39 replies
I am a little curious about this site, not because they show some live action on tv, but because it has gone under my radar for so long. Is sky poker part of a network?. Whats the storyo with rakeback, and signup affiliates? Whats the traffic like? I read the software is terrible. Is it only open to uk?
Bump - Just wondering what others think of Sky's switch to Ipoker and how it's going so far
Lol, I thought this site died over a decade ago but now I know it is still around with Ipoker I wish it had died given it is just another site with no chat and **** all in terms of value.
by MarkDavis m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59000147#post59000147)
Lol, I thought this site died over a decade ago but now I know it is still around with Ipoker I wish it had died given it is just another site with no chat and **** all in terms of value.
Sky Poker’s actually still been very profitable for me over the years. It felt like the last deck of the Titanic. I would often be at tables with more fish then regs, though things noticeably dried up over the past year or so. Since the switch, nearly every tournament has been massively overlaying . The Friday £4,000 GTD £100 buy-in only got around 18 runners yesterday, and it’s the same in nearly every tourney. They must be bleeding money....probably losing £10k+ a day in overlays on top of the £3k daily freeroll. I wouldn’t be surprised if they slash the guarantees in half any day now.
What has happened this evening, the £40 daily almost always overlays and yet today it 191 runners with still 45 mins left
by DSA Stephen m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59052119#post59052119)
What has happened this evening, the £40 daily almost always overlays and yet today it 191 runners with still 45 mins left
Free tickets.
I really enjoyed playing the low stakes cash games on the old Sky site (Zed87). The new site, despite better software, can never be as good without the chat function. Nothing finnier than the usual suspects venting their anger in the chat!
RIP
£60-£70k livelihoods down the pan for a few. Anyone know what happened to natnug, loololol etc where they went?
Just me or today's update doesn't seem great? The exclusive tab is gone? All the sky tournies now mixed in with the bazillion ipoker ones?
by Top Pig m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59122202#post59122202)
£60-£70k livelihoods down the pan for a few. Anyone know what happened to natnug, loololol etc where they went?
lol I had those two tagged as fish before I looked them up on SS. loololol was the biggest luckbox I ever saw. by andy87 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59144496#post59144496)
Just me or today's update doesn't seem great? The exclusive tab is gone? All the sky tournies now mixed in with the bazillion ipoker ones?
It's awful. Looks as if yesterday's Sunday Major will be the last Sky Exclusive tournament on iPoker, can't seem to find the usual games anywhere.
Is there anywhere now where this is some kind of sky poker community? It sucks there is no chat feature on Ipoker or no official sky poker forum. Im playing 4-6 tables (if they're available) and all tables have the same 3 or 4 players on each. Would be nice to actually get to know these people since I am playing thousands of hands with them each month.
by JammThis m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59144531#post59144531)
It's awful. Looks as if yesterday's Sunday Major will be the last Sky Exclusive tournament on iPoker, can't seem to find the usual games anywhere.
Its so trash; lame they stopped the tournaments and the exclusive tab is gone; can anyone see where you exchange cash points for cash cant find it anywhere
by Ricky_KmP m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59145413#post59145413)
Is there anywhere now where this is some kind of sky poker community? It sucks there is no chat feature on Ipoker or no official sky poker forum. Im playing 4-6 tables (if they're available) and all tables have the same 3 or 4 players on each. Would be nice to actually get to know these people since I am playing thousands of hands with them each month.
Create a discord I would join
by DSA Stephen m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59147045#post59147045)
Its so trash; lame they stopped the tournaments and the exclusive tab is gone; can anyone see where you exchange cash points for cash cant find it anywhere
I was wrong, the Sky exclusives are still running, just hard to find. If you just filter by start time you will find them. But definitely not a great UI.
Anyone still playing on here? It looks like there have been a few UI updates which make it easier to find the Sky exclusives - definitely from a desktop / laptop anyway.
by Top Pig m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59122202#post59122202)
£60-£70k livelihoods down the pan for a few. Anyone know what happened to natnug, loololol etc where they went?
natnug and loololollo will be gutted. They'll struggle to get those run outs ever again.
Am I right in assuming players on Ipoker with Sky have to have Sky at end of SN? Anyone know why some players have 9 digit numbered SNs beginning with 5 or have the word fourth or fifth followed by three numbers in their SNs?
If Causality is on this forum, I’d appreciate it if you could message me. I’m EZGME on Sky, and we played a lot of short-handed games together. We were often involved in some great hands, and I’d love to review a few of them with you.
Is anyone who plays on Sky NL50 tables on this forum? Be good to put a personality behind the people taking my money 🤣🤣 My user name is KmPuppy. I recognise EZGME. I'm gonna guess you've moved up now? Haven't seen you at the NL50 tables for a while
Seeing these fishregs who used to play on Sky and are now in the IPoker SNGs makes me even more sad I never was able to play there when Sky was it's own Site 😃 Guys who were beating these games on the Sky-site and being absolutely lost causes in DoNs (despite having played tens of thousands of games in that Format they have yet to run a single hand in any ICM Tool) makes me understand why people talk about crushed livelihoods since Sky moved to IPoker If these people made any money on the old sky site it must've been what people talk Poker was like in 2006
Why couldn't you play when it was its own site? I pulled in five figures from DoNs, and 'fishregs' is being generous. Most regs were just bleeding money chasing rakeback. They never mixed tendencies so predicting the next move of at least two players meant every table was substantial +EV.
Did any1 ever create a discord?
Unofficial Sky Poker discord. Been going for years.
https://discord.gg/zuhApgBJ Discord Join the S.P.P.C. Discord Server! (https://discord.gg/zuhApgBJ)
Just curious - does Skypoker as IPoker skin pay a different/more generous Rakeback model than other skins? Several Skypoker-Skin "SNG Grinders" (can be seen by them having Games in GBP currency on Sharkscope as well) getting slapped by up to Minus 5% ROI pre Rakeback in the DoNs (rightfully) over big samples, and they just keep going, makes me wonder is there extra incentive? Or do they just enjoy the process? 😃
Does sky (on the ipoker network) have any closed off cashgames for those just on the sky skin, or is it all absorbed into the ipoker player pool?
Yes kinda, The UK & Ireland tab isn't the whole iPoker network. I know the Grosvenor app also does. Not sure which others, but you won't be playing with the rest of the world in those games. They are 10x softer.
by ConwayTwitty m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59277225#post59277225)
Unofficial Sky Poker discord. Been going for years.
https://discord.gg/zuhApgBJ Discord Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games (https://discord.gg/zuhApgBJ)
Hey, could someone send me an updated link for this please I've been playing on site for past few months from 10NL upto 200NL
Also don't know if anyone has noticed but it looks like Skypoker might be getting absorbed by PokerStars and the geo-fencing removed with just a global pool. Personally I think this is awful.
by Ricky_KmP m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59219212#post59219212)
Is anyone who plays on Sky NL50 tables on this forum Be good to put a personality behind the people taking my money My user name is KmPuppy. I recognise EZGME. I'm gonna guess you've moved up now Haven't seen you at the NL50 tables for a while
Yes I've seen you at the tables. 😀. I have been playing past couple months.
Harabec here... Once that UK&Ire ecology is gone, its gone forever, a few of the nitty lot are going to get a shock in the Stars pool when they can't sit back and play their 17/12 in a 6max game and expect to get paid 100BB for simply existing in a hand. Personally I think it's terrible, if people wanted PokerStars, they would be playing there already, they chose sky specifically for its qualities, or lack thereof...
by Mabsk m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59406711#post59406711)
Also don't know if anyone has noticed but it looks like Skypoker might be getting absorbed by PokerStars and the geo-fencing removed with just a global pool. Personally I think this is awful.
Is Pokerstars taking over the whole of UK ipoker I understand stars is going to Betfair, but I had no idea that Sky would be involved. :(
by RedHot m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59406821#post59406821)
by Mabsk m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59406711#post59406711)
Also don't know if anyone has noticed but it looks like Skypoker might be getting absorbed by PokerStars and the geo-fencing removed with just a global pool. Personally I think this is awful.
Is Pokerstars taking over the whole of UK ipoker I understand stars is going to Betfair, but I had no idea that Sky would be involved. :(
As I understand it, not the whole of UK iPoker, only sites owned by Flutter, the issue is Sky being moved onto the PokerStars network as well. The part that worries me is the ecology. Sky being fenced is basically the entire reason the games are what they are. You have the same small pool of regs, but more importantly a constant stream of very weak recreational players feeding into those UK&Ire tables. Remove the fence and that ecology gets ****ed. The fish get dispersed into a much bigger pool, the Sky regs either follow them onto Stars or disappear elsewhere, and whatever is left on UK iPoker risks becoming a handful of regs just passing blinds around and paying rake. "More liquidity" sounds great in a press release, but for cash games it can be the exact opposite of what you want if the existing small pool is unusually soft. And once that fenced ecology is gone, it's gone. You can't recreate it afterwards. If you want to play those games, you would have to play via Grosvenor I think, but they may very well be dead after the Sky migration as they are the bulk of the playerbase. Personally it's a bit of a tragedy, I got in to that 10NL game a few months ago and it's been absolutely amazing. Softest game I have ever played. So yes, this is going to hurt my bottom line... I have no idea why Flutter are dealing with a demand side issue by increasing the supply...it's backwards.
I agree its very frustrating. I play low stakes MTTS. I had another account with Pokerstars so this will just take away good opportunities and I doubt there is any upside. Poker is fun but its getting less appealing from a money-making point of view for a casual player like me!
by RedHot m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59408201#post59408201)
I agree its very frustrating. I play low stakes MTTS. I had another account with Pokerstars so this will just take away good opportunities and I doubt there is any upside. Poker is fun but its getting less appealing from a money-making point of view for a casual player like me!
That's the point, if you wanted Stars, you would play on Stars - pulling these players in to a pool they choose not to play will see them lose those players to less hostile environments. Sky built up its ecology and playerbase over years, its about to get destroyed forever. That's incredibly sad
Exactly right. I've taken the opportunity to set up an account on Grosvenor - so I can built up my VIP level. I will move properly as a protest once they confirm it. by Harabec m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59406851#post59406851)
by RedHot m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59406821#post59406821)
by Mabsk m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59406711#post59406711)
Also don't know if anyone has noticed but it looks like Skypoker might be getting absorbed by PokerStars and the geo-fencing removed with just a global pool. Personally I think this is awful.
Is Pokerstars taking over the whole of UK ipoker I understand stars is going to Betfair, but I had no idea that Sky would be involved. :(
As I understand it, not the whole of UK iPoker,... See full post
If you all would like to keep the geo-fenced games I would strongly suggest you give your feedback via the Skypoker support chat. The below is the response I received to my feedback: "We're sorry to hear that you would consider leaving Sky Poker if any move to the PokerStars platform were to go ahead. We understand that the playing environment, player pool, and the availability of UK-focused or geo-fenced games are important factors for many players. At this stage, we're unable to comment on speculation or unconfirmed future platform changes. However, your concerns have been noted, particularly around the potential impact of a wider player pool and your preference for UK-only games. We value your loyalty and feedback, and we will ensure your comments are passed on to the relevant teams for consideration as part of any future planning. If any changes are confirmed, customers will be contacted directly with clear information about what is changing, when it will happen, and what it means for their account and playing experience."
by Mabsk m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59408723#post59408723)
If you all would like to keep the geo-fenced games I would strongly suggest you give your feedback via the Skypoker support chat. The below is the response I received to my feedback:"We're sorry to hear that you would consider leaving Sky Poker if any move to the PokerStars platform were to go ahead. We understand that the playing environment, player pool, and the availability... See full post
Go after the execs on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-woodbridge-8866bb58/ Far better targets than the lowly support staff who have no say.
So last night I decided to jump into the PokerStars pool and see what it was like in preparation for the migration. I played some 10NL regular tables - basically my usual game. Yeah. It's a $10 shark tank. PokerStars have absolutely wrecked the ecology for recreational cash players, and there are probably several reasons for it. The biggest one is Seat Me. You can no longer simply choose a good table with a 40% VPIP fish on it. You get placed into a game, and at 10NL+ there are penalties for repeatedly leaving before playing 10 hands. That has some pretty ugly consequences. Regs are now forced into reg-on-reg wars that they would historically have avoided. That means constant escalation over increasingly small edges: fewer cheap flops, more 3-bet and 4-bet pots, wider preflop ranges and much higher variance. You might think wider ranges are great because people are making more mistakes. They are - but that isn't the whole story. When you remove game selection, the ecology starts selecting for survivors. The mediocre regs get crushed or leave. The better regs adapt, become more aggressive and get better at extracting from each other. Eventually you're left with a heavily reg-dense pool where something like a 30/25 profile with a 10-12% 3-bet doesn't even look particularly unusual. Any genuine recreational player dropped into that environment is going to have an awful experience. They're going to get 3-bet, 4-bet, pushed into huge pots and eaten alive very quickly. It took me about two buy-ins to understand what I was actually looking at. For the first 20 minutes I was asking: Where are the fish Then I noticed something else. Where are the TAGs And then it clicked. This is what a poker ecology looks like when the recreational funnel is broken and the surviving population has been selected through years of reg-on-reg competition. Historically, if five regs were sitting at a terrible table, the table could simply die. Nobody wanted to play it. That was the kill switch. Now PokerStars effectively keeps those games alive. Players are placed into them, game selection is removed, and leaving quickly is discouraged. So the reg war continues. That may generate rake in the short term, but it creates a horrible long-term feedback loop: fewer recreational players more reg-on-reg action weaker regs disappear surviving regs get stronger the pool becomes even more hostile new recreational players get destroyed faster even fewer recreational players remain. And this is happening at 10NL. A ten-dollar game. That should be the bottom of the funnel. Instead, it feels like a ****ing shark tank. Throwing Betfair, Sky Poker and Paddy Power players into that ecosystem isn't necessarily fixing liquidity. If the underlying game remains the same, it risks becoming little more than feeding time for the shark tank: a temporary influx of fresh players, followed by the same process all over again. PokerStars' own language around the migration talks about creating "healthier games." Well, they clearly know there's a problem. But if they genuinely want healthier cash games, I don't see how they get there without taking a hit somewhere - whether that means reducing rake, restoring meaningful game selection, or otherwise changing the incentives that keep reg-heavy games permanently running. Simply pushing more players into the existing pool solves the supply problem. It doesn't solve the demand problem: Will those players actually want to stay Based on the 10NL experience I had last night, I wouldn't. PokerStars cash currently feels like a $10 shark tank attached to a famous logo.
So is sky poker poker stars now?