Last night's outage.....

Tikay10

Good morning.

A quick note to apologise for the unscheduled outage which affected all Sky Poker players for around 6 minutes last night, at 10.11pm.

In fact, it was right across all Sky Betting & Gaming sites, & affected all individuals who were on the platform equally. "Poker" is quite busy at that time of night, of course, more so perhaps than, say, "Bet", so it was most unfortunate for the poker players.

The problem was Guernsey-based & due to a network switch problem. Failover was deployed successfully, but there was a brief outage during this process.

All players were able to re-connect & play normally as soon as the problem resolved, & there were no residual issues.

Please speak to Customer Care if you have any queries, or feel you were disadvantaged relative to others. Queries about this cannot be resolved via the Community.

Terms & Conditions exist to cover such situations, & will be applied fairly.

Again, apologies for the Outage.   

POKERTREV

In Response to Last night's outage.....:

Good morning. A quick note to apologise for the unscheduled outage which affected all Sky Poker players for around 6 minutes last night, at 10.11pm. In fact, it was right across all Sky Betting & Gaming sites, & affected all individuals who were on the platform equally. "Poker" is quite busy at that time of night, of course, more so perhaps than, say, "Bet", so it was most unfortunate for the poker players. The problem was Guernsey-based & due to a network switch problem. Failover was deployed successfully, but there was a brief outage during this process. All players were able to re-connect & play normally as soon as the problem resolved, & there were no residual issues. Please speak to Customer Care if you have any queries, or feel you were disadvantaged relative to others. Queries about this cannot be resolved via the Community. Terms & Conditions exist to cover such situations, & will be applied fairly. Again, apologies for the Outage.    
Posted by Tikay10

I am outraged by this unscheduled outage

If only it had happened an hour earlier, at least I may have been able to try and ask for my money back after donking all my chips off haha!!!

Can you have a word with the guy who's job title is "network switch" and ask him to flick it an hour earlier for me please?

jonjo75

The timing of it was crazy. I had just called an all in with AhKh for about 50% of my stack in the £55 BH and saw my opponent turn over 77. At exactly that point I lost connection so had a 6 min sweat to see the result. I suppose must have been worse for the guy allin but was nice to see my stack had increased when I returned :~)

Tikay10

Lol @ Trev.

It would have been much worse if it had happened at 8.11.

It would have been much better if it had not happened at all.

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

The timing of it was crazy. I had just called an all in with AhKh for about 50% of my stack in the £55 BH and saw my opponent turn over 77. At exactly that point I lost connection so had a 6 min sweat to see the result. I suppose must have been worse for the guy allin but was nice to see my stack had increased when I returned :~)
Posted by jonjo75

Happy days - for you, not so much for 7-7 man.

Talking of that 6 minute sweat.....

A friend of mine was playing the WSOP Main this year, & had gone very deep, Day 5 I think.

He got the lot in with 9-9, & got called by A-K of hearts, the flop was dealt, & came two hearts, so he was sweating "no heart, no A, no K" with 2 cards to come. He had a LOT of dodging to do, & if he held, he would have a Top 10 stack.

At that very moment, the ESPN camera crew were called across, & the Dealer was told not to deal the turn & river until they arrived. It took them EIGHT minutes to arrive.........now THAT was a sweat!

Poker gets us in some amazing spots & situations sometimes.

joesman1

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

In Response to Re: Last night's outage..... : Happy days - for you, not so much for 7-7 man. Talking of that 6 minute sweat..... A friend of mine was playing the WSOP Main this year, & had gone very deep, Day 5 I think. He got the lot in with 9-9, & got called by A-K of hearts, the flop was dealt, & came two hearts, so he was sweating "no heart, no A, no K" with 2 cards to come. He had a LOT of dodging to do, & if he held, he would have a Top 10 stack. At that very moment, the ESPN camera crew were called across, & the Dealer was told not to deal the turn & river until they arrived. It took them EIGHT minutes to arrive.........now THAT was a sweat! Poker gets us in some amazing spots & situations sometimes.
Posted by Tikay10

Talk about telling 'half a story'!!! lol . . . Did the 9's hold??

Tikay10

Whoops, sorry Joe.

No, the turn came the heart, & he went busto.

He's a seasoned Pro, he can handle that sort of stuff all day & night, as any half-decent pro can & should, but the 8 minute delay was not very nice, & quite un-necessary, in my opinion.

ESPN demand to film EVERY "all-in & call" from Day Three onwards, so they film, literally,  hundreds of them. I doubt 5 of them make the TV Shows though.

ESPN are a major revenue source for the WSOP, & so some slack must be allowed, but the players derive not a cent of benefit, so it's a bit out of order really.

Padzz77

The big problem for me is not that there was an outage.  Everything breaks from time to time, including major network TV channels.

The problem is that not all players got back at the same time.  On my table, one player had got back before the others and had taken down all the blinds for a while before the rest of us got back.

I note the advice about contacting CS, and I totally get the fact that there's nothing else to be said.  But, for the record, I did contact them in a similar situation previously.  I waited patiently for about 10 minutes for them to answer (not surprising that they would be busy in the circs).  They kept telling me that the problem was that I was using Chrome (and I kept telling them it was the download version).  They said that they would refund my buy-in, and I told them that they didnt have to do that.  They said they would do so anyway.  I thanked them for it, and that was the end of the conversation.

I never got the refund though.  So I just wasted 15 mins for no reason other than to be told that I shouldnt use Chrome (when I wasnt!)

ArkhamCity

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

They said that they would refund my buy-in, and I told them that they didnt have to do that.  They said they would do so anyway.  I thanked them for it, and that was the end of the conversation. I never got the refund though.  So I just wasted 15 mins for no reason other than to be told that I shouldnt use Chrome (when I wasnt!)
Posted by Padzz77

I guess Padzz77, they did not want to force the refund on you when you did not want it and decided to listen to the customer. :X

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

The big problem for me is not that there was an outage.  Everything breaks from time to time, including major network TV channels. The problem is that not all players got back at the same time.  On my table, one player had got back before the others and had taken down all the blinds for a while before the rest of us got back. I note the advice about contacting CS, and I totally get the fact that there's nothing else to be said.  But, for the record, I did contact them in a similar situation previously.  I waited patiently for about 10 minutes for them to answer (not surprising that they would be busy in the circs).  They kept telling me that the problem was that I was using Chrome (and I kept telling them it was the download version).  They said that they would refund my buy-in, and I told them that they didnt have to do that.  They said they would do so anyway.  I thanked them for it, and that was the end of the conversation. I never got the refund though.  So I just wasted 15 mins for no reason other than to be told that I shouldnt use Chrome (when I wasnt!)
Posted by Padzz77

Morning padzz.

As far as I know, the site came back up after 6 minutes for everyone. The problem was not one of those frustrating "intermittent, some do some don't" things, it was a TOTAL outage.
 
It returned, literally, at the flick of a switch - go. I'm not an IT-savvy type, but I do know that even if it returns simultaneously for every single player - & it did - it still takes varying amounts of time to populate via different spec browsers & such like.
 
I'm sorry to hear of your previous experience with Customer Care. The reality is, in 95 cases out of a 100 (I just guessed those numbers...) it is "user end", & as you can imagine, in the world of gaming for money, a lot of people "try it on". Like you would not believe. So it is a very tough gig indeed for Customer Care of this or any other Gaming Company, trying to sort the wheat from the chaff.

I'm very surprised you were offered a refund which did not materisalise. If you have details of the when what & where, you should speak to them again, or write to them, & the matter will be properly resolved. 

We could throw this back & forth all day. It should not have happened, it did, we apologise.

Padzz77

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

In Response to Re: Last night's outage..... : Morning padzz. As far as I know, the site came back up after 6 minutes for everyone. The problem was not one of those frustrating "intermittent, some do some don't" things, it was a TOTAL outage.   It returned, literally, at the flick of a switch - go. I'm not an IT-savvy type, but I do know that even if it returns simultaneously for every single player - & it did - it still takes varying amounts of time to populate via different spec browsers & such like.   I'm sorry to hear of your previous experience with Customer Care. The reality is, in 95 cases out of a 100 (I just guessed those numbers...) it is "user end", & as you can imagine, in the world of gaming for money, a lot of people "try it on". Like you would not believe. So it is a very tough gig indeed for Customer Care of this or any other Gaming Company, trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. I'm very surprised you were offered a refund which did not materisalise. If you have details of the when what & where, you should speak to them again, or write to them, & the matter will be properly resolved.  We could throw this back & forth all day. It should not have happened, it did, we apologise.
Posted by Tikay10

Yeah, exactly.

Given that that's a known factor, then why not try to minimise it.  

ie the outage itself is unavoidable, but the disadvantages to players should not be unfair or random.

After an outage like this, there should be an autobreak of 5 mins in all MTTs and SNGs.  That would give players the chance to all come back to the game at the same time.

Alternatively (and this would be better but harder to implement) after an outage, players should not automatically be dealt back into the game.  They should have to tick a box to show that they are back before the game continued.

To try to give a real-life analogy, let's say there was a bomb scare or a fire alarm during a live event.  The organisers could not be blamed for the fact that the tournament had to be temporarily suspended.  However, I think they could be blamed if they resumed dealing, and blinding people off, before everyone had had adequate time to file back into the building and resume their seat.

  

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

In Response to Re: Last night's outage..... : Yeah, exactly. Given that that's a known factor, then why not try to minimise it.   ie the outage itself is unavoidable, but the disadvantages to players should not be unfair or random. After an outage like this, there should be an autobreak of 5 mins in all MTTs and SNGs.  That would give players the chance to all come back to the game at the same time. Alternatively (and this would be better but harder to implement) after an outage, players should not automatically be dealt back into the game.  They should have to tick a box to show that they are back before the game continued. To try to give a real-life analogy, let's say there was a bomb scare or a fire alarm during a live event.  The organisers could not be blamed for the fact that the tournament had to be temporarily suspended.  However, I think they could be blamed if they resumed dealing, and blinding people off, before everyone had had adequate time to file back into the building and resume their seat.   
Posted by Padzz77

Nice idea, but impossible to implement.

During the outage, the ENTIRE platform was unavailable, so it was not possible to set those sort of things up during the outage, however desirable they may or may not be.
 
The "Live analogy" I understand, but it is not really comparable.

Poker has a lot of "unfair/unlucky" ingredients, and if someone got unlucky here, it is, I wholly agree, very unfortunate. Others, luckier types, must have got lucky in exact proportion, I assume.
 
Personally, I prefer to look at the root cause of any problem in life, solve that, & nothing else need solving, as the reconnection rate was a collateral event.

The root cause was the real problem here, everything stemmed from that. For which I apologise, on behalf of the business.

RLT16

i was in a 3.15 heads up game at the time i have no idea wether i won or lost or whatever but it doesnt matter really i'll just use my poker skills to take it back of someone else

Padzz77

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

In Response to Re: Last night's outage..... : ....he ENTIRE platform was unavailable, so it was not possible to set those sort of things up during the outage, .....
Posted by Tikay10

Yeah, obviously I realise that it would have to be set up in advance for future outages, and that it's not something that could have been implemented on the hoof last night.

But it's about the third time its happened in a couple of weeks, so why not plan for furture similar events.

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

In Response to Re: Last night's outage..... :  The "Live analogy" I understand, but it is not really comparable. ....
Posted by Tikay10

I know it is not literally the same thing.  My point is that some people would get back into the building before others.  The correct time to resume the event is when all the players are back (or, at least, when all the players have had a reasonable opportunity to get back).

It would be totally unreasonable for a bricks and mortar casino to start the game again just because one player was back, and allow that one player to get everyone else's blinds for a few minutes.  And, as we all know, on-line poker is played much quicker and so a few minutes on line play could easily be a couple of orbits if all the "away" players are having their time bars go down superfast.

So that's were I think it is comparable.  

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

In Response to Re: Last night's outage..... : Poker has a lot of "unfair/unlucky" ingredients, and if someone got unlucky here, it is, I wholly agree, very unfortunate. Others, luckier types, must have got lucky in exact proportion, I assume.   ....
Posted by Tikay10

So I shouldnt be unhappy because I lost chips?  I should console myself with the thought that someone else was able to win them off me?  

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

In Response to Re: Last night's outage..... : Personally, I prefer to look at the root cause of any problem in life, solve that, & nothing else need solving, as the reconnection rate was a collateral event . The root cause was the real problem here, everything stemmed from that. For which I apologise, on behalf of the business.
Posted by Tikay10

I understand that it wasnt deliberate, and I'm certain Sky take every conceivable measure to avoid these things.  And this has happened a few times recently, and so I am sure that Sky is trying to find a solution.

But since we all agree that outages will happen occasionally, then why not put measures in place to help people.

There obviously has to be a compromise that suits those people who are able to get back quickly and are impatient for play to resume, and those who are shut out a bit longer.

I also think that some thought should be given to fact that not everyone is going to want to sit by a computer for an indeterminate lenght of time trying to get back on.  On a recent outage in the early hours of the morning, I didnt know whether to go to bed or to wait for the tournament that I was in about 3rd place in to resume.  There was nothing on Twitter, for example.

If Sky cannot find a techincal solution as per what I suggeted above, then how about this.  Introduce a new rule to say that if there is an outage of more than (say) 15 minutes, then all players have the option of not resuming their seat.  Instead, they will receive a payout calculated according to the same method you use for timed tournaments.   That gives people the freedom of choice, at least.  ie if they try to get back on for 15 mins, and it doesnt work, then they have the peace of mind of knowing that they can go about their business and get something back  (less than a buy-in if below starting stack, more than a buyin otherwise).

That would mean that the people who do get back on and who decide to snaffle the chips are free to do so.  This wouldnt need a change to the software; it would just need to be publicised to people that they must not play any more hands at all (or click the "I'm back" button) unless theyre willing to resume play with their reduced stack.

Tikay10

"....So I shouldnt be unhappy because I lost chips?  I should console myself with the thought that someone else was able to win them off me?....."  

Well I never said that.

You asked a series of questions, & I tried to reply openly & honestly. Things happen sometimes, not always as intended.

You are entitled to be miffed, I simply tried to make the point that for every miffed player, there was an unmiffed (I just invented that word) player.
 
I'm sorry we are not on the same wavelength, & I repect your views.   

Padzz77

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

"....So I shouldnt be unhappy because I lost chips?  I should console myself with the thought that someone else was able to win them off me?....."   Well I never said that. You asked a series of questions, & I tried to reply openly & honestly. Things happen sometimes, not always as intended. You are entitled to be miffed, I simply tried to make the point that for every miffed player, there was an unmiffed (I just invented that word) player.   I'm sorry we are not on the same wavelength, & I repect your views.    
Posted by Tikay10

I'm not all that bothered.  It was a small buy-in, I was playing badly anyway.  I was probably out soon outage or no outage.

But at the start of the hand in which the problem occurred, I had 3900 with blinds of 200 (so just under 20, ofc).

At the start of the next hand I could play, I had 2500 with blinds of 300 (so just over 8, ofc).

Obviously that does make a big difference to my chances of survival.   

The player on my left meanwhile, had been able to add plenty of chips to his stack.

So, as you rightly say, what worked out bad for me, worked out good for him.  But there could easily be a system where neither of us lost and neither of us gained.  Isnt that better for everyone?

edge215

6mins...lol have never been disconnected for less than 15min....easily an hour last night....but all one can do is apologise....and as i said.....would find it hard to do without skypoker......all i would really like to know is can i safely invest £11 quid in future tournaments....my heart my dog or my table cant take anymore frustrating disconnects.(lol)....( Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

"....So I shouldnt be unhappy because I lost chips?  I should console myself with the thought that someone else was able to win them off me?....."   Well I never said that. You asked a series of questions, & I tried to reply openly & honestly. Things happen sometimes, not always as intended. You are entitled to be miffed, I simply tried to make the point that for every miffed player, there was an unmiffed (I just invented that word) player.   I'm sorry we are not on the same wavelength, & I repect your views.    
Posted by Tikay10

Tikay10

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

6mins...lol have never been disconnected for less than 15min....easily an hour last night....but all one can do is apologise....and as i said.....would find it hard to do without skypoker......all i would really like to know is can i safely invest £11 quid in future tournaments....my heart my dog or my table cant take anymore frustrating disconnects.(lol)....( Response to Re: Last night's outage..... :
Posted by edge215

Hi again Edge,

Well if it was an hour last night, then there may be a completely different problem, or explanation.

The outage was exactly 6 minutes, & even allowing for repopulation & different reload speeds of various browsers, it would not take an hour to reconnect, so I'm a bit mystified by this.
 
Anyway, apologies, especially to the dog. Give my regards to Bono when you see him, too. 

PS - Thank you for the very kind PM, much appreciated.   

aussie09

i don't know whether i am outraged yet.  i will go and check to see whether i was still playing.  one moment...

aussie09

i can only describe last night's event at 10:11pm as almost outrageous.  i was knocked out of the open at 10:03pm.  i was almost outraged.

MP33

In Response to Re: Last night's outage.....:

The big problem for me is not that there was an outage.  Everything breaks from time to time, including major network TV channels. The problem is that not all players got back at the same time.  On my table, one player had got back before the others and had taken down all the blinds for a while before the rest of us got back. I note the advice about contacting CS, and I totally get the fact that there's nothing else to be said.  But, for the record, I did contact them in a similar situation previously.  I waited patiently for about 10 minutes for them to answer (not surprising that they would be busy in the circs).  They kept telling me that the problem was that I was using Chrome (and I kept telling them it was the download version).  They said that they would refund my buy-in, and I told them that they didnt have to do that.  They said they would do so anyway.  I thanked them for it, and that was the end of the conversation. I never got the refund though.  So I just wasted 15 mins for no reason other than to be told that I shouldnt use Chrome (when I wasnt!)
Posted by Padzz77

Have some sympathy with you on this point as it happened to me last week

 All i can advise is write to CS and give as much info as you possibly can about the the game. I was on the miffed side as some guy who  must have been very unmiffed stole the blinds to win the game. I was compensated to some extent but i,d really like to know how ppl get back on quicker than others

Don,t think its down to browser as i tried Chrome and explorer 7. Could it be that its just some computers internet speeds. Thats the only thing i can think off, but i,m not a tekkie myself


Paul