"so 4.4k in rake is supposed to cover presenter/analysts/guest/2 cameramen/runner/sound guy/graphics guy/director/producer/makeup and probably 1-2 other people who I've forgotten for about 8 hours to do the live show not taking into account the massive overlay that sky got done for in the first week of sats plus they get taxed on all rake plus all the expenses of all the UKOPS stuff like the site graphics/leaflets at SPT/producing promo videos."
scotty get your tongue out of skypokers ar se!! .... surely he has his own opinion... its all about improving things... the first ukops isnt/wasnt going to be perfect... they will deffo improve the next time around which is great... why cant people on this forum give some input without being shot down??? i dont think its fair.. surely everyone has a right to there own opinion.. and its not like hes talking absolute rubbish is it... its not impossible for sky to air more of the ukops next time around... surely increasing the traffic of the site long term will increase revenue long term... so i think airing all the ukops would potentially increase future profits over the following... gotta spend money to make money havent you?? i dont disagree with the fact they spend alot of money etc etc... as sky are very good imo... i also think it would of been nice to air all of the series as its not a regular occurance is it?
its a bit like hosting the world cup... we are only gonna show the semi final and the final.... just doesnt seem to be logical... at the end of the day... sky is a business and its up to them what they want and wish to do...
but also keeping the majority happy is also good as they want feedback.. gl to all...
so 4.4k in rake is supposed to cover presenter/analysts/guest/2 cameramen/runner/sound guy/graphics guy/director/producer/makeup and probably 1-2 other people who I've forgotten for about 8 hours to do the live show not taking into account the massive overlay that sky got done for in the first week of sats plus they get taxed on all rake plus all the expenses of all the UKOPS stuff like the site graphics/leaflets at SPT/producing promo videos. Posted by scotty77
I wasn't saying the rake should cover it, obviously the money taken in rake and the budget for TV shows are two completely different things. But if the best you can come up with is "but rake isn't going to cover the cost, is it" then i'd like to think i had a point there. As i said previously, it doesn't even need to be something well polished or immaculate. Just some form of coverage to make the UKOPS something people will remember! I doubt many Sky players who know won any of the first 3 events unless they come to this particular thread. Most people play poker for fun and the main attraction of Sky is the TV element, or even if it's just their names being mentioned. Heck, I'd vlog about the UKOPS series for free for gods sake! It can't be that hard to string some form of display together to give the series a little more prestiege. Cheers, Carlos Smitalos P.s. Thanks to IMAROCK for covering my back, much appreciated man. It doesn't take someone to agree with you to have to stick up for ya, thanks again dude. Even if people don't agree with what i've said in my posts that's absolutely fine with me! I'm just trying to make the next UKOPS and SkyPoker in general better for everyone, and i wouldn't be spending my time on these long posts if i was just "hating".
I agree, Smitalos. I posted similarly, though nowhere near as eloquently, and YoungGun started a similar thread in GPC. I used the term half-heartedly (which was, in hindsight an error) and that got picked upon more than my points, which were as yours. Apparently 100 meeting went into the making of UKOPS - I'm guessing a few fewer meetings, and the air-time would have been more than covered, and the world would have more little packets of biscuits than now (tongue in cheek, btw). To see TommyD suggest that Sky needs to move away from their TV roots and that no-one cares about the channel is nonsense. Maybe Apple might want to discontinue their iPod and iPhone series - we're all bored of them now. When you have a unique selling point, don't rejoin the crowd. I'll mention again that when the open (and velocity) was shown nightly, the tournament was maxed out at 600 EVERY NIGHT. It's clear that Sky can't afford such frippery, but 7 days of TV to go with the UKOPS events seems like a great idea to me. I'm made up that the series has been a success, and hope it is repeated (at least annually if not 6-monthly or more). Due to work commitments etc, I am unlikely to play an more of this series' events, but can't remember being so excited to see my table open for these tournaments since my early days of online poker.
Firstly, before i stick my head on the chopping block i'm gunna say that Tikay, you sir are amazing. Love the stuff you do on 865 and for SkyPoker in general and fingers crossed i get to meet you one day. About the UKOPS coverage/commitment/expenditure etc. Whilst i think it's hard for anyone to disagree that it costs a bunch of money to air a live show, the rake taken from the UKOPS tourneys themselves would more than cover it surely? I work it out to be about £4400 worth of rake taken in just the bounty hunter tournaments alone, so even if it was some sort of internet only stream from your living room where you discuss what's going on :P (obviously i'm in jest here but i think the point still has some merit). With such a loyal fanbase that SkyPoker has, and the community that's been built up around it, to hype up the UKOPS and then show all these satellites on TV, but not the actual events themselves seems... not unfair, just a little unbalanced. I'm also gunna chip in and say whilst i'm not questioning the behind the scenes of SkyPoker at all, i'm sceptical that such a big emphasis can be put on the work ethic of those that produced UKOPS. There were no bracelets given out, the tournies were pretty similar to weekly ones on Sky despite a few little changes in starting stacks and blind levels, along with no form of coverage of the events themselves or an opportunity for people to switch tickets between events. I LOVE SkyPoker, and i'm only saying all this because i truly believe that this UKOPS thing has legs. It's just at the moment they are prosthetic, and squeeking a little bit :P TommyD - For someone to say that too much coverage over a 1 week period of 7/8 events is absolute crazy imo. All you have to do is look at PokerStars to see that coverage = WIN. The WCOOP and SCOOP had over 50 events each and they each had their own live-streams, radio shows etc and it was a MASSIVE success. Too much coverage /> too little, and i'm sure most of the people on Sky would say one of the best things about playing on the site is to see themselves on TV! Cliffs: 1) TK, i love you, and Sky Poker. 2) UKOPS has the potential to be HUGE, instead of a something that people are gunna forget about in a week or two. 3) Coverage = GOOD. If you think you'd get worn out from only 7/8 events worth of coverage, i doubt you're a poker fan at heart. Bigger the better baby! Much love to y'all and run good out there people. Cheers, Carlos Smitalos P.S. This is NOT supposed to be a "this is wrong, that is wrong, fix it". I'm just pointing stuff out that people can agree/disagree with. It's all just my opinion and if people wanna come on here and tell me i'm wrong that's cool! Posted by Smitalos
Hey Smitalos
I appreciate your opinion. I would say though that in my opinion you can't compare UKOPS with WCOOP or SCOOP. Stars has a vastly deeper player pool and I would think those webcasts didn't cost that much compared to 4 hours of live TV in the UK. It helps that they generate as much money as they do. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't these webcasts a recent inclusion for the last SCOOP and WCOOPS? The Stars juggernaut had already been rolling long before they added these, Sky and UKOPS are at a much different stage of development.
I agree, Smitalos. I posted similarly, though nowhere near as eloquently, and YoungGun started a similar thread in GPC. I used the term half-heartedly (which was, in hindsight an error) and that got picked upon more than my points, which were as yours. Apparently 100 meeting went into the making of UKOPS - I'm guessing a few fewer meetings, and the air-time would have been more than covered, and the world would have more little packets of biscuits than now (tongue in cheek, btw). To see TommyD suggest that Sky needs to move away from their TV roots and that no-one cares about the channel is nonsense. Maybe Apple might want to discontinue their iPod and iPhone series - we're all bored of them now. When you have a unique selling point, don't rejoin the crowd. I'll mention again that when the open (and velocity) was shown nightly, the tournament was maxed out at 600 EVERY NIGHT. It's clear that Sky can't afford such frippery, but 7 days of TV to go with the UKOPS events seems like a great idea to me. I'm made up that the series has been a success, and hope it is repeated (at least annually if not 6-monthly or more). Due to work commitments etc, I am unlikely to play an more of this series' events, but can't remember being so excited to see my table open for these tournaments since my early days of online poker. Posted by Eyeman
I said nothing of the sort. What I stated was that Sky is attempting to become more than just 'that site with the TV Channel.' I cannot fathom how you have taken what I have posted as advocating discontinuing the channel, I view 865 as a core element of SkyPoker, just that it shouldn't be the be all and end all.
Of course every one has opinion on this, but comments about taking tongues out of places aren't really needed so please don't resort to it. Every one has their opinion and we should be able to respect all sides of the debate.
As for the UKOPS series and TV issue, Tikay mentioned earlier on much of the thinking from a Sky Poker business perspective. Now, please don't mistake me for being one of those who is privy to all of the information re: financials, etc. Frankly I don't need to be - I am here for the poker content and the Community. However, the premise is a fairly simple one.
To put on one live TV show costs a substantial amount of money. We're not talking low thousands, either. There are the costs of crew, presenters, make-up, wardrobe (although Tikay's burgundy jumper came from there, along with a travesty of a shirt I wore a few years back now), technical support, studio overheads, design costs and so on. It is MUCH more than many people would guess. If Sky as a business open the live shows for another 4 live shows, you're looking at a big chunk of change. While there would definitely be extra rake from tournaments and incremental bits and pieces (some UKOPS players might want to play a couple of sit and gos at the same time, for example), it's nowhere near to covering the amount spent on UKOPS as a whole.
That leaves us with a basic question: where should that extra money come from? Marketing? Then we have less players come to - or continue to play on- the site, so less people playing the tournaments and therefore can only offer smaller guarantees. Take it from the guarantee prize pools? Then less people play, you lose the prestige, etc. There's a balance to be struck and I personally believe the whole Sky Poker team have made a collective effort to tick as many of the boxes as possible, both for the players and for Sky's continued growth as a poker room. £140,000 in guarantees in one week is pretty ambitious, I think most of us would agree.
There have been some nice suggestions around this, such as a vblog, and those are things we will certainly take away from the comments on this thread. The one thing I'd like to impress though is that Sky really HAVE tried to get behind this as much as possible and we're very pleased with how that's gone. Risks are sometimes taken in business from time to time, but in this instance I think a solid platform for future UKOPS and the like had to be the best course of action. Nothing is every perfect the first time around and we'll make the tweaks we can for the next set of UKOPS, I am sure.
My advice on issues such as this is to have a listen to what Tikay says. Yes he's 'pro-Sky' but he does talk very honestly about some things you'd frankly never get an insight on from some of the 'bigger' sites. He's a huge resource for you guys so do take on board what he says.
Again, the above is all my personal opinion. I don't have huge insight in to highest level decision-making, but from what I can see there's a lot of common sense around this whole issue which can be applied. Sure I'd love to see the shows on all week based around the UKOPS events - I am sure we all would - but decisions have to be made and I for one think Sky are on the money this time.
Oh, and I will stop kissing backside now. I have to do certain amounts of it per week though for two reasons: 1) they pay me 2) I love this site, the Community and where it's headed. It's an exciting time on Sky Poker - why not get behind it?
Eyeman - Yeah i saw your earlier post about 'half-hearted' and to some degree i do agree with you to be honest. SkyDave has said the GTD's for the tournaments were ambitious, but i thought they could've done better (a grade of C+ if you will! haha!). The fact that the GTD's were smashed shows how 1) This UKOPS thing could really be a big success, 2) How many people flock to these prestiegious 'TV' events with big prizepools. With regards to how often they do this, i could even see them getting away with every 3 months (like the FTOPS did on FullTilt), and you're right, it's the biggest and arguably best thing to happen to SkyPoker in quite some time man! Thanks for your reply and the way you went about it, let's keep sharing the poker love!
TommyD - Thanks for taking the time to respond with such humility sir! Brought a smile to my face just reading your thought out response, so thank you! Whilst i agree that Sky is going to be a little rusty with its first UKOPS, i think it's important to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. Admittedly, they are never going to be able to put on such coverage like Stars do, but i was just trying to prove a point in the way that people who love poker, will love poker media! Updates, news, promotions etc. Whether it's a notification that the final-table of an event is underway, or giving the winners a call next time a show on 865 is broadcast, just anything to give people that feeling of, "That could be me!! :O..... ". I was chatting to a poker-mate of mine from Canada the other week and explained how i've moved to Sky. (He hadn't even heard of the site to be honest!). But when i mentioned the 'you can be on TV' thing, his ears perked up and said it was "sick" in a good way! :P Yes, Sky doesn't want to be a one trick pony with the TV thing, but my oh my is it one **** of a trick to get people onboard and loyal to the site in the first place.
SkyDave - All i can really say is thank you for coming to the thread, and that i'm glad some of the stuff is being taken onboard. I apologise dearly for the ramblyness of my reply, i've been up for about 20hrs and am knackered! Keep up the good discussion guys. Cheers, Carlos Smitalos
My observation so far is that UKOPS has gone fantastically well for SKY and tonight's guarantee for a £500+ buy-in has already been achieved.
Bounty hunters continue to be very popular on this site and adding to Scotty77's suggestion I think the £100 buy in should be something to try and include in the tornament schedule on a regular basis.
Also, if the UKOPS event is repeated it may be worth adding an small extra buy-in of 50p to the main tourament each night so that the winner gets the normal cash winnings plus a seat to the main event. Dependant upon entrants this may even stretch to 2nd or 3rd place receiving seats to the main event - just a thought.
Very well done so far - can't wait for tonight's show!
Thanks for the feedback man, I thought it was a fair & balanced piece, & have no issue with it at all. That's not to say we agree, but such well-mannered debate is rare, & a delight, & we have no probs with that.
I hope my replies on thread have not been overly aggressive, but, to be wholly honest, the phrase "half-hearted" grated more than a little. "Sky Poker got it wrong" may be acceptable, but "half-hearted" was a tad below the belt & ill-informed, I felt. I'm not exactly in a position to respond in kind, either. It MAY have been done badly - that's abso fair comment for debate - but it has not been done "half-hearted", anything but. Sky Poker got it wrong? Maybe, if you like. (The numbers tell a different story). Half-hearted? Strewth, you have no idea! Does anyone itt actually know what the business case for UKOPS is, what market segment is being focused upon?
I think the TV coverage thing has been done to death, everyone has said their piece.
I did say that the question of TV coverage had been VERY closely examined, & after those with the facts to hand weighed it all up, the decision was "no" to 7 day blanket coverage, but "yes" to coverage on Thursday, Saturday, & Sunday. So it's not a total UKOPS TV blank. I can only add this item was considered at very great length, but for good reasons I'm not going to enlarge further upon right now, (most have been stated already, & as facts, not opinions) the decision was that we would not go to 7 day coverage.
I would ask you, however, to consider two other facts, neither of which have raised their heads much thus far in the entire debate, although with great vision, you did hint quite strongly about one of them.
I trust you realise, that there are not ANY circumstances, in which 865 would be able to remain on air until the end of each UKOPS Tourney? Last night's UKOPS3 never finished until beyond 2am, & some of the rest of UKOPS will finish even later. In fact, they would not even make the Final Table before transmission had to end. Imagine the hoohah THAT would cause! There are SOME things I would ask you to take on trust, & the fact that we cannot, under any circumstances, run the Show beyond 1am, 2am or even 3am is just NOT do-able, for numerous practical, logistical & financial reasons.
And now open your mind to another possible situation. Let's suppose - hypothetically, & as you shrewdly alluded - that UKOPS was not an Annual affair, but a twice, thrice, quarterly per year jobbie, or or even bi-monthly or monthly affair. Hypothetically, of course. Now, having set the precadent of 7 day TV UKOPS coverage, the bill starts to mount up, & inexorably rise further. A while back, 865 was reduced to 3 days per week of "Live" coverage, & there's no way it can be allowed to "creep back" up to 7 days, the money is just not there, budgets have been re-allocated, it is being spent in other areas of Marketing & Promotion now.
Well-managed businesses need to be disciplined as to spend, & that decision was made, & will be stuck to.
When 865 reduced live coverage to 3 nights per week, the doomsayers said it would damage the business. The business is more than 50% bigger now than it was then, though...
TV is a great tool to have, fun to watch, we hope, & fun to do. Whether it would drive business to UKOPS is a different matter altogether, though. Perhaps a different market is being attacked now......
Incidentally, I have a personal vested interest in more night's Live coverage, because I am employed by 865 as well as, & in addition to, being employed by Sky Poker. (They are different things). So more TV coverage would mean more work, & more income, for me. In fact, there is a double whammy, because I am playing every UKOPS (Friday excepted) on my own money, except the nights I have the TV Show, & as I have not even had the sniff of a cash yet, it's costing me a fortune!
Bring on 7 day coverage, I reckon.....;)
Anyway smitty, thanks for the input, & I really hope you are enjoying UKOPS.
Interesting developments and comments on this thread, I would of thought overall everyone will conclude that UKOPS has been a resounding success.
As for the TV debate, perhaps the UKOPS2 schedule could be tweaked a little, for instance, as and when UKOPS2 comes along, perhaps the first night (Event 1 and the series) can be 'launched' live on Sunday's programme and then run for 8 consecutive nights, ending with the finale main event being televised live the following Sunday night.
So we would have:
Sunday - UKOPS Event 1 - The launch of UKOPS2 is thus TELEVISED LIVE ensuring maximum interest & promotion
Monday - Wednesday - UKOPS Events 2 -4
Thursday - UKOPS Event 5 The High Roller - TELEVISED LIVE
Friday - UKOPS Event 6
Satruday - UKOPS Event 7 - TELEVISED LIVE and will include the final promotion and push for the series finale
Sunday - UKOPS Event 8 - The finale and Main Event TELEVISED LIVE
So SKY have an even bigger and better UKOPS series with 50% of events TELEVISED LIVE!!!!
Interesting developments and comments on this thread, I would of thought overall everyone will conclude that UKOPS has been a resounding success. As for the TV debate, perhaps the UKOPS2 schedule could be tweaked a little, for instance, as and when UKOPS2 comes along, perhaps the first night (Event 1 and the series) can be 'launched' live on Sunday's programme and then run for 8 consecutive nights, ending with the finale main event being televised live the following Sunday night. So we would have: Sunday - UKOPS Event 1 - The launch of UKOPS2 is thus TELEVISED LIVE ensuring maximum interest & promotion Monday - Wednesday - UKOPS Events 2 -4 Thursday - UKOPS Event 5 The High Roller - TELEVISED LIVE Friday - UKOPS Event 6 Satruday - UKOPS Event 7 - TELEVISED LIVE and will include the final promotion and push for the series finale Sunday - UKOPS Event 8 - The finale and Main Event TELEVISED LIVE So SKY have an even bigger and better UKOPS series with 50% of events TELEVISED LIVE!!!! Everyone's a winner!!! Well almost. Posted by TheDart
Err, I could not possibly comment......
Fine Post, Darty. Very fine indeed....
Meanwhile, with just over 30 mins to go, tonight's High-Roller is Guaranteed over 70 runners.
Good to see everyone chipping in with their thoughts, the more ideas the better to make the UKOPS and SkyPoker in general better for now and the future imo!
Thank you for your lengthy and thought-out reply Tikay, it's much appreciated for you to come in the thread and discuss all things SkyPoker. And to get such a detailed reply like that, well, thank you very much (again) for your time and effort sir! I think UKOPS has been a great success so far and hope that events and promotions like this are only a snippet of what's to come in the future. Right, better get grinding! GL all! Cheers, Carlos Smitalos
Huge congrats to IH8PALACE for shipping Event 4, the biggest tournament prize in the history of Sky Poker. I'm delighted to see a fellow Brighton supporter take it down.
That was an unbelievable night for myself on the Sky Poker tables. I admit, I was nervous about playing in an event like this and I'd have taken the £500 instead of the seat, if it had been offered at the end of the satelllite.
It was a terrific experience playing against the big boys, although it didn't start well with Carlo beating my Kings in my first real hand with 9 10 when he made a straight. I had my share of luck to make it to the cash especially my shove with AQ against Kings and binking the Ace.
The cash bubble seemed to last forever, a shove with nines from under the gun and the wait for everyone to fold took an age, like waiting to find out who won Total Player! Thankfully for me, the bubble burst and I had made the cash.
The next few hands seemed unreal as another two players exited including YoYo. To make the final table was by far and away my best poker achievement. I was happy enough just being on the same table as the YoYo, Gidzo, Glitterbabe and the rest.
Apologies for droning on but I need to thank everyone for the rail at the end. I appreciated all the good lucks and congrat comments. Thanks to Irene aka Trip5 who silently railed from the start (who would of thought Irene can be quiet!).
Hopefully another DTD player will run good in the forthcoming events, thank you sky poker!
I can't sleep at the moment!!! That was an unbelievable night for myself on the Sky Poker tables. I admit, I was nervous about playing in an event like this and I'd have taken the £500 instead of the seat, if it had been offered at the end of the satelllite. It was a terrific experience playing against the big boys, although it didn't start well with Carlo beating my Kings in my first real hand with 9 10 when he made a straight. I had my share of luck to make it to the cash especially my shove with AQ against Kings and binking the Ace. The cash bubble seemed to last forever, a shove with nines from under the gun and the wait for everyone to fold took an age, like waiting to find out who won Total Player! Thankfully for me, the bubble burst and I had made the cash. The next few hands seemed unreal as another two players exited including YoYo. To make the final table was by far and away my best poker achievement. I was happy enough just being on the same table as the YoYo, Gidzo, Glitterbabe and the rest. Apologies for droning on but I need to thank everyone for the rail at the end. I appreciated all the good lucks and congrat comments. Thanks to Irene aka Trip5 who silently railed from the start (who would of thought Irene can be quiet!). Hopefully another DTD player will run good in the forthcoming events, thank you sky poker! Night all. Posted by rossjb14
Why can I not use the free £10 promo on tournaments straightaway?? Is there a catch that I didn't see?? If any one can asnwer this little question would be most obliged
Comments
Wednesday 2nd November 2011
UKOPS Event 3 - £10,000 Gtd. Double Stack
https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby?action=go_tnmt_lobby&game_id=5195684&guid=f23b074c-1703-4cf4-8b4f-aa8b38538380
not taking into account the massive overlay that sky got done for in the first week of sats
plus they get taxed on all rake
plus all the expenses of all the UKOPS stuff like the site graphics/leaflets at SPT/producing promo videos."
scotty get your tongue out of skypokers ar se!!
why cant people on this forum give some input without being shot down??? i dont think its fair..
surely everyone has a right to there own opinion.. and its not like hes talking absolute rubbish is it...
its not impossible for sky to air more of the ukops next time around...
surely increasing the traffic of the site long term will increase revenue long term... so i think airing all the ukops would potentially increase future profits over the following... gotta spend money to make money havent you??
i dont disagree with the fact they spend alot of money etc etc... as sky are very good imo...
i also think it would of been nice to air all of the series as its not a regular occurance is it?
its a bit like hosting the world cup... we are only gonna show the semi final and the final.... just doesnt seem to be logical...
at the end of the day... sky is a business and its up to them what they want and wish to do...
but also keeping the majority happy is also good as they want feedback..
gl to all...
Heck, I'd vlog about the UKOPS series for free for gods sake! It can't be that hard to string some form of display together to give the series a little more prestiege.
Cheers,
Carlos Smitalos
P.s. Thanks to IMAROCK for covering my back, much appreciated man. It doesn't take someone to agree with you to have to stick up for ya, thanks again dude. Even if people don't agree with what i've said in my posts that's absolutely fine with me!
Apparently 100 meeting went into the making of UKOPS - I'm guessing a few fewer meetings, and the air-time would have been more than covered, and the world would have more little packets of biscuits than now (tongue in cheek, btw).
To see TommyD suggest that Sky needs to move away from their TV roots and that no-one cares about the channel is nonsense.
Maybe Apple might want to discontinue their iPod and iPhone series - we're all bored of them now. When you have a unique selling point, don't rejoin the crowd.
I'll mention again that when the open (and velocity) was shown nightly, the tournament was maxed out at 600 EVERY NIGHT. It's clear that Sky can't afford such frippery, but 7 days of TV to go with the UKOPS events seems like a great idea to me.
I'm made up that the series has been a success, and hope it is repeated (at least annually if not 6-monthly or more). Due to work commitments etc, I am unlikely to play an more of this series' events, but can't remember being so excited to see my table open for these tournaments since my early days of online poker.
TommyD - Thanks for taking the time to respond with such humility sir! Brought a smile to my face just reading your thought out response, so thank you!
I was chatting to a poker-mate of mine from Canada the other week and explained how i've moved to Sky. (He hadn't even heard of the site to be honest!). But when i mentioned the 'you can be on TV' thing, his ears perked up and said it was "sick" in a good way! :P
Yes, Sky doesn't want to be a one trick pony with the TV thing, but my oh my is it one **** of a trick to get people onboard and loyal to the site in the first place.
SkyDave - All i can really say is thank you for coming to the thread, and that i'm glad some of the stuff is being taken onboard.
I apologise dearly for the ramblyness of my reply, i've been up for about 20hrs and am knackered!
Keep up the good discussion guys.
Cheers,
Carlos Smitalos
Bounty hunters continue to be very popular on this site and adding to Scotty77's suggestion I think the £100 buy in should be something to try and include in the tornament schedule on a regular basis.
Also, if the UKOPS event is repeated it may be worth adding an small extra buy-in of 50p to the main tourament each night so that the winner gets the normal cash winnings plus a seat to the main event. Dependant upon entrants this may even stretch to 2nd or 3rd place receiving seats to the main event - just a thought.
Very well done so far - can't wait for tonight's show!
Yo smitilos, & good morning to you.
Thanks for the feedback man, I thought it was a fair & balanced piece, & have no issue with it at all. That's not to say we agree, but such well-mannered debate is rare, & a delight, & we have no probs with that.
I hope my replies on thread have not been overly aggressive, but, to be wholly honest, the phrase "half-hearted" grated more than a little. "Sky Poker got it wrong" may be acceptable, but "half-hearted" was a tad below the belt & ill-informed, I felt. I'm not exactly in a position to respond in kind, either. It MAY have been done badly - that's abso fair comment for debate - but it has not been done "half-hearted", anything but. Sky Poker got it wrong? Maybe, if you like. (The numbers tell a different story). Half-hearted? Strewth, you have no idea! Does anyone itt actually know what the business case for UKOPS is, what market segment is being focused upon?
I think the TV coverage thing has been done to death, everyone has said their piece.
I did say that the question of TV coverage had been VERY closely examined, & after those with the facts to hand weighed it all up, the decision was "no" to 7 day blanket coverage, but "yes" to coverage on Thursday, Saturday, & Sunday. So it's not a total UKOPS TV blank. I can only add this item was considered at very great length, but for good reasons I'm not going to enlarge further upon right now, (most have been stated already, & as facts, not opinions) the decision was that we would not go to 7 day coverage.
I would ask you, however, to consider two other facts, neither of which have raised their heads much thus far in the entire debate, although with great vision, you did hint quite strongly about one of them.
I trust you realise, that there are not ANY circumstances, in which 865 would be able to remain on air until the end of each UKOPS Tourney? Last night's UKOPS3 never finished until beyond 2am, & some of the rest of UKOPS will finish even later. In fact, they would not even make the Final Table before transmission had to end. Imagine the hoohah THAT would cause! There are SOME things I would ask you to take on trust, & the fact that we cannot, under any circumstances, run the Show beyond 1am, 2am or even 3am is just NOT do-able, for numerous practical, logistical & financial reasons.
And now open your mind to another possible situation. Let's suppose - hypothetically, & as you shrewdly alluded - that UKOPS was not an Annual affair, but a twice, thrice, quarterly per year jobbie, or or even bi-monthly or monthly affair. Hypothetically, of course. Now, having set the precadent of 7 day TV UKOPS coverage, the bill starts to mount up, & inexorably rise further. A while back, 865 was reduced to 3 days per week of "Live" coverage, & there's no way it can be allowed to "creep back" up to 7 days, the money is just not there, budgets have been re-allocated, it is being spent in other areas of Marketing & Promotion now.
Well-managed businesses need to be disciplined as to spend, & that decision was made, & will be stuck to.
When 865 reduced live coverage to 3 nights per week, the doomsayers said it would damage the business. The business is more than 50% bigger now than it was then, though...
TV is a great tool to have, fun to watch, we hope, & fun to do. Whether it would drive business to UKOPS is a different matter altogether, though. Perhaps a different market is being attacked now......
Incidentally, I have a personal vested interest in more night's Live coverage, because I am employed by 865 as well as, & in addition to, being employed by Sky Poker. (They are different things). So more TV coverage would mean more work, & more income, for me. In fact, there is a double whammy, because I am playing every UKOPS (Friday excepted) on my own money, except the nights I have the TV Show, & as I have not even had the sniff of a cash yet, it's costing me a fortune!
Bring on 7 day coverage, I reckon.....;)
Anyway smitty, thanks for the input, & I really hope you are enjoying UKOPS.
As for the TV debate, perhaps the UKOPS2 schedule could be tweaked a little, for instance, as and when UKOPS2 comes along, perhaps the first night (Event 1 and the series) can be 'launched' live on Sunday's programme and then run for 8 consecutive nights, ending with the finale main event being televised live the following Sunday night.
So we would have:
Sunday - UKOPS Event 1 - The launch of UKOPS2 is thus TELEVISED LIVE ensuring maximum interest & promotion
Monday - Wednesday - UKOPS Events 2 -4
Thursday - UKOPS Event 5 The High Roller - TELEVISED LIVE
Friday - UKOPS Event 6
Satruday - UKOPS Event 7 - TELEVISED LIVE and will include the final promotion and push for the series finale
Sunday - UKOPS Event 8 - The finale and Main Event TELEVISED LIVE
So SKY have an even bigger and better UKOPS series with 50% of events TELEVISED LIVE!!!!
Everyone's a winner!!! Well almost.
Fine Post, Darty. Very fine indeed....
Meanwhile, with just over 30 mins to go, tonight's High-Roller is Guaranteed over 70 runners.
Happy days? Just a bit.
Thank you for your lengthy and thought-out reply Tikay, it's much appreciated for you to come in the thread and discuss all things SkyPoker. And to get such a detailed reply like that, well, thank you very much (again) for your time and effort sir!
I think UKOPS has been a great success so far and hope that events and promotions like this are only a snippet of what's to come in the future.
Right, better get grinding! GL all!
Cheers,
Carlos Smitalos
Thursday 3rd November 2011
UKOPS Event 4 - £25,000 Gtd. High Roller
https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby?action=go_tnmt_lobby&game_id=5195697&guid=ef942954-6a47-494f-ab16-2715d26ef4a2
That was an unbelievable night for myself on the Sky Poker tables. I admit, I was nervous about playing in an event like this and I'd have taken the £500 instead of the seat, if it had been offered at the end of the satelllite.
It was a terrific experience playing against the big boys, although it didn't start well with Carlo beating my Kings in my first real hand with 9 10 when he made a straight. I had my share of luck to make it to the cash especially my shove with AQ against Kings and binking the Ace.
The cash bubble seemed to last forever, a shove with nines from under the gun and the wait for everyone to fold took an age, like waiting to find out who won Total Player! Thankfully for me, the bubble burst and I had made the cash.
The next few hands seemed unreal as another two players exited including YoYo. To make the final table was by far and away my best poker achievement. I was happy enough just being on the same table as the YoYo, Gidzo, Glitterbabe and the rest.
Apologies for droning on but I need to thank everyone for the rail at the end. I appreciated all the good lucks and congrat comments. Thanks to Irene aka Trip5 who silently railed from the start (who would of thought Irene can be quiet!).
Hopefully another DTD player will run good in the forthcoming events, thank you sky poker!
Night all.
WD Rossjim!!!! :-)