In Response to Re: SPT Manchester Structure, clock, start times etc. : Jeez...... Ever wondered why other sites all closed their Poker Forums? Will you be in Manchester? If so, I'll buy you a drink. I'm hoping to introduce a lot of the players to Mr Channing, too. I did that with Stokey at a UKPC & he loved every minute, & so the plan is to do more of the same at Manchester, even set up a Channing Masterclass if time permits, or some fiver or Tenner SNG's with him, that sort of thing. All the Staff will be there, too - well Sam, James, Mark & Kirsty, & personally I think it's great that they will all be there & players can meet them & chat. Posted by Tikay10
I have a little time today to construct coherent sentences.
The T&C are antiquated and make no business sense, in particular to the spt. The only upside is reducing admin work and i would make a case that even that is not true.
The only reason of lack of flexibility apart from admin is the worry of not making guarantees. Having played at alea venues in exactly same type of tournaments its a very low priority issue. As skypoker only concentrates with uk business it has a distinct advantage. I would be very surprised if one of the venues didnt hit £60k to 70k plus prize pool.
There are many different types of customers with different budgets who are expected to travel from different parts of uk with considerable varying costs. Hotel costs in manchester can vary substantially depending on football home games and brighton is just expensive.
There will be quite a few who win a package and wont attend for budget reasons. The argument of dont play if you cant attend is just silly. No business should advocate telling its customers not to use its service. Those winning a package may have to book 3 nights accommodation depending on mode of transport.
Those winning a package will have to book friday off work and may even have to book monday off.
There is another very simple and compelling reason which is who are you to tell me what day i should i play ? We are worried about not meeting a guarantee is not a justifiable reason. The only & best reason should be because the day is full
To that end here are some suggestions:
1. I am an advocate of sats for cash but this should be scrapped for spt. This is a multi entry tourny and only £220 tickets should be awarded on finals tables. This will encourage people to attend both days if they have multiple seats and to use them if necessary.
2. Be able to transfer seat to a sky customer.
3. Packages should be available for both days. People playing on saturday may have to book hotel for 2 nights, trains and other expenses.
4. Defer a seat to next event. This will be seen as the most controversial as there will be a fear of affecting the guarantee. In reality the only people who take this option are those who genuinely want to play a sk event and cant make it. The overwhelming majority opt for option 2
5. Bring along a friend or 2, If your lucky enough to win multiple seats you can treat poker friends. Not likely to if you keep winning final table cash for sats.
6. Start daily sats at £2.60 as opposed to £2.60 all in. A daily £10.80 with min 5 seats gtd. Use promo budget to add value to lower end. No point having an overlay on a final table, same monies can be distributed in a multitude of ways.
Most of the points will hopefully increase numbers both at venues and site and decrease substantially negative issues. Whereas with punta and vegas you are constrained by third or fourth party, this is sky pokers baby and the only person you have to liase with is Doug at alea who is a sound guy.
This is a very reasoned post and I appreciate the time that you have taken on it.
A lot of what you said is very reasonable and we do plan to run many more SPT's going forward and have already debated a lot of what you have said.
For now, for SPT Manchester not much will change. Many things are stopping us doing a lot of what you have mentioned above including software restrictions and contractual agreements with the venues.
The daily sats we can control and they are under constant review. Personally I think James does a superb job managing satellites and the schedule and I fully trust him to do the best for both the customer and the business.
I do appreciate the constructive manner of the post.
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