PocketFives can confirm that Lock Poker has acquired “selected” assets of the Cake Poker Network and will re-brand the latter Revolution Gaming. The software update containing the change will go live on May 31st. A press release sent by Lock Poker on Monday declared, “Lock is in the process of acquiring assets from Cake and will be re-branding the Cake Network to launch Revolution Gaming, driving technology, marketing, player rewards, and implementing a richer tournament schedule.”

Rumors about the re-branding were circulating on PocketFives over the weekend, when we learned that more information would come on Monday. Existing Lock Poker players will receive a software update on May 31st, and Lock plans to preserve its own cashier: “Lock will also continue to manage its own standalone cashier… All players’ current player VIP rewards will only increase and all rakeback players will be moved over to the increased percentage on Revolution.”

Jennifer Larson, CEO of Lock Poker, commented in Monday’s press release, “We are very excited at the prospect of driving the product, marketing, and overall vision of the network. It is a dream come true. Merge was a great stepping-stone for us, but we have outgrown them. We really need to forge our own path to continued success. The only way to do this is to stay true to our of core philosophy: partnering with our players.”

A Lock Poker representative told PocketFives on Sunday that the room represented40% of the traffic of the Merge Gaming Network, its current home, and was the network’s largest single site. What will happen to Merge sans Lock remains to be seen. Other Merge rooms include Hero Poker and Carbon Poker.

Merge canceling the Lock Ops tournament series, which was originally scheduled for May 6th to 20th, could have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. To that end, Lock Poker rep imjustshane commented on PocketFives, “A lot of guys are running with, ‘Merge canceled Lock Ops because Lock wouldn’t guarantee the funds to cover the buy-ins.’ I can absolutely deny this. Merge have not once asked us to confirm the funds to cover the guarantees. Lock not having the funds to cover any overlays was not a factor in the cancellation of Lock Ops.”

Cake Poker released a statement on Monday revealing that another major announcement will follow: “Cake will continue operations, providing all of its current Network partners, sites, and players the opportunity to be part of the Revolution Gaming Network… This deal also allows Cake to focus efforts on its current European, South American, and Asian business, with another exciting announcement to soon follow.”

According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, Merge is the eighth largest network worldwide and holds down a seven-day running average of 1,640 real money ring game players. Assuming Lock’s 40% figure applies to cash games, a loss of 40% would leave Merge with about 1,000 cash game players, placing it around 12th worldwide.

Cake has a seven-day running average of 610 real money ring game players and could move as high as 10th or 11th worldwide with the extra player boost, all else equal.

When asked if the Cake Poker software would be retained under Revolution Gaming, a Lock Poker representative told PocketFives on Monday, “The Cake Poker software will be retained, but we will be going into product development immediately, as we are very excited to focus on an HTML 5 client.”

PocketFives does not recommend playing online poker on sites offering rake-based games in the United States like Lock Poker and Cake Poker. Your money may be at risk. We feel more comfortable at this time recommending no-rake sites such as HogWild Poker.

Visit the thread in the Poker Sites forum for more details.