SunPoker folds; Carbon delays migration; PokerStars tops customer service study

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pokerstars-sunpokerWhile most of the online poker world’s attention was focused on the sometimes bumpy real-money relaunch of Full Tilt Poker, former iPoker skin SunPoker was shutting its doors after deciding it had no interest in being relegated to the ‘also ran’ bottom tier of the iPoker network liquidity split. A notice appeared on the SunPoker site on Monday saying the company was closing effective immediately, but “all player accounts have been moved to our flagship property OmniCasino.com” and “account data is 100% safe and secure. You can now login at Omni Casino with the same Username and Password to access your account and funds.” The statement said that ever since Playtech implemented the iPoker split in September, SunPoker “could no longer provide our valued members the poker experience they have come to know and enjoy.” The relegation to iPoker’s bottom tier has also been cited as justification for the closure of the Dracula Poker and Celeb Poker skins this summer.

Also on Tuesday, Playtech confirmed/bragged that the Betclic Everest Group had launched its Betclic and Everest poker operations on the iPoker network’s top tier, with French players joining the iPoker.fr network and players in other international markets finding themselves on iPoker.com. Betclic Everest players can also now avail themselves of Playtech’s casino offering, which Betclic Everest CEO Ignacio Martos said Everest would be “taking full advantage of in 2013.”

The integration of CarbonPoker with CarbonSports and the migration of the cashier to the one utilized by the Jazette family of sportsbooks – originally slated for Nov. 1, then delayed to Nov. 5 – has been delayed yet again. On Monday, company rep ‘CarbonRyan’ posted to the 2+2 forums that he had “just been advised that the cashier migration is being postponed. As soon as I have the updated timeframe for release, I will update this thread.” ‘CarbonChris’ subsequently posted that “No doubt things did not go smoothly with 6.0 software launch.”

Carbon placed somewhat poorly in the inaugural customer service benchmark conducted by Etruvian Consulting, an offshoot of affiliate PokerStrategy.com. Carbon’s customer support team received a score of 6.3 out of 10, placing it in 15th position out of 20 companies that Etruvian’s ‘mystery shopper’ put through its paces. Top of Etruvian’s list was PokerStars with an overall score of 8.8, followed by a tie between PartyPoker and PKR, which each scored 8.3. Revolution Gaming’s PokerWorld was fourth at 7.7 and Everest rounded out the top five with 7.6. For the rest of the scores as well as a detailed breakdown of Etruvian’s methodology, go here.