In January of 2009, the announcement was made that Doyle's Room, the online poker room endorsed by the legendary Doyle Brunson, was leaving the Microgaming Network. The reason was simple: The Microgaming Network, in light of the Kentucky domain seizure case and other industry concerns, no longer allowed players from the United States to sign up. This prompted Doyle's Room to move to the U.S.-friendly Cake Poker Network.

Since Doyle's Room moved to the Cake Poker network, there hasn't been a big drop-off in terms of traffic for cash games and tournaments.  Currently, the Cake Poker Network is the tenth largest worldwide and sees some fairly loose action at the micro-stakes tables.  There are a fair number of low-stakes tables in the $0.50-$1 to $1-$2 neighborhood, so cash game players should find a fair amount of action.  Low- and mid-stakes players are advised to hit the felts on the weekends, otherwise you'll find no more than 12 to 15 tables at the low- and mid-stakes levels.

The lobby has changed for the better, with tabs at the top to access ring games and tournaments.  In addition, buttons to enter the cashier, view rewards, change account information, and seek help are easily found.  The tables are laid out nicely and the tab for game and limit type make finding the right table a simple practice.  Finally, at the bottom, there is a filter that allows a user to search by table size (heads-up, six-max or full ring), stakes, and table speed.

The table artwork is very familiar to Cake Poker’s or one of its skins.  There are two views to choose from: A three-quarters view with avatars and a top-down traditional racetrack view.  The tables don't resize very well and the artwork for the chips and deck are definitely below average.  The controls at the table are standard and work just fine, so if you can live with the outdated graphics, playing at Doyle's Room will be a fun experience.

The site supports Neteller, Visa, MasterCard, Moneybookers and Instacash for player deposits.  Players who wish to do a bank wire or money order are encouraged to call into a toll free customer service phone number.

Features

Doyle's Room offers a "Gold Chip" program that has replaced the Loyalty Points of the old network.  Gold Chips are accumulated as players sit at real money games or play in tournaments.  The points are referred to as Frequent Player Points (FPP) and, as more FPPs are accumulated, a Gold Chip meter is filled.  Once the meter is filled, you earn a Gold Chip.  These can be redeemed for satellite entries into tournaments or can be saved for items in the yet-to-be-opened Doyle's Room Shop.

In addition to the "Gold Chip" feature, there is also the "Gold Card" promotion where any player seated at low-, medium- or high-stakes cash game tables could win.  Once the rake for a hand reaches a certain threshold, a Gold Card is released.  If it matches one of your hole cards (even if you folded), you win it.  These cards are used for daily lotteries, tournament buy-ins, cash prizes, and other promotions.

On top of the rewards program, there is a "Casino" for players to drop money in if they so choose.

Cash Games

Since the Cake Poker Network is more of an up-and-comer, you aren't going to see an enormous amount of traffic.  However, at Doyle's Room, you will find on average 1,500 to 2,000 cash game players on a wide variety of games.  Although the Cake Poker Network isn't the fish-fest it was two years ago, the games seem to be a little looser at the low- and mid-stakes than on some of the big sites; however, there are fewer games to choose from.

Tournaments

There is no shortage of tournaments at Doyle's Room, with games ranging from a $100,000 satellite Gold Card lottery tournament to guaranteed events running all day long.  Most of the tournaments are Texas Hold'em and typically a new tournament starts every 15 to 30 minutes during the average day.  There are $250,000 guaranteed tournaments that run once a week that compete with the Sunday weekly majors at the big sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.  Finally, the sit and go tab reveals plenty of single table tournaments of the heads-up, six-max, and full ring (10 player) varieties.