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Poker Points Suggestions...

FishingPhiFishingPhi Member Posts: 73
edited November 2010 in Community Suggestions
I think most of us have got 1000's of these darn Poker Points floating in our accounts and the ONLY thing we can spend them on is freerolls which are satellites to other tournies.

As far as i can see, there is NOTHING else we can do with them, so i have a few suggestions that may or may not be useful:

1. Let us convert them to cash or Amazon vouchers or something useful! I know some sites have merchandise for sale but who REALLY wants a scarf or a cap with Sky Poker embossed all over it?
 
2. Give us more points based freerolls. And how about some cash prizes or maybe goods such as poker books or ipods?

3. Points only games. We could have a range of MTT, STT and Cash games for which the buy-in is 'x' number of points. Prizes would obviously be the points in play, which could then be traded in for cash/goods/whatever as mentioned above.

4. My personal favourite is that Sky do a one-off buy back of ALL points and then scrap the system, replacing it with reduced rake charges. This "cash for points" malarkey is just a complicated way of paying rakeback, so why not save all the extra work and discount it from the rake? The League seems fairly pointless because it is only an indication of who pays the most rake and not everybody has the time to play poker for 12hr a day. Granted, the "good" players will have high positions because they win more points but a *losing* player can get a higher ranking simply by playing a bigger volume of games.
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  • ACESOVER8sACESOVER8s Member Posts: 1,307
    edited February 2010

    Cash for points would not compare favourably to rake back offers that other sites give if it were to be converted so thats not going to happen. A merchandise store would be nice but has been suggested on numerous occasions with no good coming from it so i don't think we will see that either. Fact is due to the expense of the TV channel and the other ways in which Sky spend their marketing budget it just doesn't seem there is much room for movement on player loyalty schemes im afraid. They do spend the cash but it's just in other areas and if we want improment in one it has to come at the sacrifice of something we already have

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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited February 2010
    I sent a nice long Email to them a couple of weeks ago and still haven't had a reply even acknowledging they've seen it so I've kinda given up a bit now.

    Rich - I know you said the head honcho marketing guy had been away but that was over a week ago he was supposed to have returned and still no reply.
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  • Sky_RichSky_Rich Member Posts: 3,837
    edited February 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    I sent a nice long Email to them a couple of weeks ago and still haven't had a reply even acknowledging they've seen it so I've kinda given up a bit now. Rich - I know you said the head honcho marketing guy had been away but that was over a week ago he was supposed to have returned and still no reply.
    Posted by silentbob

    Hi Jay,

    yes i did chase them up on this on numerous occasions. let me try again...

    all the best,

    Rich
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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited February 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions... : Hi Jay, yes i did chase them up on this on numerous occasions. let me try again... all the best, Rich
    Posted by Sky_Rich
    Cheers Rich

    Sorry if I came across a bit "off" with my post
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  • Sky_RichSky_Rich Member Posts: 3,837
    edited February 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions... : Cheers Rich Sorry if I came across a bit "off" with my post
    Posted by silentbob
    ah no, don't worry about it at all.
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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions... : Hi Jay, yes i did chase them up on this on numerous occasions. let me try again... all the best, Rich
    Posted by Sky_Rich
    Hi Rich,

    Sorry to sound like I'm whinging again, but as I'd quite like some feedback on my suggestions (good or bad) is it worth me posting my Email on here instead? I sent it over a month ago now & if nothing else I can at least gage the opinions of some of the paying public.

    Cheers

    Jay
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  • Sky_RichSky_Rich Member Posts: 3,837
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions... : Hi Rich, Sorry to sound like I'm whinging again, but as I'd quite like some feedback on my suggestions (good or bad) is it worth me posting my Email on here instead? I sent it over a month ago now & if nothing else I can at least gage the opinions of some of the paying public. Cheers Jay
    Posted by silentbob

    sure Jay. feel free to post it on the forum. i will again try and chase the relevant people up.

    (let me just quickly apologise on their behalf. things are often extremely busy so certain tasks may now and again slip under the radar)

    thanks,

    Rich
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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited March 2010
    Just my opinions, but this is what I Emailed to the suggestions team a month ago. What does anyone else think? Apologies in advance cos it's a little long.

    Hi Guys

    As you're no doubt aware there have been various threads on the forum over recent months asking for improvements in how to redeem the poker points that are earned through playing at the tables. I honestly believe that Sky poker is fast moving in the right direction & with the soon to be released download client I think this will attract even more players. However, the one thing that I personally (& I know many others agree with me) think needs overhauling is how we, the players, can redeem the poker points that we earn.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are really only 2 main points promotions running through the site at present:

    1. Cash for points
    2. Freeroll tournaments (including satellites for the Primo & 12k bounty hunter)
    CASH FOR POINTS:

    In theory this is actually quite a good promotion, however it does have it's drawbacks. Firstly, not everyone reaches even the smallest amount required on a monthly basis so generally can't reap the benefits. I myself am one of these people. Since the promotion began back in December 2008 (I believe) I have only managed to hit the bonus maybe 4 or 5 times. This is mainly down to the stakes that I play. The big problem here, is that whilst I appreciate the smaller stakes players don't generate the same level of rake as bigger stake players, over the long term the majority of smaller stake players still contribute & end up with literally thousands of points in their accounts that are pretty much useless (not to mention that a lot of small stakes players will gradually play higher stakes at some stage). Likewise, there will always generally be an excess of points. As an example, you need 1000 points in one month to earn £15 & the next jump up is then 2000 points for £30. What happens if you earn 1500 points? You end up with an extra 500 points doing nothing.

    Ont other thing that seems to be happening is that the majority of players who do earn bonuses this way don't often have the points taken out (this seems to be the general consensus from conversations between players).

    FREEROLL TOURNAMENTS:

    It looks as though all of the freeroll tournaments are now satellites into bigger tournaments. Whilst I think this is a good idea in itself, I (again, like many others) don't like the fact that regardless of how many entries there are only a certain amount go through. There are often the best part of 600/700+ runners in these so by the time you get anywhere near the top 15/20 (however many are getting through) it just becomes a complete lottery (which is why I personally don't bother with them).

    Now I've always worked on the general basis that £1 in rake (or tournament fees) equals 10 points, therefore what I would propose as ideas is as follows:

    CASH FOR POINTS - I would still have this promotion running as I'm sure those who get anywhere near the top amounts are happy. However, I would have this set so that a player would specifically have to opt in (or out) of this. This could be done on a permanent basis or even a month to month basis.

    FREEROLL TOURNAMENTS - Again, I would keep these but change them. For example, if you are having a satellite into the Primo it would run like this.

    Primo direct buy in = £30 + £3 - This would generally equate to 330 points (on the basis that 10 points equals £1)
    Points satellite - 200 point buy in = 1 in 5 qualify for the Primo (so therefore technically each person that qualifies has paid £100 to enter). You can even have something like a maximum of 250 players in the sat so no more than 50 could qualify through this route.

    Open/Double Stack direct buy ins = £11 + £1 (110 points) - You could have the same idea but maybe 50 point buy ins

    This would appeal to people a great deal more than the current sats in my opinion.

    DIRECT BUY IN WITH POINTS - This is something else that you could offer but again, effectively charging a premium to do so. Taking the Primo as an example, it's a £30 + £3 buy in (so effectively 330 points), but you could charge maybe 660 points to buy in direct (effectively a £60 + £6 buy in then). You could also then limit how many people you allow to enter this way. So if the Primo had a maximum of 700 entrants, you could limit this to maybe 25-30 people on a first come first served basis. No doubt everyone would like to enter this way & I know that's just not practical (& it doesn't make good business sense either!) so what you could do is say that once you've entered a tournament in this way you can't do so again for one month. This would give others the chance to get in this way.

    SKY POKER SHOP - This is the one thing that most major sites have & I think they are a fantastic idea. To be fair I only play on one other site & I know that technically they "overcharge" people for the goods that they can get. However, this isn't really a problem as most people look on these things as freebies & obviously like any business you guys have to make a profit somewhere! 

    Here's a few examples of what you could offer:

    Sky poker playing cards (maybe cost 50p per deck or so to buy in bulk) - 50 points (so technically you're charging £5 but people will only see 50 points!)
    Poker chip sets for ~ 2000/3000 points
    T-Shirts for ~ 250 upwards

    And you could even put in some cross company offers too like "free" £5 bets on Skybet for say 250 points or Sky movies and/or sports for a month for say 1000 points.

    You could even do what another major site does & offer electronic goods like DVD players or flat screen TV's. I'm sure that a corporation the size of Sky would have no trouble partnering up with an electronics manufacturer or distributor to get discounted goods.

    This is one of the reasons why I suggested that people would have to opt in (or out) of the cash for points promotion. It may be that they see something they like in the shop & would prefer to save up their points for that item instead (I quite often do this on the other site that I play)

    I do appreciate that you have also been offering the TKO tournaments completely free as well but I truly believe that if people were given the choice of similar things like I've suggested the vast majority would be happy to lose this particular promotion (I know I would & I've taken part in both)

    I believe that when new players of all abilities look for new places to play one of the big things they look at is the reward scheme. As things currently stand there really isn't that much incentive for new players to stay after they've cleared their initial new player bonus.

    I honestly believe that Sky poker has the opportunity to become a big player in the online poker market but the current reward scheme really must be overhauled in order to attract more people here.

    Also, one other thing I would really love to see on Sky is the introduction of tournament tickets. Again, most other sites have similar things & they work really well. You could run satellites whereby a £4.40 + 40p entry could give 1 in 5 an entry ticket into any £20 + £2 tournament of their choosing (that they can play whenever they want). Likewise you can scale these up or down for various tournament entry levels. I think you would find these very popular.

    One last thing regarding satellite tournaments, is it possible that you could seriously look into starting satellites into the 8pm main events the night before? I, like most others work during the day & most nights can't get on to the site until 6:30/7pm or so due to family commitments, so playing the satellites then is almost impossible. If you had maybe 2 satellites the night before (say one at 8:15 & one at 9pm) then people could qualify early.

    I apologise if I've rambled at all. Please feel free to contact me if anything I've suggested doesn't make sense.

    I look forward to your feedback.
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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited March 2010
    Bump

    Any thoughts anyone?
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  • hurst05hurst05 Member Posts: 1,567
    edited March 2010
    i think your ideas are great silentbob, i just think sky wont pay any attention to them at all. i played one of those silly freerolls for primo got to last 25, 15 got entry and it was just a complete lottery, i bust out before the places and tbh all those points are worthless, need to do something because whilst they will gain alot of new players they will lose a few bigger players that earn far more rake. ive noticed a few big players go and i think its because theres no point they can get much greater rake back and alot better deals elswhere. i myself have considered leaving for these reasons
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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited March 2010
    Thanks for the feedback Hurst. Unfortunately I think you're probably right about the attention being paid.

    The thing is I, like most others here, ain't trying to freeload or anything like that. I'd just like something resembling some sort of parity with pretty much all the other sites out there. As I pointed out in my Email to them, most months I don't even make the minimum requirements in the cash for points promo but unlike the other site I play on the points slowly build up & are totally useless. At least on the other site I can save up for something from their shop or enter tourneys.
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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited March 2010
    Hi Des

    I know Rich is away this week (probably fed up with me bugging him all the time, lol). 

    Is there any chance of the suits giving some feedback on the Email I posted above (which I sent to the suggestions Email addy at the beginning of February)?

    Thanks

    Jay
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  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 169,576
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    Hi Des I know Rich is away this week (probably fed up with me bugging him all the time, lol).  Is there any chance of the suits giving some feedback on the Email I posted above (which I sent to the suggestions Email addy at the beginning of February)? Thanks Jay
    Posted by silentbob
    Hi Bob,

    Des won't see this, I imagine, so I hope you don't mind if I reply on his behalf.

    You did say in an earlier Post that "Sky Poker won't take any notice", which is, to be fair, untrue.

    I'm not at liberty to make any announcements, but they are sorting out something for Poker Points right now, & I think you will see an announcement to that effect in the next 24 to 48 hours.
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  • freechips1freechips1 Member Posts: 861
    edited March 2010
    looking forward to it tikay, i would love to be able to use up my points
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  • ACESOVER8sACESOVER8s Member Posts: 1,307
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    looking forward to it tikay, i would love to be able to use up my points
    Posted by freechips1
    +1 i'd love something to with them
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  • BrrrrrrrBrrrrrrr Member Posts: 4,211
    edited March 2010
    It will be interesting to see what sky are coming up with for us to make use of our poker points, but i think silentbobs idea about using points as a direct buy in to events is a great idea. Actually getting something worth having for all those points is a winner with me - nice one!
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  • silentbobsilentbob Member Posts: 2,137
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions... : Hi Bob, Des won't see this, I imagine, so I hop you don't mind if  reply on his behalf. You did say in an earlier Post that "Sky Poker won't take any notice", which is, to be fair, untrue. I'm not at liberty to make any announcements, but they are sorting out something for Poker Points right now, & I think you will see an announcement to that effect in the next 24 to 48 hours.
    Posted by Tikay10
    You have a point there Tikay & I meant no offence by it as I know full well that you guys ("Sky") do actually take some notice of what people here ask for. For me, the most frustrating thing is that there have been numerous threads on this subject but no real response.

    I look forward to the announcement.
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  • blade900blade900 Member Posts: 83
    edited March 2010
    an answer in 48 hrs!whoop!whoop!..............big up to tikay!
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  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 169,576
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Poker Points Suggestions...:
    an answer in 48 hrs!whoop!whoop!..............big up to tikay!
    Posted by blade900
    Well, a "big up" to whoever is sorting it, which is certainly not me!

    Anyway, the "48 hour" time-window remains intact - so that means tomorrow. Very probably....;)
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  • webby234webby234 Member Posts: 1,781
    edited March 2010
    very intriguing, cant wait to see what it is, just hope its not satellites to get into the freerolls lol
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