Overview: Part of the British Sky Broadcasting Group, which also controls Sky Television, Sky Poker was launched in 2007 as part of a comprehensive online gambling range. Can confidently claim to be one of the UK’s leading online poker rooms thanks to its widespread brand recognition, accessible software features and cash incentives.

The Competition: Competition on the Sky Poker site is notoriously soft and the traffic is usually fairly light (players may have to wait some time for their table to fill up). The site is a notable target for inexperienced players; seasoned players will discover easily beatable opposition. The £10/£20 games appear to be the highest stakes that consistently get regular action, and there’s always a fair level of volume at the lower stakes games. Recent record show just under two thousand players at peak hours. Players residing in the US and Canada must note that they are restricted from betting on the site.

Cash Games: Limited to Texas Hold’em and Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo.

Promotions: New players can avail of £10 free credit to spend when joining and 200% match for their first deposit. The Sky Poker Rewards Loyalty Scheme bestows Priority Status upon players who earn 10,000 Poker Points or more (providing access to promotions, special offers and competitions). The Super 6 League rewards £100 to the top league player at the end of each month.  The Cash for Points scheme now enables players to get cash for every point they earn, once they start earning over 500 points.

Tournaments: Sky Poker Sunday Super Roller tournament comes with an attractive guaranteed prize pool of £15,000. Their Bounty Hunter £8,000 prize runs Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Other weekday specials include the Tuesday Turbo Open (with a prizepool of £4k) and Wednesday Rebuy Open (with a slightly more generous £6k prizepool)

Software: Software on Sky Poker is generally judged by most users to be easy to navigate and quick to install. It comes with multi-language and  multi-currency options, high graphic quality and a well-designed poker lobby – in which players can choose their own 3D avatar to represent them at a table. The unique feature of the “hot-o-meter” helps less experienced players to decide if their cards are with playing. Players can also take advantage of the opportunity to appear (however briefly) on TV, with Sky Poker’s option to replay poker hands on their online TV channel.

Banking: Sky Poker deposits are not charged and funds are available immediately once cleared by the customer’s bank. Withdrawals to debit or credit cards take the standard 2 to 5 bank working days to process, with the minimum withdrawal amount being £10. There’s no restriction on the amount players can withdraw per day. Banking option are varied, with a choice of MasterCard, Visa, Visa Electron, Maestro, Visa Debit, Lazer, Neteller, Moneybookers (Skrill), and PayPal.

Customer Service: Sky Poker customer service is contactable online, by email and by phone. They have a broad and comprehensive complaints procedure on their site, which is available 24/7, all year long.

Why Join?: Sky Poker, thanks to its parent company British Sky Broadcasting, has a trustworthy and widely recognisable brand. The poker site is just as popular and enjoyable as the Sky Vegas casino, and had enough unique features to attract both novice and experienced players – including the ‘no download’ software option, the Sky Poker Ambassador, Neil Channing (whereby players can pick up helpful strategy tips from his blog ‘Channing Chips In’) and the exciting chance to appear on Sky Poker TV (albeit, on their online channel).