Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...

Sky_Poker

Hi all

One of the things we do each day is have freerolls. In recent times, the value from this has been in the region of £600 per day, which is around £4,200 per week, £18,000 per month and £219,000 per year! (excluding other freeroll promotions we do).

So why do we 'give away' this money?

In a way it's like a promotion which has benefits like:
- Rewarding loyal players (hence some recent changes) - a big reason for them
- Giving people the chance to build a bankroll (potentially from nothing)
- Give people the chance to satellite into events for free
- Giving people the chance to try Sky Poker for free
- It can attract new players, keep existing ones and get others back with us
- Gets more people onsite to help liquidity once they move onto other games
- etc....

In a way it’s like promotions that other companies do, so for example when you are shopping in the supermarket and someone gives you a free sample, they hope you will like it, buy some and become a regular customer. Or, it’s like a magazine giving you a free issue (or a much reduced price), hoping you like it and subscribe. You get the point.

So, thinking about the above, especially about rewarding loyal customers and attracting more players - how would you spend those amounts of money if you were us?

So, something that might be considered a good idea would be - "make the free cash freeroll £250 every day and use the other £250s to have a big freeroll once a week or month which is 100 points to enter". We’re sure you can do better!

In our view, a 'bad' idea would be - "have one massive freeroll for the whole £219,000 that anyone can enter". Why is this not good? Well basically because (a) 'anyone' means lots and lots of runners for it (b) this dilutes the value for others (c) there's no sense of earning it / rewarding people (d) it's only a short-term promotion putting all your eggs in one basket, once it's over that's it.

Also think about the format for this – Should it be timed? Should it be cash or satellites? (or both) Should it be other prizes?

As you can imagine, it's hard to please everyone on this. There will be differences of opinion and people will probably want things that suit them personally but let's keep this open and friendly please.

It will be interesting to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Thanks
Sky Poker

DoubleAAA

Why not have a weekly £3k Freezeout Tournament total £12k, costs 50pts to enter then that leaves £6k for daily tournaments around £230 per day costing 25pts to enter? Or perhaps have a once a fortnight £6k freezeout instead of the weekly £3k one.

GaryQQQ

In my opinion the bulk of the money should be used to attract and/or retain newbies and recreational players. Without those guys the games would dry up for everybody.

VespaPX

I would like to see some Freerolls for Omaha & Omaha Hi-Lo
May attract more players to these formats?
Cheers

chicknMelt

i like the idea of a bigger weekly/monthly freeroll too... would be inclined to do something like £100 daily freeroll, daily qualifiers to big weekly/monthly freerolls.

daily freerolls = £3k pm

weekly big frerolls = £10k pm

BIG Monthly freeroll = £5k

chicknMelt

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

i like the idea of a bigger weekly/monthly freeroll too... would be inclined to do something like £100 daily freeroll, daily qualifiers to big weekly/monthly freerolls. daily freerolls = £3k pm weekly big frerolls = £10k pm BIG Monthly freeroll = £5k
Posted by chicknMelt

...and new players dont need to qualify for any of the months big freerolls.

hhyftrftdr

This thread is brave Sky.

Very brave.

churchy18

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

I would like to see some Freerolls for Omaha & Omaha Hi-Lo May attract more players to these formats? Cheers
Posted by VespaPX

A BIG +1

churchy18

what about doing like you say £200 freerolls daily and say the top 50(if someone has already qualified just give they,re seat too next person who has not already gained entry as they will still get the money they won)
 win a seat into the weekly/monthly tournament. maybe even do 2 tournaments 1 for the top 50 finishers and 1 for 50-100

but i would say lower the points entry too say 25 points as when you are a dym player it is not that easy too make the points required too be able too play these freerolls dailly even although most days i play for about 4/5 hours but am getting priced out of these tournaments as i dont make enough points .i only make 700/800 points a month from the dyms

or how about making it that you have too have played at least 3 dyms or at cash tables three times around the table and say 2 mtts too gain entry too the daily freerolls

there will probably be better ideas by others but just throwing it out there.

and as vespa has said what about us hi/lo players could there not be a weekly freeroll for that as i know there is not enough demand for a daily 1

unknown_username

To be honest discussions on freerolls have got out of hand lately.
If their incentive to encourage more participation on the site, isnt working.
To be honest get shot of them!
instead of numerous tournaments, have as suggested earlier. One massive tournament either weekly or monthly,
Another site I use. Instead of multiple freerolls, awards tournament tokens in relation to my contributions to the site.
Im pretty sure many players would prefer a token ranging from a 30p DYM up to a main event based upon their play. Which they could then use when it suits them.
Rather than than take part in a tournament with 1500 opponents where the majority of cashes are less than a fiver for thee or four hours at the table.
I do believe the Facebook/Twitter/Fantasy league should continue as they are most likely to recruit new players

Thats my six penneth I dont expect anyone to agree but you did ask for comment

FCHD

I think the 50 points to play has hit the "Free Cash" freeroll quite badly, it is now virtually only made up of new customers using their free poker points playing in it. Small stakes players aren't earning enough multiples of 50 points to play it regularly, and those who do earn large numbers of points aren't (mostly) going to bother with an hour of a freeroll to earn a pound or two.

If you have to have a cost to play a freeroll, drop it to about 10 points, make it a Hold'em 5 days a week. Omaha 1 day and Omaha Hi-Lo the other day.


I also like the qualifier idea. daily freeroll qualifiers for an end-of-week tournament

Sky_Poker

Some interesting (and fair) ideas, thank you.

jdsallstar

take £200 off each days free roll budget then give away £400 daily (4 x £100 freerolls?!) and use the £200 you save each day for a £6k freeroll at the end of the month or 2 £3k freeroll's each month.

Could give entries for the bigger freerolls based on points earned or finishing position in smaller freerolls. Keeps newbies coming back for more and keeps the regulars happy at the same time! Also gets newbies coming back for more.

Surely much easier to market 2 x £3k free rolls every month than loads of little ones!
 

gixxerk4

Hi guys
What would be nice is to be able to use your points for some bigger events with higher point buy ins as there is a lot of players with a lot of virtually unusable points eg I have 23000 so entering a 50 point freeroll to win a few quid doesn't really work for me but would love to play some at say 1000 points eg with UKPC semi or final tickets available or 8 pm tourney tickets and add some of the available freeroll cash into these to put some extra seats in.
Also could players use their points earned in the month for these instead of getting the cash for them  as the money would stay on the site
But keep some small freerolls as well for a balance.

churchy18

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

Hi guys What would be nice is to be able to use your points for some bigger events with higher point buy ins as there is a lot of players with a lot of virtually unusable points eg I have 23000 so entering a 50 point freeroll to win a few quid doesn't really work for me but would love to play some at say 1000 points eg with UKPC semi or final tickets available or 8 pm tourney tickets and add some of the available freeroll cash into these to put some extra seats in. Also could players use their points earned in the month for these instead of getting the cash for them  as the money would stay on the site But keep some small freerolls as well for a balance.
Posted by gixxerk4

you can use your points through the month and it wont affect your priority level ..sky posted about it on another thread

GaryQQQ

Giving the money to players who have thousands of poker points is just preaching to the converted. You guys are probably already making a pretty penny in Rewards payments and doing well on the tables too.

In my opinion the money is better spent attracting newbies to the tables and retaining recreational players who are net depositors.

Most grinders who run up thousands of points seem blind to it, but a big part of the freeroll money trickles up to them ultimately, even if they don't play in the freerolls themselves.

The recreational players and newbies are the foundation of the poker economy. We need those guys to be happy and and want to keep coming back to the tables. If they don't it's bad news for all of us, even those of you at the top of the pyramid.

gixxerk4

Thanks churchy but meant using the points earned so far for the bigger freerolls I was proposing ie if you had earned 1000 points half way through the month you could use them to enter one of the 1000 point freerolls for a seat to something good and then not get the cash at the end of the month but a chance to bink a seat in an added value freeroll
does that make sense lol

BUFC

I think Timed games are best for freerolls for what Sky want out of them. They give many more players smaller wins which will inevitibly be spent on entering other games on the site or even for playing cash games. If people land a bigger win they are much more likely to withdraw it from the site which is exactly what Sky don't want. Maybe some of the prizepools could be knocked down to create a bigger monthly freeroll but that's probably not going to help Sky meet the criteria they have set, I know I'd like that though as it gives a chance for a good free cash! I also think some of the timings should be looked as some of the freerolls are played at bizarre times!

a00rock

If we are being frank freerolls should do what it says on the tin for the smaller ones they should be free no points needed to enter. If you want to retain the rebuy and add on frs then fine (players choice  if they rebuy or add on) but any overlay they generate should be added to the prize pool.
J Hartigan says in his promotion of SP that freerolls run 24/7 I think that would be good with plenty of £20/30 say every 2/3 hrs. If we have 1 per day of around £300 (the daily fr/pr) then no more than 25pts to enter this would mean that you would have to be spending at least £25 per day in buyins to be able to play it daily (excluding promotions).
If you have frs for tournament entry fine for points to be used along with new player frs after all they do get 500 free to start with, but call them pointrolls (prs) not freerolls.

Ray

churchy18

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

I think Timed games are best for freerolls for what Sky want out of them. They give many more players smaller wins which will inevitibly be spent on entering other games on the site or even for playing cash games. If people land a bigger win they are much more likely to withdraw it from the site which is exactly what Sky don't want. Maybe some of the prizepools could be knocked down to create a bigger monthly freeroll but that's probably not going to help Sky meet the criteria they have set, I know I'd like that though as it gives a chance for a good free cash! I also think some of the timings should be looked as some of the freerolls are played at bizarre times!
Posted by BUFC

agreed keep them as timed tournaments

churchy18

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

Thanks churchy but meant using the points earned so far for the bigger freerolls I was proposing ie if you had earned 1000 points half way through the month you could use them to enter one of the 1000 point freerolls for a seat to something good and then not get the cash at the end of the month but a chance to bink a seat in an added value freeroll does that make sense lol
Posted by gixxerk4

yeah i get what u mean now..gl at the tables

gixxerk4

Would love to be at the top of the pyramid Gary lol
and all for the smaller freerolls but would love to be able to use the points that I have had for years.
Also im sure a lot of people would like to use their points earned that month to take a shot at a big event once in a while instead of playing a few dyms or microcash with their points

kidwiz10

I dont see the point of having £50 , £100 freerolls i really dont when the winner gets around £7 or something like that when there is a ridic amount of entries.

Its nice of sky to do these for free but id rather see a weekly freeroll for players who earn certain points.

£500 freeroll = Earn 500 points that week

£1,000 freeroll = Earn 1000 points that week

£2,000 freeroll = Earn 2000 points that week


Monthly £10,000 freeroll = Earn 5000 points in the previous month for entry

Now people love money and looking at these as freerolls would surely give players the incentive to achieve these for bigger rewards.

These would be very handy as it would bridge the gap for the players who can never make priority but play to make these freerolls.

FCHD

500 points a week? Or even worse 1000 or 2000? That's going to restrict those eligible to a very small number I would imagine.

belsibub

The last time there was thread like this sit & go's down the pan,can't wait :-(

TeddyBloat

Agree that the freerolls should be readily accessible to recreational players who are stuggling to build a bankroll.  Too many were freeloading on the old format in the 7pm freeroll, , but a smaller nominal point entry fee should do the trick. The idea that peeps can deposit and win some free , oney with the points they earn playing is the one to be followed.

I liked the idea of winning entry to big ticket events but I think that giving cash to recs is best. It will all get raked again eventually anyway.

CraigSG1

All FR should be timed, even the one for entries to tournaments. 

Putting points caps on FR's is bad as your limiting to customers you already have. 

Lowering the points entry to something managable for new players so they feel they can deposit some money and earn enough points to enter the free cash FR.

gerardirl

I like the idea that the points for entering the freerolls have inceased however I do think 50 is a bit much. Its better than it was before however I now have more incentive to continue to play on sky instead of elsewhere. 

Loyalty is a big thing for me and I like that sky are now rewarding players that build up pts.

I agree with vespa and churchy, id like the daily freeroll to include one day of omaha hi and one day of hi lo and hopefully that will help build the omaha playing base.

In summary keep the daily freeroll but lower the pts (20) and have 5 holdem, 1 omaha hi and 1 omaha hi lo.
Im not to keen on lowering the 500 prize fund as we want it worthwhile, oh and keep it timed suits perfect!

Ger

kidwiz10

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

500 points a week? Or even worse 1000 or 2000? That's going to restrict those eligible to a very small number I would imagine.
Posted by FCHD

500 points a week isnt to much cant reward players that dont play very often that would define the point nothing is free.

Id say a massive % of sky players earn between 1000 and 5000 points a month so these freerolls would benefit these.

Players who dont earn many points well that is down to them and cant expect to get rewards unless they play more.

I dont play the freerolls as there pointless and having points to get entry is the best way to keep players playing on the site so buy making them no points to enter would be just telling players they can come on sky play freerolls then leave when need be defies the point also.

churchy18

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

I dont see the point of having £50 , £100 freerolls i really dont when the winner gets around £7 or something like that when there is a ridic amount of entries. Its nice of sky to do these for free but id rather see a weekly freeroll for players who earn certain points. £500 freeroll = Earn 500 points that week £1,000 freeroll = Earn 1000 points that week £2,000 freeroll = Earn 2000 points that week Monthly £10,000 freeroll = Earn 5000 points in the previous month for entry Now people love money and looking at these as freerolls would surely give players the incentive to achieve these for bigger rewards. These would be very handy as it would bridge the gap for the players who can never make priority but play to make these freerolls.
Posted by kidwiz10

so what you are really saying is give the high rollers another priority tournament!

FCHD

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please...:

In Response to Re: Regular Freerolls - your thoughts please... : 500 points a week isnt to much cant reward players that dont play very often that would define the point nothing is free. Id say a massive % of sky players earn between 1000 and 5000 points a month so these freerolls would benefit these. Players who dont earn many points well that is down to them and cant expect to get rewards unless they play more. I dont play the freerolls as there pointless and having points to get entry is the best way to keep players playing on the site so buy making them no points to enter would be just telling players they can come on sky play freerolls then leave when need be defies the point also.
Posted by kidwiz10

500 points a week is a hell of a lot to me, I play 30p DYMs about 7-8 a day so play maybe 2 or 3 hours a day and am lucky if make more than 200 points a month, nowhere near 500 a week.