Lock Poker Buys Cake Poker Network

Monday, May 7,2012 : LOCK POKER MAKING MOVES ON CAKE NETWORK?
 
Monday announcement awaited from Merge-powered online poker site
 
On Sunday an otherwise quiet news scene lit up as rumours of a takeover bid on the troubled Cake Poker Network by Merge-powered operator Lock Poker emerged.
 
The online gambling information site Gambling 911, which is known to have a close relationship with Lock Poker management, appeared to be the first to publish the news, subsequently taken up by major sites like Pocket Fives.com, which contacted Lock Poker to confirm the story and was told:
 
"I cannot comment right now, but I can say that we will be putting an official press release out this week."
 
Pocket Fives subsequently reported that the press release referred to would be issued Monday May 7 at an EST unknown.
 
The 911 article reported that Lock Poker would be taking over the whole Cake Poker Network.
 
There appeared to be no conclusive information on what brand the resultant combined companies would adopt, although there would be changes, according to 911 which reported that Lock Poker would be "….driving technology, marketing, player rewards, implementing a more aggressive tournament schedule, and incorporating a new company philosophy, essentially restructuring the entire Cake Poker Network."
 
A poster at Pocket Fives claimed that he had been told by an unnamed insider and pro player at Lock that "Cake and Lock are merging, or Cake is buying them? Said this was all going down in June."
 
Another poster claiming that Lock Poker represented 40 percent of the Merge Network's traffic, and implied that Cake would not be the buyer but the seller.
 
There has been speculation that Lock's move may have been prompted by Merge's recent cancellation of its Lock Ops tournament scheduled for May 6 to 20.
 
The Calvin Ayre information site points out that Lock's abrasive legal man, Bryce Vincent Geoffrey, was formerly a member of Cake's legal team.
 
911's report asserts that "Cake and its current marquee brand, Intertops Poker, are believed to be continuing to operate as separate rooms and there are no plans to integrate them."