Horizon Poker Network
Horizon Poker is home to Intertops and Juicy Stakes. It was once known as Revolution Gaming. Before that, it was call the Cake Poker Network.
Horizon Poker is the seventh largest U.S. friendly online poker network. It started out as a single skin known as Cake Poker. A network was created when another standalone online poker room called Red Star Poker joined Cake Poker. Some sports books eventually joined the network as well. These sports books included Sportsbook.com, PlayersOnly and BetUS.
Problems with Skins
Cake Poker ran into some problems in its early years. A major dispute arose with its biggest skin Sportsbook.com and its sister site PlayersOnly. The Sportsbook.com family saw its players losing into the Cake Network’s ecosystem and it was hurting its sports and casino revenue. These skins eventually bailed and moved their players to the Merge Gaming Network. It is rumored that these skin’s parent company owns at least some of the Merge Gaming Network.
- Large player traffic
- Above average quality of games
- Social, recreational player focused
- Third largest U.S. facing poker room with growing traffic.
- Excellent and consistent payment processing.
- Relatively juicy games.
Cake Poker Long Term Issues
The Cake Network struggled with processing issues, even well before Black Friday. The network could not find check processors and a large backlog was created.
When Cake Poker first launched they had a “Win 1% of Cake Poker” promotion. A player known to the community as Adanthar won the promotion. He went on to work for the company. Lee Jones did as well. Both left Cake Poker on December 31, 2010.
Cake Poker continued with their processing issues. Even with processors available to them, they failed to process checks within even a 6 month time frame during 2007.
The struggle continued even throughout 2008-2011. The network was able to get cashouts down to 3 months early on but those cashout speeds were up to 5 months during that time.
The network was also hit by the failure of a large skin. DoylesRoom, named after the famed professional poker Doyle Brunson, moved to the network after leaving Microgaming. The site was not profitable and eventually a deal was worked out with the Winning Poker Network that bailed DoylesRoom out but did not pay Cake Poker all of the -money that they were owed. It is believed that these problems contributed to the issues on the network.
Lock Poker Allegedly Buys Cake Poker Network
Lock Poker ran into political problems on Merge Gaming. Lock Poker was unpopular among the other skins for giving players promotional deals that exceeded the network maximum. They decided to buy the Cake Poker Network and move their player there so that they could make the rules, or so we were led to believe.
It turned out that the sale never took place. It took over a year for the poker world to uncover that fact.
U.S. Players Moved to Juicy Stakes
Cake Poker eventually decided to move their U.S. players to Juicy Stakes. Players on Colt Poker, Fugu Poker and HiLife Poker were also moved. Broadway Tables, which was banked by Cake Poker, closed and moved all of their players to Juicy Stakes too. The only two skins on Horizon Poker that accept new U.S. players are Juicy Stakes and Pure Poker. Some skins that accepted U.S. players in the past still allow those players to play.
Juicy Stakes was acquired by Zagox Management. Payouts have improved substantially since this occurred. Players report withdrawals in about one week, but the fees are $100 for most transactions. Pure Poker also offers fast cashouts. This has helped the network’s reputation although traffic continues to decline.
Intertops has some of the fastest U.S. cashouts in the industry. Unfortunately, it does not offer and free withdrawal options to American online poker players.
- Large player traffic
- Above average quality of games
- Social, recreational player focused
- Third largest U.S. facing poker room with growing traffic.
- Excellent and consistent payment processing.
- Relatively juicy games.
Horizon Poker FAQ
Who owns the Horizon Poker Network?
Intertops appears to be the owner of the Horizon Poker Network.
Is it safe to play on Horizon Poker?
There are two safe skins on Horizon Poker. We recommend Intertops. Juicy Stakes appears to be paying players much faster now than they were months ago after being acquired by Zagox Management.
Is there a safe U.S. Horizon Poker site?
Juicy Stakes and Intertops are safe skins to play on, although we still recommend playing at America’s Cardroom over these two sites.
Where is the Horizon Poker Network licensed?
Curacao licenses the Horizon Poker Network.
Is it true that the network does not pay skins on time?
There have been several reports of skins that waited months for reconciliation payments that forced them to suspend operations. ZetPoker and AdamEvePoker are examples. Those date back to before new ownership turned the company around.
What is Fair Play Technology?
Fair Play Technology was a failed player segregation policy. It attempted to restrict the access winning players had to tables populated by fish. This policy was abandoned after it caused Revolution Gaming traffic to tank.
Are all games available to all network players?
While Fair Play Technology was dropped by Revolution Gaming, some skins still ring fence their higher limit games. For example, Intertops does not share its games with a big blind of $4 or more with other skins on the network, although Juicy Stakes players have access to these games. These two sites do not participate in guaranteed tournaments over $1000 or sit and gos with a buyin of more than $20.
Why do Intertops and Juicy Stakes ring fence its games from the network?
Intertops pays faster than the US facing skins. Since it still has many US players, some of these players allegedly helped their friends withdraw faster by accepting chip dumps from them.
What are Gold Cards?
Gold Cards are generated at cash game tables every time $20 in rake is generated. This promotion is available at all skins except Lock Poker.
How are Gold Cards used?
Gold Cards may be used to enter special tournaments.
What is the Gold Card Exchange?
The Gold Card Exchange operates like a stock exchange. Players may buy and sell Gold Cards to other players through this method. The network takes a 10% vig from the seller on all transactions over $.10.
What games are available on Horizon Poker?
Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha High/Low.
- Large player traffic
- Above average quality of games
- Social, recreational player focused
- Third largest U.S. facing poker room with growing traffic.
- Excellent and consistent payment processing.
- Relatively juicy games.