Officials at the Cake Poker Network room Lock Poker have made a splash in the last week, signing nine of the game’s top players. In addition, Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Eric Lynch (Rizen) has become the site’s Vice President of Product Development.
Among the new additions to Lock Poker is World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Jason Young, who earned his coveted piece of hardware by taking down the $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout last year. Joining him will be Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah, who sits at #6 on CardPlayer’s 2009 Player of the Year standings. Last month, Leah won a $1,000 buy-in tournament held during the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza for $119,000. In March, Leah won the challenging $100 rebuy on Full Tilt Poker for $42,000.
Matt “All In At 420” Stout joins the roster of Lock Poker. Stout is one of the world’s top online poker players and won the PokerStars Sunday 500 in December for $105,000. Stout owns a WSOP Circuit Event gold ring, having taken down a $500 buy-in tournament held at Caesars Atlantic City in early 2008 for $59,000. Joseph “JOEYTHEB” Brooks and Kyle “kwob20” Bowker will also sign with Lock Poker. In 2006, Bowker became the first player ever to win two PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles in the same year. Incidentally, neither win came in a Hold’em tournament; Bowker won a $530 buy-in Seven Card Stud High-Low event and a $530 buy-in Omaha High-Low contest.
Also making their way to the popular online poker site are Lee Childs and Jonathan Jaffe. The latter finished as the runner-up in the 2008 World Poker Finals, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT), for $670,000 in an event won by Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little. Childs took seventh in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Over the weekend, Poker News Daily learned that David Zeitlin and Vinny Pahuja will sign with Lock Poker. Pahuja finished 10th in the 2008 CardPlayer Player of the Year race.
On becoming Lock Poker’s Vice President of Product Development, Lynch told Poker News Daily, “It was something we had been talking about for a long time. We had been talking about it from the beginning and I’m excited that it’s a reality.” For Lynch, the sense of responsibility harkens back to his profession prior to becoming a full-time poker player. He explained, “I had an opportunity to do some similar things back before I was a poker player in the corporate IT world, but never with something that I was this passionate about.”
Lynch is looking forward to working with the star-studded group of players that includes WSOP bracelet and ring winners, Sunday Major champions, and some of the top minds the game has to offer. He remarked, “They’re all amazing players with different strengths and talents, ranging from bracelet winners to younger guys with a bright future. It’s going to be a great mix of skills and personalities to utilize moving forward.” Lynch added that Lock Poker officials are dedicated to tailoring the room to its players.
No specific promotions were announced to coincide with the signings. However, Lynch forecasted, “We’re trying to do some things that are truly unique in the poker industry with our promotions.” The Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide in terms of real money ring game traffic, according to PokerScout.com. It boasts a seven-day running average of 1,500 cash game players and a 24-hour peak of 2,230. On the Network, players from Lock Poker battle against customers from sites like Cake Poker, DoylesRoom, Players Only, and Poker Host.