There’s a lot going on at the Cake Poker Network, one of the more popular US facing online poker sites. Recently, one of the oldest poker rooms in the industry, Intertops, announced that it would be shifting to the Cake network, bringing a new boost of player activity to the platform. There are now 55 online poker rooms that belong to the Cake Poker Network, making it the 11th largest in the world, and boasting top names such as Doyles Room and Unabomber Poker (created by Phil Laak).

Two important things happened soon after Intertops joined the network. Firstly, Cake Poker announced several new exciting features that are sure to become a big hit with players. These are all incorporated in the launch of the updated software Cake 2.0 and include a handy calendar, tournament schedules and notification and a fantastic new lobby set up.

The other big change involves a partnership deal recently signed between Cake Poker and the European based casino software group, CTXM. The deal calls for the two to pool their services and market them as a joint venture to gaming sites across the globe.

“Since Cake and CTXM operate non-competitive businesses within the online gaming space and have a similar model, joining forces seemed like the perfect evolution of the relationship,” said the Chief Executive Officer of CTXM, Udy Yosha. “Our partnership with Cake perfectly fits with our strategy of providing one-stop-shop solutions to our partners.”

The director of marketing at Cake, Andrew Turner, said that his group is extremely pleased to partner with CTX due to their long history in online gambling and their high levels of innovation.

“We are also excited to be launching two new partners to the Cake Network in Comeon.com and AdamEvePoker.com, both of which bring strong brands and unique marketing approaches. We look forward to a long and successful partnership,” he added.

Many commented that they have never seen Phil Ivey look as relaxed and happy as he did when he attended the official opening of the new high stakes room named in his honor at the Aria Casino this weekend. The Ivey Room was the scene of some incredible poker action, thanks to a $1 million invite only freeroll event with some of the biggest names in the poker world making up the guest list.

Phil Ivey, not a man of many words and certainly not one to express his feelings in interviews, couldn’t help but gush about the new poker room.

“This has to be one of the biggest achievements of my life,” Ivey said in an interview to Bluff Magazine. “Having a poker room named after me…I just can’t believe it, really. When Bill McBeath asked me to have the room named after me, I just laughed at him. I was like, ‘Come on, stop joking.’ I really didn’t think anything was going to happen and then I get a phone call and there’s a date for the tournament.”

Those in attendance were certainly out in full force to offer Ivey their support and honor one of the best poker players in history. Doyle Brunson, TJ Cloutier, Barry Greenstein and Eli Elezra were just some of the big names to be found rubbing shoulders at the Aria Poker Room.

The $1 million freeroll added excitement to the evening, with Chino Rheem finally taking down Ivey and winning the bounty on the guest of honor’s head.

After the freeroll, impromptu poker games between pros such as Jennifer Harman, David Benyamine and Tim Phan took place in the Ivey Room, and no doubt big bucks swapped hands long after the official evening ended.

It must be nice to be able to retire at the ripe old age of 20, with $2.6 million in your back pocket. The Canadian poker pro, Mike McDonald, known better by his online poker handle, Timex, has announced that he wants to retire from poker as he feels “no ambition towards poker.”

Timex wrote on his blog that while he still loved poker and that he will never quit playing the game, he feels that at this point he is ready to retire from his hugely successful albeit very brief poker career.

“In poker, although I’ve met tons of people I really like and had tons of cool experiences, I just kind of feel like there is nowhere to go from here,” said McDonald on his blog. “I can’t really think of anyone who is more engrossed in the poker world than me who I aspire to be like and poker seems to be a lot more isolating than I initially realized.”

McDonald has some major plans that he is excited to begin already, and having so many millions in live tournament winnings in his bank account will certainly help him. Education is certainly top of his list of priorities and he noted that on his blog as well. “I think returning to school and trying out a wide variety of courses, learning new things, meeting new people, and just beginning to live a life that is more in touch with everyone else seems aligned with my interests,” he wrote. “I currently am trying to get in touch with the University of Waterloo about possibly taking some classes this summer and depending on how that goes, may return to Waterloo or another university in the fall.”

Timex was the youngest person to ever win a live European Poker Tour event in 2008, by winning the German Open prize of €933,000. His latest win has been the $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘em event at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure tournament, where he bagged nearly $150,000.