Cake Poker Unveil Mobile Client

Poker software applications for mobile devices have seen exponential growth over the last year, fueled by either the iPhone Operating System (OS), the Blackberry OS, or the popular Windows Mobile platform.

In March, growing online poker room Cake Poker released the first beta edition of a mobile application of its software client. On April 16th, a much more stable edition was released publicly, meaning that any player armed with a Windows Mobile OS cell phone could play poker for real money from the comfort of their cell phone.This unprecedented step forward for the online poker industry is the first of its kind and has the poker world buzzing. The leap in technology by Cake Poker and its network could put a serious dent into the operations of major rooms like Full Tilt Poker, which have yet to adopt any sort of mobile platform solution.Installing Cake Poker Mobile must be done on a Windows Mobile 5.0 cell phone device. In addition, some Windows Mobile 5.0 users might have to install Microsoft's .NET Compact Framework, which can be downloaded for free. Beyond that, the cell phone will need an internet connection such as a 2G or 3G network via your mobile provider's data plan. Also supported are a WiFi, Bluetooth and direct tethered connection to a PC. Basically, if your cell phone has a connection to the internet, you'll be able to play at Cake Poker with it.Cake Poker has gone on the record stating that playing on your cell phone is the same as playing on your PC client in terms of game play. You’ll still earn gold chips and gold cards. There are no extra costs associated with using Cake Poker Mobile outside of whatever your wireless operator's data plan dictates. To estimate the cost of data transfer, Cake Poker has mentioned, "Cake Poker Mobile can transfer tens of megabytes per hour of game play." Since the account password cannot be stored on the phone, even if someone steals it, there would be no way for them to access your account. Here’s a sneak preview:If you were playing on the Cake Poker Mobile client and lose network coverage, the client will continuously attempt to reconnect. If the connection is restored quickly, game play will continue as normal, but the "events" of the table might happen in fast-forward for your phone to catch up to the real-time game play. When the Cake Poker Mobile application launches, users are first taken to a login screen. If you do not have a Cake Poker account, you can create one for free and start battling for play-money. Playing at the table is a lot more automated than playing on a PC. Blinds are automatically posted and cards are set to automatically muck. When it is your turn to act in a hand, a pop-up screen prompts a user for an action. Using arrow keys, number keys, or your stylus for touch screen enabled phones, a user would act in a hand. Currently with the latest beta build, the action at the table is from left to right starting with the player to the right of the dealer button. As players fold, their avatars are hidden so you can focus on opponents who remain.If you would like to try out the Cake Poker Mobile client, there's an opportunity that is unconfirmed, but posted on the popular Modaco forums. A user identifying himself as "CakePokerMobile" posted that during the beta period, users can get a free $5 credited to their account plus another $5 for every verifiable bug submitted to Cake (up to $25); users are able to keep all winnings. The reference link to the $5 promotion, however, doesn't seem to point to a page that confirms this promotion is still active.Users on the Blackberry platform might be in for some good news, as the same poster said on HowardForums that a Blackberry edition of the software is in development and multiple platforms will be supported by the end of the year. Unfortunately for iPhone users, on the feedback page of the Cake Poker Mobile website, it was stated that Cake Poker would love to do an iPhone version; however it will wait until Apple loosens its iPhone App Store restrictions or until flash-based applications are supported in the Safari browser.This bold new step for progressive card room Cake Poker is a major shake-up for the online poker industry at large. Mobile gaming for these rooms wasn't a matter of "if," but truly "when.”