the Hi and Hi-Lo variations, but there is limited traffic for each of these games and we've never seen any high limit tables running for either. Basically, if you're looking for Hold'em, CardSpike is awesome, but if you're looking for a different game, CardSpike really doesn't have the traffic at the moment.

CardSpike Poker Tournaments (8.1/10.0):

Since CardSpike is on a shared network, they have some pretty big tournaments, but don't expect MTT's of the caliber of PokerStars or Full Tilt. One thing we really liked about CardSpike's tournaments was the fact that they often have layovers in their MTT's, which means that the prize pool doesn't reach the guarantee, and CardSpike throws in the extra money to cover the guarantee. This results in a really great value for the players.

Every Sunday CardSpike has their flagship tournament which is their $75,000 Guaranteed on Sundays at 7:00 PM EST. This is a $109 buy-in, and usually exceeds the $75k Guarantee so you can expect a really big tournament for a smaller sized site. The site provides smaller stakes players plenty of satellites all week long, so you can satellite in and play for a huge payday. Also, on the last Sunday of every month CardSpike has a $150,000 Guaranteed $162 buy-in that attracts tons of players to the Cake network.

CardSpike Gold Cards and Gold Chips

CardSpike uses the same rewards system as Cake Poker and Sportsbook.com Poker, which includes the Gold Card races and the Gold Chips reward program. Since it is exactly the same as those sites, we aren't going to repeat ourselves. If you want to learn more about it, check out our Cake Poker Review page to learn more.

CardSpike Deposit and Withdrawal Options:

Check out the table below to see all of the deposit and withdrawal options at CardSpike Poker.

Deposit Options:	Withdrawal Options:
Visa, MasterCard, CashTransfer.	Cashier's Check.

NOTE: Deposit and Withdrawal options that are italicized are USA-Friendly options.