Sky Poker's Final Table Jackpot

Tikay10

I was chatting with Sir Sidney Suit the other day, & we got on to this. 

The Sky Poker Final Table Jackpot has been running for some years now, & it's a fun thing, now & then someone binks a nice bonus.

Maybe it's getting a bit tired now though, does not drive extra traffic to either MTT, & does not generate as much buzz as it used to.

Around 30% of players play both, but how many of that 30% are driven to do so by the Jackpot lure?

In the last year, it has paid out around £12,000. Strictly speaking, I very much doubt it's cost effective, but that's not really the point - it's really another Promo in Sky Poker's arsenal of little things that help make the site fun.
 
If they were to stop it, would it bother you muchly?

If you were Sir Sidney Suit, what would you replace it with? - what sort of fun-based promo would you suggest?

I have to add, before someone jumps on me - they are NOT looking to save the money they spend on it. That money comes from a huge Promo budget, that budget will not get smaller, & it all has to be spent on something.

So if the Sky Poker Jackpot were to be replaced, (at present, there are no plans to do so) what would you replace it with?  

Phantom66

Well firstly if you do stop it I would expect an outpouring of outrage.

Would it be justified though?

To counter the doubters you would need something that creates a better return for the promo cost (i.e more people playing games because of it) and is more popular with the punters.

I expect the current promo does drive some of the better players who regularly grace the Main and other big tourneys to reg the mini as well. I doubt it drives anyone the other way around?

You say you doubt it pays for itself? I say it probably does as is.. 

Say an average mini field is 500 (I am sure a better figure than that can be calculated but it must be "ball park")

Lets say 25% of those only enter because of the bonus (obviously the cap is 30% if that's the proportion who play both now)

Thats 125*£0.50 in rake per day

Which is £1875 per month. Seems the value proposition wise Skypoker are on a winner there?

Or put another way to break even you need 67 players a day (13% of the field) to be playing the mini just because of the bonus)

I'll leave it those who regularly play both to comment on their own reasons and what would be better as I am a very infrequent entrant for either. Generally if I am in a main I enter a mini too.

I assume however that the point of the post is to come up with a solution that will attract more than 67-125 players a day to play in an event they otherwise wouldn't?

Something that will stimulate interest/create a buzz of some sort?

I'll have a think on that.

Tikay10

^^^

It's not really about saving or making money though, or whether its profitable for the Business or not.
 
It was just a "chewing the cud" convo, which ended with "well I wonder if we could so something else that might be fun, & capture the imagination?".

Outpouring of outrage? Maybe, maybe not, We can cap the maximum number of people who might complain by looking at the numbers. Relative to the whole player base, it's not that many.
 
The idea of the thread was to stimulate discussion, & see if the players had any bright ideas. The Team who have to come up with the Sky Poker promos meet regularly, & are always keen to listen to new ideas. 

Pretty good that we can have these discussions on Sky Poker, too - can't say that about too many Online Poker Sites.    

Phantom66

In Response to Re: Sky Poker's Final Table Jackpot:

^^^ It's not really about saving or making money though, or whether its profitable for the Business or not.   It was just a "chewing the cud" convo, which ended with "well I wonder if we could so something else that might be fun, & capture the imagination?". Outpouring of outrage? Maybe, maybe not, We can cap the maximum number of people who might complain by looking at the numbers. Relative to the whole player base, it's not that many.   The idea of the thread was to stimulate discussion, & see if the players had any bright ideas. The Team who have to come up with the Sky Poker promos meet regularly, & are always keen to listen to new ideas.  Pretty good that we can have these discussions on Sky Poker, too - can't say that about too many Online Poker Sites.     
Posted by Tikay10

I was editing my post when you posted this.

1. Not saying I'd agree that it was outrageous - I just know how well received changes are around here :-)

2. +1 to the bolded bit

Phantom66

How about celeb/pro bounties as a regular thing?

e.g. Every Tuesday for the show (can join via skype dont have to be in studio) and maybe every sunday?

That would be x4mains x4minis per month £125 per tourney for the same outlay promotion budget wise. 

Doubt it would attract more to the main (unless we are talking A-lister) but the £125 bonus on a mini would I think add to the entries?

jordz16

I came up with an alternate idea the other week, what about a bingo card type promo, where every player has a card, lets say numbered 1-25, and for every time they finish in one of them positions in the main or mini they can check that number off, and then you can do a cash prize for the person who checks all the numbers off first, also maybe a smaller amount for just main finishes and just mini finishes to make it slightly more inclusive and then you can either restart the promo eachtime someone wins it or a certain number of people have completed their cards......  Im sure this idea is open to a lot of tweaks and improvements but its just an idea for now. 

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Sky Poker's Final Table Jackpot:

How about celeb/pro bounties as a regular thing? e.g. Every Tuesday for the show (can join via skype dont have to be in studio) and maybe every sunday? That would be x4mains x4minis per month £125 per tourney for the same outlay promotion budget wise.  Doubt it would attract more to the main (unless we are talking A-lister) but the £125 bonus on a mini would I think add to the entries?
Posted by Phantom66

They cannot overtly promote Sky Poker as such on Sky Sports.
 
It's OK to mention Sky Poker, & show Sky Poker tables, but your idea would count as a "call to action", & that would not be permitted.

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Sky Poker's Final Table Jackpot:

I came up with an alternate idea the other week, what about a bingo card type promo, where every player has a card, lets say numbered 1-25, and for every time they finish in one of them positions in the main or mini they can check that number off, and then you can do a cash prize for the person who checks all the numbers off first, also maybe a smaller amount for just main finishes and just mini finishes to make it slightly more inclusive and then you can either restart the promo eachtime someone wins it or a certain number of people have completed their cards......  Im sure this idea is open to a lot of tweaks and improvements but its just an idea for now. 
Posted by jordz16

I don't know what Admin hassles that might cause, or how they would measure monetisation, but I really like that idea, or the bare bones of it.

I should add that my views don't count for a thing, & probably just as well.

I'm just the bloke sent out with a fishing rod, to see if I can catch anything.

Sky_Dan

In Response to Re: Sky Poker's Final Table Jackpot:

I came up with an alternate idea the other week, what about a bingo card type promo, where every player has a card, lets say numbered 1-25, and for every time they finish in one of them positions in the main or mini they can check that number off, and then you can do a cash prize for the person who checks all the numbers off first, also maybe a smaller amount for just main finishes and just mini finishes to make it slightly more inclusive and then you can either restart the promo eachtime someone wins it or a certain number of people have completed their cards......  Im sure this idea is open to a lot of tweaks and improvements but its just an idea for now. 
Posted by jordz16

Quite a cool idea that.

aussie09

my thoughts are...


arguing against the jackpot

players of the main are enticed to play the mini, very few mini players are enticed to play the main.

typically, 30% of the main field are in the mini, say 100 players.

however, the number of players enticed to play the mini in their quest to win the jackpot is a small proportion of these 100 players, say 30. 

jackpot payouts are £12k per year.  this is £35 a day.  this gives a breakeven of 70 players paying the mini registration fee. 


arguing for the jackpot

errmmm....

it was a great idea, think that was down to MAXALLY.

it had its place alongside the TV shows but we know they have all gone except  Tuesday's Cash show.

there is an interesting fact that i see in the figures.  on wednesday, both main and mini are rebuys, the number and percentage of players buying into both is noticeably higher.  there is a working incentive offered by the jackpot to buy-in to the other event, probably because so many are still in with a chance at the close of late registration. 

i suggested last year that the late registration times for the main and mini should coincide.  it would help a little.


Alternative

i think that it would be bad news to remove this funding for MTT players and instead top up the money going to cash players, or high volume rake players.

the funds could be used in a far better way.  there are so many opportunities for us here.



.

DustoLucko

I find the current system highly motivational, both in terms of a drive to play both mini and main, and as a reason to push for higher priority level.

MAXALLY

^^^ Some good points there Rob. FTR, I came up with the original idea of having a Main/Mini event each night. Sky Poker introduced the Jackpot promotion some time after.

MAXALLY

Not skill based, so not sure how this would be received. 

Random lucky draws

For every player who plays in the nightly Main or Mini or Both. 3 draws per day from the previous night's games. Prizes can be tokens into other Mains or simply cash prizes. The biggest/Star prize (e.g Roller seat) going to the winner of the draw who plays both games.

Sir-Gary

Yes it is a bit tired now, I think the demise of 861 did not help, as half the fun was seeing if someone was still in with a chance and follwing Aussies posts on it. That is history now and maybe a promo suiting what we have now might be better. As has been mentioned I also doubt the final table jackpot got anyone who was playing the mini to play the major, so to encourage people to play both and generate interest and so we have a winner every night we could have a rolling jackpot. It works like this An initial seed jackpot is provided say £1,000 and every night £500 is added to the prize fund. Points are awarded where you finish e.g. 25 points for first, 20 for second !8 for 3rd, then reducing by 1 till 10 points then in blocks so the 30th gets 1 point. The player with most points (shared if a tie) gets a percentage of the jackpot based on their points, so winning both is 50 points, so that is 50% of the jackpot, If 1st and 30th that is 26% of the jackpot. This way the jackpot goes up and down and generates interest. I think my figures need looking at :-)

aussie09

how about incentivising people to play more MTTs in the evening? 

anyone who wins three tournaments (games with a guarantee of £500 or more) win £1,000 or winning four is £5,000. 

it will be the same annual spend from the budget.  however, the "cross-sell" will provide £100 of added registration fees per day, above the breakeven.






 

bearlyther

Heres my thoughts 1st i would love to see the jackpot stay i think its a great promotion and 1 that is unique to sky poker.

If the jackpot were to leave i think a lot of people wouldnt enter the mini as they play it for the chance of the jackpot.  So i think the buyin for the mini could be doubled so that people will still play the mini.  For example main is £33 mini could now be £11 so still 1/3rd of the entry of the main.  Then on Sunday main is £110 mini could now be £22 instead of the £11 it is currently.

Hopefully the jackpot can stay but if not this might give incentive for players to still enter the mini.

devil_tear

In Response to Re: Sky Poker's Final Table Jackpot:

how about incentivising people to play more MTTs in the evening?  anyone who wins three tournaments (games with a guarantee of £500 or more) win £1,000 or winning four is £5,000.  it will be the same annual spend from the budget.  however, the "cross-sell" will provide £100 of added registration fees per day, above the breakeven.  
Posted by aussie09

I think this is a great idea, and would definately incentivise me to play as many tourneys as possible.

With regards to the mini i'm the category of playing it just for the lure and prestige of winning the jackpot. So if Aussie's idea did go ahead i'd be happy to still play it, along with others that i dont play.

wynne1938

Bring back the Main Event on Sky Tv
We used to get 500+ players when this was televised!
That was the difference between Sky and other sites,that was the attraction.

CraigSG1

How about a Main and Mini FR each week? 

All you have to do is play a Main and Mini together and you gain entry. Should be a relatively small field so a good chance of extra money.

As an extra incentive, the more Main and Mini's you play together the larger your starting stack. 

An example:

Once; 1000 chips.

Twice; 2000 chips.

Three; 3500 chips.

Four+; 5000 chips.

hhyftrftdr

The anti final table jackpot.

Come last in both the main and mini and you owe Sky 5 grand.

mrsduck

I like all these ideas* and I like the jackpot too ~ whenver I play the main (not often) I always play the mini too because of the jackpot

*edit
(except huftys!)