Living in Ireland and playing regularly on Sky Poker I would really enjoy an Irish Leg of the SPT. Don't understand why there is a problem having a Tournament in a hotel. Its great to have all you need on hand room, food etc. All the big outfits run major tournaments in Ireland, and many of the big name players extol the the virtues of playing in Ireland. Come on Sky think of your Irish customers and organise an Irish leg for next year.
In Response to Re: SPT 2011/12 - help us make it better. : Coventry is a fine venue, yes Will also look at Stoke. Though it is in Stoke. Starting at midday is a casino staffing issue, and tricky because of costs/overtime/shift patterns. It would also turn a 16 hour day for Sky staff into an 18 hour working day which has to be factored in. Posted by SPT
HEY! Could be worse, I could of suggested Leicester )
In Response to Re: SPT 2011/12 - help us make it better. : Do none of the Edinburgh casinos have the facilities you require? I've never played in them but I know they have hosted some big events in the past Posted by JockBMW
theres only 2 venues in Edinburgh that do poker (to my knowledge) .
The Maybury is a quality venue but split into 2 rooms
and i dont believe the circus has disabled accsess.
UKIPT uses the Corn Exchange, but Tikay explained before that was just out of price.
the Don is correct about Edinburgh's venues. I have run 4 events at the Maybury, and I like the building and the location. It's just tough to run the tournament across two rooms, especially when you bear in mind the demands of the cameras, which would make the situation tougher for an SPT. We found this at the Swansea SPT, it has a significantly detrimental impact on atmosphere too
Ireland, the argument is much the same as why we don't use the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh
Consider what a casino provides, and it provides this for £x per player
tables dealers chips cards td security/cameras a licenced venue
If we went out of casinos and into hotels the SPT would need to source and pay for the purchase/hire of all of these items
there may be a day when Sky wants to do this, but for now its a huge on-cost to what is a community based tour for 150ish runners per leg
I agree Dublin would be superb for the craic, but the SPT is not geared up to spend the sums required to do an event from scratch including all the torunament infrastructure
you also have to compare and contrast the big organisers with the SPT
a big organiser hires out a central Dublin hotel. It charges players more than 10% rake on the tournaments, it charges huge rakes on the cash games that run non stop for 4-5 days. In that way they earn the revenue to pay for the items in the above post
the SPT is a community based tour, and would never wish to run to that model
its a real shame but your reasons are more than justified. I was just speaking to the TNPL about venues they use. And currently their using the Maybury for their national finals, but he did say their using 4 or 5 TDs working together for it to run smoothly and clearly thats not even close to the scale of the SPTs, and they dont have the need for camera's.
I know locally in Galashiels we have a 1 day a year thing called the Gala series of Poker which is held in the Volenteer hall, but again the hassles you mentioned above of covering cost of equipment and dealers just makes in ill pratical.
I really hope the SPT can find somewhere north of the border. But i have to admit im all out of ideas.
I know of a licenced venue (miners club in Hamilton) but have no idea what size or capacity it is. Ive often heard things being advertised poker wise there via facebook. Again however the guy that runs these events supplies dealers, chips and cards. .
hmmm.... .... .... PLEASE SOMEONE BUILD A DECENT CASINO IN SCOTLAND. Or Ireland for their loyal too.
oh one other quick idea. i wont take credit for it. i mentioned id seen it related to another tour.
In the tour that im trying to qualify for currently, they run two different types of satellites. One just wins a seat. Which sky currently do.
The other is much like the VLV set up. Where you win a hotel and travel. Well % towards travel.
This combined would allow the locals to qualify for normal. And those who might not be able to afford the travel and hotel costs but want to play could win a whole weekend at the SPT.
The deal that the tour im on about has for their next leg are offering £560 seat, Hotel and £140 for travel costs. Sounds about right so for SPT i would suggest £110 seat (or seat value) + hotel + £100 travel.
What a great thread! There are some tremendous ideas here (particularly Solar and Lol Raise), which I am sure SKY will take on board to give us an even better tour for 2011-2012. Personally I love these events and am hoping to qualify for my 12th event in Cardiff. My first was Edinburgh in Jan 2009.
I am likely to continue supporting the Tour, no matter what the format, but there a couple of things that I would not like to see change. 1. No earlier start time. I consider the time between registration at 12.00 noon and tournie start time at 2.00pm as invaluable. This is the time that you meet up with old (and new) friends and to me is a very important aspect of the event. 2. No direct buy ins. Let's maintain satellite qualifying only. This should ensure that all SKY players get more opportunity to have a go.
Another couple of observations. 1. With current satellite structures (pre semi) the blind levels are every 5 mins with steepish rises. This means that most games become a "shove fest" quite quickly. Perhaps less satellites with a longer clock could be considered. 2. We have, over the last 2 years, been used to 125 qualifiers for the regional events. Despite assurances this has reduced over the last couple of events. I understand the requirements for Priority Club and TSP etc (and do not have a problem with that), but would still like to see a minimum of 125 (possibly up to 150) spots for online qualifiers. That might mean increasing the total number to possible 200 for each event.
Finally, the popularity of the Tour is growing, so it must be catered for!
In Response to Re: SPT 2011/12 - help us make it better. : Brighton G - not a suitable venue on numerous counts. Brighton G & Thanet. Both are at (UK) Geographical extremeties, & as such, are awkward for 90% of the players to get to. Coastal venues in the South, East, or West will always be a travel nightmare for the greater p art of our Community. We have to try to "most please most people", & those Venues do not satisfy that criteria. Think simple geographical logistics. 90% of our players can more easily get to, say, Luton, or the Midlands, or the North, than a venue on a Coastal extremity. Fox Club. A very well-run venue. BUT...err.....sponsored by another Online Poker Room. (This argument might also apply to DTD, it could be argued, but that would be incorrect, for a whole tranche of reasons). Posted by Tikay10
The Fox is a good venue but as you say sponsored by another site, also and a big no no is the lack of parking, there is no on site parking and the nearest public car park is the China Town NCP which is horrendously busy due to the location (Chinatown, West End theatres and Soho) it is therefore very difficult for disabled access and also expensive :-(.
What a great thread! There are some tremendous ideas here (particularly Solar and Lol Raise), which I am sure SKY will take on board to give us an even better tour for 2011-2012. Personally I love these events and am hoping to qualify for my 12th event in Cardiff. My first was Edinburgh in Jan 2009. I am likely to continue supporting the Tour, no matter what the format, but there a couple of things that I would not like to see change. 1. No earlier start time. I consider the time between registration at 12.00 noon and tournie start time at 2.00pm as invaluable. This is the time that you meet up with old (and new) friends and to me is a very important aspect of the event. 2. No direct buy ins. Let's maintain satellite qualifying only. This should ensure that all SKY players get more opportunity to have a go. Another couple of observations. 1. With current satellite structures (pre semi) the blind levels are every 5 mins with steepish rises. This means that most games become a "shove fest" quite quickly. Perhaps less satellites with a longer clock could be considered. 2. We have, over the last 2 years, been used to 125 qualifiers for the regional events. Despite assurances this has reduced over the last couple of events. I understand the requirements for Priority Club and TSP etc (and do not have a problem with that), but would still like to see a minimum of 125 (possibly up to 150) spots for online qualifiers. That might mean increasing the total number to possible 200 for each event. Finally, the popularity of the Tour is growing, so it must be catered for! Posted by Dollie
This.
I hope Tikay listens to a voice of reason from someone much younger than himself
Great thread (lol_Raise that was a cracking suggestion). I'll give you my thoughts later on but can I just quickly say do not do London (I'm saying this as a guy who was born and lives in London). The niche the SPT has found is accessibility and friendliness to recreational players and people new to B&M poker as well as a happy community feel to the events. London casino poker rooms are still full of tilt inducing condescending regs. I know there are some everywhere but it seems to be magnified in London. To be frank, London in general just isn't friendly. Also London accommodation is still pricey and you'll use so much accessibility for the average Sky player. You'll end up with more people coming down just for the day rather than making a weekend out of it. Posted by TommyD
What a great thread! There are some tremendous ideas here (particularly Solar and Lol Raise), which I am sure SKY will take on board to give us an even better tour for 2011-2012. Personally I love these events and am hoping to qualify for my 12th event in Cardiff. My first was Edinburgh in Jan 2009. I am likely to continue supporting the Tour, no matter what the format, but there a couple of things that I would not like to see change. 1. No earlier start time. I consider the time between registration at 12.00 noon and tournie start time at 2.00pm as invaluable. This is the time that you meet up with old (and new) friends and to me is a very important aspect of the event. 2. No direct buy ins. Let's maintain satellite qualifying only. This should ensure that all SKY players get more opportunity to have a go. Another couple of observations. 1. With current satellite structures (pre semi) the blind levels are every 5 mins with steepish rises. This means that most games become a "shove fest" quite quickly. Perhaps less satellites with a longer clock could be considered. 2. We have, over the last 2 years, been used to 125 qualifiers for the regional events. Despite assurances this has reduced over the last couple of events. I understand the requirements for Priority Club and TSP etc (and do not have a problem with that), but would still like to see a minimum of 125 (possibly up to 150) spots for online qualifiers. That might mean increasing the total number to possible 200 for each event. Finally, the popularity of the Tour is growing, so it must be catered for! Posted by Dollie
Well said, also perhaps as the SPT is unique in that is built around the regular players more so than any other live event that I canthink of, has the possibility of just allowing regulars i.e. those who have had an account say for over 6 months to try and qualify? Just a thought as some of the sats did get a little out of hand with the local population now and then ( remember what happened to Sian/Yorkie74 for one) or is this an unfair point as many of them are now regular week in/week out Sky poker players?
the issue of capacity is a tricky one, and has been across the UK festival/live poker scene for years..
Some of the SPT venues to date fit 200, many squeeze in 150, 170 at a pinch
and of course if you go over 150 runners at a one day event then you have structure and finish time issues
As to guests, there is no deliberate policy to offer fewer seats through online qualification, its merely a function of pressure on seats from various sources...eg every time you see a forum competition offer an SPT seat, then that has an impact. Priority club, team sky poker, etc etc.
At Leeds I ended up with 10 seats spare on the day (not ideal, but didn't have the certainty of availability to put them on sale as last minute satellites), so as a last gasp many community members can usually look to direct buy in at a late stage.
to square this circle, of higher demand for seats, capacity problems, structure issues then you can see why two day events might be an option, at least for aprt of the nxt series
Hi TK Would also like to see a scottish event again for obvious reasons lol Possible venue could be the circus casino in edinburgh think they could manage the numbers only issue would be dealers but with a bit of planning im sure they could source some (and there are 6 or 7 players that deal the cash games there).
Would prefer a slightly longer structure say 8000 chips and a few more blind levels suggest a noon start (although this may prove a problem for team knight plop as they will still be majorly hung over ;-0) and maybe flatten the structure near final table if time allows.
How come an early start is a no go becuase of cost isues but a 2 day event is under consideration?
Not a biggy but can we change the food??? bun g the Casions a few extra quid to get curry of the menu??? or at least a selcetion of food. Never been to an spt only watch the live feed/threads on here but always seems to be curry and nobdy ever seems to be very happy about it. If i was to qulaify for one next year (which i hope to do) id have to run around and find the nearest chippy!
12pm starts is down to casino shifts, and rota patterns for dealing staff.
Not easy to get sufficient dealers to start a competition for 12pm! Not easy to persuade casinos to pay dealers extra for an early start So 2 dayers are possible but early starts are tricky
Food, again a balance between good quality and cost. Some venues better than others
An option might be not to do any food at all (seriously), and let everyone choose from a casino menu?
Comments
Just seems a good number of good venues might be ruled out as their over 2 rooms.
The Maybury is a quality venue but split into 2 rooms
and i dont believe the circus has disabled accsess.
UKIPT uses the Corn Exchange, but Tikay explained before that was just out of price.
Ireland, the argument is much the same as why we don't use the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh
Consider what a casino provides, and it provides this for £x per player
tables
dealers
chips
cards
td
security/cameras
a licenced venue
If we went out of casinos and into hotels the SPT would need to source and pay for the purchase/hire of all of these items
there may be a day when Sky wants to do this, but for now its a huge on-cost to what is a community based tour for 150ish runners per leg
I agree Dublin would be superb for the craic, but the SPT is not geared up to spend the sums required to do an event from scratch including all the torunament infrastructure
a big organiser hires out a central Dublin hotel. It charges players more than 10% rake on the tournaments, it charges huge rakes on the cash games that run non stop for 4-5 days. In that way they earn the revenue to pay for the items in the above post
the SPT is a community based tour, and would never wish to run to that model
its a real shame but your reasons are more than justified. I was just speaking to the TNPL about venues they use. And currently their using the Maybury for their national finals, but he did say their using 4 or 5 TDs working together for it to run smoothly and clearly thats not even close to the scale of the SPTs, and they dont have the need for camera's.
I know locally in Galashiels we have a 1 day a year thing called the Gala series of Poker which is held in the Volenteer hall, but again the hassles you mentioned above of covering cost of equipment and dealers just makes in ill pratical.
I really hope the SPT can find somewhere north of the border. But i have to admit im all out of ideas.
I know of a licenced venue (miners club in Hamilton) but have no idea what size or capacity it is. Ive often heard things being advertised poker wise there via facebook. Again however the guy that runs these events supplies dealers, chips and cards.
hmmm.... .... .... PLEASE SOMEONE BUILD A DECENT CASINO IN SCOTLAND. Or Ireland for their loyal too.
In the tour that im trying to qualify for currently, they run two different types of satellites. One just wins a seat. Which sky currently do.
The other is much like the VLV set up. Where you win a hotel and travel. Well % towards travel.
This combined would allow the locals to qualify for normal. And those who might not be able to afford the travel and hotel costs but want to play could win a whole weekend at the SPT.
The deal that the tour im on about has for their next leg are offering £560 seat, Hotel and £140 for travel costs. Sounds about right so for SPT i would suggest £110 seat (or seat value) + hotel + £100 travel.
again though this might not be a great idea.
What a great thread! There are some tremendous ideas here (particularly Solar and Lol Raise), which I am sure SKY will take on board to give us an even better tour for 2011-2012. Personally I love these events and am hoping to qualify for my 12th event in Cardiff. My first was Edinburgh in Jan 2009.
I am likely to continue supporting the Tour, no matter what the format, but there a couple of things that I would not like to see change.
1. No earlier start time. I consider the time between registration at 12.00 noon and tournie start time at 2.00pm as invaluable. This is the time that you meet up with old (and new) friends and to me is a very important aspect of the event.
2. No direct buy ins. Let's maintain satellite qualifying only. This should ensure that all SKY players get more opportunity to have a go.
Another couple of observations.
1. With current satellite structures (pre semi) the blind levels are every 5 mins with steepish rises. This means that most games become a "shove fest" quite quickly. Perhaps less satellites with a longer clock could be considered.
2. We have, over the last 2 years, been used to 125 qualifiers for the regional events. Despite assurances this has reduced over the last couple of events. I understand the requirements for Priority Club and TSP etc (and do not have a problem with that), but would still like to see a minimum of 125 (possibly up to 150) spots for online qualifiers. That might mean increasing the total number to possible 200 for each event.
Finally, the popularity of the Tour is growing, so it must be catered for!
Just asking...:-)
Some of the SPT venues to date fit 200, many squeeze in 150, 170 at a pinch
and of course if you go over 150 runners at a one day event then you have structure and finish time issues
As to guests, there is no deliberate policy to offer fewer seats through online qualification, its merely a function of pressure on seats from various sources...eg every time you see a forum competition offer an SPT seat, then that has an impact. Priority club, team sky poker, etc etc.
At Leeds I ended up with 10 seats spare on the day (not ideal, but didn't have the certainty of availability to put them on sale as last minute satellites), so as a last gasp many community members can usually look to direct buy in at a late stage.
to square this circle, of higher demand for seats, capacity problems, structure issues then you can see why two day events might be an option, at least for aprt of the nxt series
Would also like to see a scottish event again for obvious reasons lol
Possible venue could be the circus casino in edinburgh think they could manage the numbers only issue would be dealers but with a bit of planning im sure they could source some (and there are 6 or 7 players that deal the cash games there).
Would prefer a slightly longer structure say 8000 chips and a few more blind levels suggest a noon start (although this may prove a problem for team knight plop as they will still be majorly hung over ;-0)
and maybe flatten the structure near final table if time allows.
12pm starts are a no go for any venue, staffing and cost issues
extra blind levels? more chips? Not unless you want to finish a one day event after 3am, or run fewer runners
Not a biggy but can we change the food??? bun g the Casions a few extra quid to get curry of the menu??? or at least a selcetion of food. Never been to an spt only watch the live feed/threads on here but always seems to be curry and nobdy ever seems to be very happy about it. If i was to qulaify for one next year (which i hope to do) id have to run around and find the nearest chippy!
Shaz
xxx
Not easy to get sufficient dealers to start a competition for 12pm! Not easy to persuade casinos to pay dealers extra for an early start
So 2 dayers are possible but early starts are tricky
Food, again a balance between good quality and cost. Some venues better than others
An option might be not to do any food at all (seriously), and let everyone choose from a casino menu?