Sun Poker

Once a mainstay of the Cryptologic network, Sun Poker's transition to the thriving iPoker network has allowed its poker room to flourish. Despite its previous reputation as a consistent, but low-end competitor to the other high-appeal online poker rooms, Sun Poker now boasts a much-improved poker package that is sure to impress many players.

Moving to the iPoker network has payed major dividends to the poker site, including the contribution of a ton of new traffic. Also, the move has greatly improved the actual software. Now with a much sleeker, smoother and more attractive graphical interface (albeit trite in comparison to iPoker's comparable platforms) it certainly slides Sun Poker closer to its competition in terms of aesthetic appeal.

While Sun Poker was once a small fish in a very large pond, it's now all grown up and is able to swim around and compete for its share of the poker market.

Sun Poker's graphical interface was once a major concern for most of its consumers. Now however, the platform has been pleasantly upgraded, with avatars and interactivity that easily meets the industry standard. Although still being a bit dated, across many of the poker sites designated to the iPoker network, the use of 3D graphics seems to be enhancing many user's poker experience.

A bevy of options are available from the Sun Poker home screen, usually displayed through the use of a tabular interface. Most of the usual options are available from the main menu, including the options of taking a Quick Seat at a table, choosing from your favorite poker seats, or selecting one of your favorite casino games to play while you're on the waiting list. As usual, you're also able to choose from one of the various poker varieties and take a view at some of the specifics of a table before you choose to sit down, if you're a bit more keen on game selection.

The Sun Poker software grabs the user's attention with its heavy use of video, and those who are new to the site can take advantage of the program's unique video tutorials and introductions on various aspects of gameplay and interaction. Although the software's size comes in at an average 7 MB, it still packs a punch when it comes to displaying designs with flawless speed. Even though the site doesn't have a flash or mobile version, it still provides adequate content for its users. Each action at the Sun Poker is processed without much delay, so there's no need to worry about lag, unless your computer could use an upgrade.

While many of the latest poker sites boast email support, the customer service department at Sun Poker went the extra mile to provide all of their users with specific email addresses to handle any of their individual needs. Using five separate email accounts that address VIP issues, player concerns, general support, feedback and document verifications, you should be able to find a support address that can handle your specific needs. Their email support staff is available 24 hours a day, and often times provides the greatest level of detail when it comes to addressing your issues.

If you're more inclined to use the telephone, Sun Poker offers multiple phone lines as well that are very accommodating in terms of availability. Cashier, technical, and fax support are all available 24/7, and if you're interested in live support, that also can be found between the times of 12PM to 2AM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). All of the telephone services have multiple lines for UK, international, and North American customers as well.

The competition on Sun Poker has certainly improved due to their acquisition of one of the biggest poker networks in the world. With impressive traffic statistics week in and week out, you can be certain to find a good mix of bad players and professionals. Dependent upon the stakes, you might be hard-pressed to find a significant edge. But as always, the digger you deep, the more likely you'll stumble upon a feeding frenzy of fish at the virtual felt.

Sun Poker offers the poker varieties of Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, and 5 Card Stud. Although not quite ahead of the curve in terms of options, it's great that all of the usual suspects are readily available. Despite having a reasonable variety, many players today are focused on the game of Texas Hold'Em. During peak hours, nearly half of their clientele can be found in that area.

Sun Poker has an array of tournaments available around the clock, including all of the industry standards such as daily tournaments, freerolls, and major satellites. Sun Poker offers their own special tournament events as well, which includes monthly guarantees, $200K and $400K weekend guarantees, along with jackpot tournaments. There are many different smaller criteria to select from, such as turbos, short-handed, deep-stacked, and freezeout styles. They also offer an interesting $1,000 guaranteed first depositor tournament, in which during the month of your first deposit, you're automatically entered into the guarantee. Sun Poker even offers to double your prize in that tournament, if you manage to win, and also accumulate over 20,000 poker points before you've entered.

Freerolls are very similar in comparison to many other poker platforms across the industry. What's very unique however, is that Sun Poker offers an interesting Bubble Bust Out Freeroll. At any time during the previous month prior to the upcoming freeroll, if you ever bust out directly on the bubble in a tournament (one place before the money) you're eligible to register for their Bubble Bust Out $1,000 Freeroll. These are held on the first Wednesday of every month. Although the fields are often quite big for the freeroll, it does provide players with a little solace for their close finishes.

What helps make Sun Poker distinct is their ability to allow players to play in different currencies. Whether you prefer to play in Euros, Pounds, or USD, all of those options are available.

Sun Poker has stakes that range from the lowest micros, up to the nosebleed games that can reach as high as $100/$200 blinds. Their limit games go up to the $300/$600 level. If you're a die hard sit-and-go addict, you can also participate in their high stakes $5000 buy-in games.

Recently, Sun Poker has renovated their loyalty and VIP point program. Their program is now called "SHINE", and allows players to accumulate points based upon their level and length of play in cash games. In comparison to their previous point system, Sun Poker has allegedly increased player earnings by over 200%.

The point system works by allowing players to gather points using their cash game play. There are specific point levels you can acquire, and once you reach that level, you reap the benefits of that package for the current month, along with the following month. Unfortunately, your point balances don't carry over, so if you've earned 5,000 points in one month and you're next point level is 10,000, you would need to accumulate the new amount all in the next month.

Sun Poker also allows you to cash in your points for cash back. Per 1,000 points you cash in, you're given $1.00. Even if you decide to cash in your points, this doesn't affect your loyalty level for the month. So if you've earned 4,000 points in the month, regardless if you've cashed them in, they'll still be allotted to your desired point level.

You earn a certain amount of points during play, based on the amount of rake at the table.

Concerning bonuses, Sun Poker only has a first deposit bonus of 100%, up to $500.

Sun Poker has several different options for the withdrawal and deposit of funds. They offer MasterCard, Visa, Neteller, WebMoney, Moneybookers, UKash, Click2Pay, bank transfer and many others.

You can withdraw your winning by using FirePay, Neteller, Citadel, electronic check, and regular check.