On September 1st, Victory Poker, which currently makes its home on the Everleaf Network, will make the jump to the Cake Poker Network. The site, which features pros like Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, and former World Poker Tour Player of the Year Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, has become a major force in the online poker world and happily accepts USA players. Poker News Daily sat down with Victory Poker CEO Dan Fleyshman to get the inside scoop on the move to Cake.
Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us on the eve of your move to the Cake Poker Network. Why move to Cake?
Dan Fleyshman: I’ve always liked Cake. It’s a great network and I met with their guys back in January at the London convention, but I had made my decision prior to that. I wanted to be a premier site on a network when we launched and felt I’d be second or third at Cake. When I signed with Everleaf, they had so much passion, knew I’d bring players, and they worked hard. I’m happy with the way it all turned out.
PND: Tell us about working with Everleaf.
Dan Fleyshman: Everleaf was working their butts off, but it was a whirlwind for them. They went from having 100 to 200 active players at any time to 500 or 600 now. It was a big change for them.
PND: What about the Cake Poker Network makes it appealing?
Dan Fleyshman: There were only two networks we really considered, Cake and Merge. The other networks are more international like Entraction and Ongame. The Merge Gaming Network’s software is amazing, they have a great backend, and they have great management.
However, I decided on Cake because they have a Malta gaming license. Merge is going to have that also, but I didn’t want to wait for it. Cake also has the Gold Stacks rewards program, which I like a lot. They also have Doyle Brunson and Phil “The Unabomber” Laak and with us coming in, all of the pros will be at one network. Marketing-wise, we fit well there and I like what they’ve done over the years.
PND: How has the growth of Victory Poker compared to your expectations when you launched earlier this year?
Dan Fleyshman: It has been way better than I expected, which is another reason we had to move. We’re not going to stop growing. I’ve signed double the number of pros I had planned to and the boys are on television getting us exposure.
PND: How do you think the Everleaf Network will fare following the departure of Victory Poker?
Dan Fleyshman: They gained 50 skins during the time we were on the network. It puts them at around 80 or 90 skins total, so I think they’ll be fine. Even though they’re smaller skins, it doesn’t matter if there are that many. They’ll keep improving, fixing things, and moving in the right direction.
PND: Is Victory Poker trying to bring additional pros onboard?
Dan Fleyshman: I was happy when we had six or seven pros, but I was surprised that I was able to get some of the household names to come over. People were actually asking to come over because of the original guys we had like Antonio and Andrew. Then, international players started joining. I have certain characters I want, but am looking for international players at this point.
PND: We’re surprised we didn’t see more Victory Poker patches during the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Dan Fleyshman: If I’m going to put a patch on someone, it’s because they’re part of my team. We’re getting the right exposure now. I went to the Amazon Room on the play down day of the Main Event and Full Tilt has to release (or at least not patch) four players at the final table. There are a few guys that we’ve been talking to and we don’t have a lot of competition for signing people.
