Sky Poker is privately owned by the British company Sky Broadcasting and offers players the rare opportunity to see their hands highlighted and replayed on Sky Poker TV across the UK.
That incentive alone is enough to bring the punters in from Sky Vegas, Sky Bingo and Sky Bet, the action at the tables is some of the softest online.
Originally offered as a web client only, a download client is now available and both clients are sleek and good-looking, easy to use and offer some great innovative functions.
Maybe the most unique feature of SkyPoker.com though is the chance to have one of your hands highlighted and replayed on TV through Sky's unique software.
Live tournaments and cash games can also be watched on the Sky Poker network (channel 885) and Sky Poker has also started its own live tournament series around the UK (the SPT).
As with most poker sites, action at Sky Poker is mostly in small-stakes Texas Hold’em, although Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo are now offered and gaining ground.
Games at the high-stakes are somewhat rare but they do run all the way up to £100/£200, at least as listed in the lobby.
The £10/£20 games seem to be the highest stakes that get regular action. Otherwise there's very good game volume at the lower stakes and very weak and easily beatable opposition.
Sky Poker also offers players a revolving and very decent array of bonuses and promotions along with an active community for players with forums and blogs. A recently re-vamped Cash for Points scheme now enables players to get cash for EVERY point they earn (over 500 points), rather than having to reach various points tiers. Players can check out Happy Hours, where Sky Poker awards bonus poker points on cash tables.
Promotions Summary
Sky Poker offers some very nice promotions overall. Among the promotions offered are a massive £1000 Welcome Bonus, a £10 free tournament token, regular guaranteed tournaments and a player points program.
New players get 500 player points automatically when they sign-up and you earn points for every hand you're involved in at a cash table, tournament or sit-and-go.
New players are also invited to play in a £1000 Welcome freeroll. One-off promotions like the "Play the Nation" challenge also come up frequently.
Loyalty Bonus
For Sky Poker's loyalty program, players earn points for real-money play in cash games, tournamnets or SNGs.
Points earned can be used as buy-ins for any of the many points freerolls offered and depending on your VIP level can also get you cash back.
Sky Poker offers all new players 500 points as a welcome bonus, enabling you to start playing freerolls right away.
TOURNAMENTS AND FREEROLLS
Tournament Traffic
Real-money player statistics at Sky Poker show 3154 real-money tournament players at peak hours, as of November 2014.
Tournaments
Sky Poker hosts quite a few tournaments. Most of the tournaments have buy-ins ranging from £10-£20.
The tournaments are well populated and have a very aggressive blind structure, something that some players do not like. Sky Poker runs a lot of small-to-medium guaranteed tournaments that offer good value.
The weekly £12,000 and daily £5,500 tournaments draw large numbers - both because of the prize pool and the fact they are aired live on Sky TV.
Also newly introduced are timed tournaments, which run like a regular multi-table tournament but with a set time limit of either 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour.
When the specified time limit expires, the prize money is awarded according to the finishing chip counts of each player.
