Sun Poker
Room Reviews
Top Links
Sun Poker
If you’re looking for a site with plenty of promotions and unique offerings to new members, you should head on over to Sun Poker. It’s one of the newest online poker sites to feature a Mac-friendly client called Instant Play, which launches right in your browser and allows you to play in most of the tournaments and cash games offered on Sun Poker in a few seconds’ time. With a generous bonus system and a rapidly growing number of guaranteed tournaments and a player-friendly bonus system, Sun Poker should be on your radar if you’re outside of the United States. If you’re a U.S. resident, unfortunately you’re out of luck, as Sun Poker does not host U.S. accounts.
It’s important to note that, at the time of writing, only Real Money games were offered on Instant Play, Sun Poker’s web-based client that you can use to play poker on your Mac.
Instant Play
Instant Play is your ticket into the virtual felts of Sun Poker. To access it, click on one of the Instant Play icons located at the top or right of the main Sun Poker home page. Instant Play isn’t even just for users of Mac; it’s advertised for Linux users as well as PC veterans who don’t want to download a new piece of software onto their personal or shared computers.
You don’t even have to log into Sun Poker to visit the main cash game and tournament lobbies. You’re prompted to log in only when you enter a tournament or cash game itself, which makes poking around Sun Poker very easy. The main landing spot for Instant Play is the Real Money hold’em lobby, one of four main tabs on the top of your screen. The others are “1 on 1” (or heads up, as you’ve probably heard it as), Sit and Go, and Tourneys. Here’s a shot of the main Sun Poker Instant Play lobby:
As I’m writing this, there are a little over 6,000 players online, meaning there is a ton of action to be had for players across Europe and across the world.
Depositing on Sun Poker
Before you fire up Sun Poker’s Instant Play tool, you’ll be prompted for active table stats to appear in dollars or pounds. The latter was rolled out in early 2008, making the process of cashing in and out for people who use the British Pound extremely simple. No more converting currencies or trying to multiply and divide by two. Just put your money in using British Pounds and you’re ready to play online poker. The site accepts Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Neteller, Citadel, Firepay, Click2Pay, and several forms of electronic transfers. Check Sun Poker’s cashier (look for the giant red “Cashier” button) to see what’s available to you. If you have any questions, pick up a phone and call 888-477-2239 or use Sun Poker’s Live Support.
Cash Game Information
You’ve launched Instant Play, made a deposit, and are ready to hit the tables. You’ll find a variety of high and low stakes action at Sun Poker. When I visited the site, the largest fixed limit game active (and full) was a $10/$20 game that had an average pot of just over $100. You can check out the players below and where they’re from. If you say down at this table, you’d potentially be facing three chips stacks of over $750!
There fixed and no limit hold’em games available along with heads up tables, sit and go tournaments, and regular multi-table tournaments. I like how the fixed limit tables are broken out into High, Medium, and Low stakes so you don’t have to scroll all the way down the lobby to find what you’re looking for like you do on other sites.
On the high end of no limit hold’em was a $200/$400 table. A heads up $25/$50 table was in progress with an average pot size of $375. The stakes go all the way down to a slew of $0.03/$0.06 tables. I can’t recall another poker room to feature that particular limit, but average pot sizes are around a dollar.
Sun Poker Tournaments
No limit hold’em is the name of the game at Sun Poker. Staring into the tournament lobby as I write this, there are 17 real money tournaments scheduled to kick off in the next hour, including several promotional $5,000 guarantee tournaments, a $2,000 guarantee tournament, and a $10 fixed limit hold’em event. Sun Poker offers $4 million in guarantees every single month, so you’re sure to find a tournament with a considerable overlay if you look hard enough.
There’s an extensive tournament schedule found on the site by clicking on “Tournaments.” You can download a four page .pdf file which outlines each of Sun Poker’s recurring tournaments, including times and guarantees.
If you click on any tournament in the main lobby, you’ll be hit with the tournament’s status (such as Registering, Running, or Finished), game type, buy-in, number of entrants, and blind level information. Here’s an example of a ₤1,500 Guarantee tournament with the potential for a nice little overlay. It starts in two minutes and has just 25 people (which means that the current prize pool is only ₤850):
Every tournament with a satellite system features a link called “Satellites to this tournament.” It’s an unique way to be able to see how you can win your way in to several of the major tournaments Sun Poker offers.
Sun Poker Promotions
₤40,000 Guarantee Tournament
This is the equivalent of an $80,000 Guarantee tournament at current exchange rates and kicks off every Sunday at 20:00 GMT. There’s a full satellite system in place as well if ₤40,000 is a bit out of your price range. You can check them out by selecting the ₤40,000 Guarantee in the lobby and then clicking on the “Satellites into this tournament” link right underneath the tournament’s information.
Live Tournament Promotions
Sun Poker is determined to send its players all over the world to live tournaments. Current promotions include sending players to the Caribbean Poker Classic, which is held on a cruise ship in the middle of one of the world’s tropical paradises. There’s a $10,000 package up for grabs. The Main Event of the CPC is a $2,700 buy-in tournament. Another promotion will send Sun Poker players to Casino Austria tournaments held in Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Bregenz. Prize packages for the European Poker Tour and World Series of Poker in Las Vegas are also available. The bottom line is that when you play on Sun Poker, you’re guaranteed a chance to win your way online into some of the biggest live poker tournaments on the planet.
New Member Promotions
Sun Poker offers new members ₤250 (or $500) bonuses for accumulating My Poker Points, or MPP’s. Based on your level of play and number of MPP’s accrued, you’ll find money deposited into your account. There’s also a ₤100 (or $200) monthly bonus available for existing players. Each month, the site also offers a promotional tournament for new members who earn 100 MPP’s within a month of registering. This month, the top 25 finishers in the freeroll for new members are entered into a tournament for a WSOP seat, so there’s a lot of value within reach just for becoming a new member.