Sun Poker Review

Overview: 6.9/10

SunPoker was established in 1999 under the name Caribbean SunPoker. It is owned by Peak Entertainment and is a trusted name in online gambling. Since its inception, the name has been changed to SunPoker and the team they now have strives to improve their current position in the online poker market.

SunPoker is a smaller room in comparison to the big guns of online poker. It has relatively low traffic and the tournaments that they run are very low buy-ins and have few competitors. What SunPoker lacks in traffic it makes up for in outstanding customer service, and promotions that are second to none in value terms. The players there are soft and you can usually find a cash game at your limit and have a couple of tables open.

Sunpoker makes a concerted effort to improve themselves and are constantly asking players what they want, to better their program and attract more players. When you play at SunPoker there is a sense that you are important to them, and they will bend over backwards to help you out. They use the fact that aren’t a huge corporate site to their advantage and are a site to keep a steady eye on.

Software: 6/10

The software that SunPoker provides doesn’t look great, but uses the simplicity well. All of the buttons are in a standard position, it is easy to navigate and sort games and tourneys.

• Player Search
• Multi Tabling
• Resizeable Windows
• Hand History Text
• Hand History Graphic
• Heads Up Cash
• Heads Up SNG
• Mac Compatible

It does look a little old and outdated, and it depends on each individual as to whether they like the simple look, or if it looks sub-standard. Personally I like the ease of use of the software and don’t have any problems with it. It doesn’t look great but it provides me with all the basic features I’m looking for. I feel that it needs a facelift to attract more players, and is probably a little bit behind industry standard in terms of appeal and aesthetic values. In terms of functionality it is above industry standard and I enjoy using the software without any hassles.

• Download Now
• Go to Site

The software allows unlimited multi-tabling for players who like to play a lot of cash tables at once. It has 10 players in full tables which is nice, because I like 10 players compared with 9. You can have personalized avatars that you can use to easily identify others. With the low amount of players, you play against the same people on a regular basis and its easy to pick out the fish. Note taking is also available and this feature has a lot of use on a site like this, you can use it to your full advantage and extract optimum amounts from the soft field.

• 
• 
• 

UPDATE: 25/4/08. SunPoker now offers a new flash no download version of its software. You can now access it from any computer in the world without sacrificing the quality of graphics. MAC players can now play at SunPoker when they previously couldn’t. Click here for the full story.

Promotions: 8.5/10

SunPoker run high quality promotions, they are exciting and offer great value for money. Throughout the year, whether it be Easter, Christmas, or WSOP time, SunPoker offers fantastic satellites to major land based events and one off tourneys. SunPoker put a lot of effort into the promotions and you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the events that they run. Because of the weak competition and small numbers, you often get great value for money. For winning players, this provides a great opportunity to have a realistic chance of taking home huge cash and prizes.

This section is regularly updated so you can be sure you know what the latest promtions at SunPoker are. Here are some of the current promotions that they run:

• $300k WSOP Mega Freeroll. This takes place on the 17th May 2008 at (insert aussie time). 12 seats are being offered to the WSOP main event. All you have to do is earn 2k MPP in a week to get yourself into the Weekly final. The Weekly final gets you entry into the 300k Freeroll. 2k isn’t very many MPP at all for a regular player, this pretty much means that you get a free crack at going to the WSOP.
• The Fearsome Foursome. This is made up by players qualifying in SunPoker tournaments from now up until June 2008. 3 players will qualify to the SunPoker pro Alex Jagodik who will captain the team. You can go to EPT events as well as the Aussie Millions!
• Bad Beat Jackpot. Never drops below $2500 and increases by $150 every night at midnight EST. You need a hand of quad jacks or better to be beaten to qualify and you must use both hole cards in both winning and losing hands. 50% for the losing hand, 25% for winning hand and 25% combined for active players in the hand.

Tournaments: 4/10

SunPoker offers very little in terms of major tournaments. It has a limited schedule of low buy-in tournaments that don’t get a great deal of entrants. A large portion of tournaments get less than 50 entries and there isn’t a lot of opportunity for big cashes. The Sunday £40000 Gtd tourney is nice and has soft competition. You can usually find a satellite to play in to win entry to this tourney and the satellites are extremely soft. You can’t unregister for the event if you qualify by satellite. I don’t like this at all and it is a Cryptologic wide rule.

Overall the tournaments available are not great, there are some nice tourneys but they are not regular enough. When I play, I play them to break up the monotony of the cash tables and they can provide a change of scenery. When the site gets more traffic, you will see a dramatic increase in tourneys available, but until then I am hanging out on the cash tables.

Traffic: 5/10

The traffic is not great at SunPoker. You can play a couple of cash games at once during most times at the medium stakes. During off peak times you can struggle for a game, but you will find that the plays are especially soft during these times. The tourney traffic is very low and quite disappointing. You can get a decent tourney from time to time but I wouldn’t hold you breath unless you play in one of their big promotional tournamnents. These attract a lot of traffic and exciting to play in. SunPoker is currently in 16th place in for traffic according to PokerScout.com. The traffic is increasing but for now, the cash games are the best place to play on SunPoker.

• Hold Em
• Omaha
• Stud
• Razz
• Horse

Bonuses: 8/10

SunPoker is ahead of most when it comes to current bonuses. At the moment they are currently offering a no deposit $500 bonus for new players. This means that if you win money through promotions on the website you can start earning MPPs to unlock the bonus. Although, it is much easier to just make a deposit, so you can play the limits you want and that will unlock the $500. They are also offering a no deposit $200 bonus where you have to earn less MPP to unlock the money. You don’t have to enter in any bonus codes to claim the bonus. To unlock the $500 bonus you must earn 5k MPP and to unlock the $200 bonus you must earn 1600 MPP. These bonuses are up there with the best in the industry because if you are a +EV player, you can deposit whatever amount you want and easily unlock the bonus. You aren’t forced to make a deposit that you don’t want and you have the luxury of attacking it whatever way you want.

• Download Now
• Go to Site

SunPoker also offers a 25k monthly leaderboard for the top 500 MPP earners, 400 tournament players and 100 Headhunter players. This Freeroll takes place on the 1st Saturday of the month at 1am AEST. To get more details on the bonus, check out their website.

Fish: 7.5/10

The level of competition at SunPoker is weak and passive. If you are an aggressive player you can take down a lot of pots with little resistance. They make it obvious when they have a solid hand and you can make an easy lay down. The way that I describe the fish level at SunPoker is that they know enough to not be wild and loose, but they don’t know enough to play more than one way. They will make the same plays over and over again, and pretty much always you can be spot on to what they are trying to do. If you pick out the fish, target them and be aggressive you will be well on your way to extracting sums of cash. I love how they make it so obvious and you can choose easily when you want to get involved with them.

Customer Support: 9.5/10

Customer support at SunPoker is what they really pride themselves on. In my opinion there is no better customer service in the industry and you will always find a quick and helpful response from the customer support team. Because they aren’t a major corporation, they make a concerted effort to support you with whatever you need. The live chat support is excellent and they know what they are talking about. You will rarely need to write an email because live support are so well trained and switched on. If you do have to write an email to support, they will be quick, honest and spot on. You wont get an automated response, which takes days for a real answer to come. Someone will directly answer your question and you can be sure that it will solve any issue that you have.

I proudly recommend the customer service at SunPoker and congratulate them on what an excellent system they have in place. If you are looking for a room that works with you instead of against you then this is the place to be.