New Sky Poker Rewards

dub1

Seems like a load of BS to me. Confusing, utter nonsence. The question is:

Under the new system are the people who signed up through an affiliate still getting a flat 30% rake back?

sikas

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Seems like a load of BS to me. Confusing, utter nonsence. The question is: Under the new system are the people who signed up through an affiliate still getting a flat 30% rake back?
Posted by dub1

Yes they are

67Bhoys

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Yiou're correct  - however, we're never going to be able to set a suitable time for everyone, and evenings are certainly more playable for the majority than morning/afternoon. There was a suggestion earlier, in which customers would receive "Freeroll Tokens". This functionality isn't currently possible, but it's certainly something we can look into.
Posted by Sky_JP

I don't profess to understand the system for issuing tokens, but if you are issuing £2.20 tokens, then I would have thought it possible to issue freeroll tokens.

If you ran 7 freerolls, including the weekends, and issued 5 tokens, then it might help those who have other commitments during the week.

HENDRIK62

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Thanks for that Gerardgirl!
Posted by Sky_JP

Pretty sure when Gerard reads this all those nice things he said will be retracted :-)))))

BigBluster

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Two things to point out about the £2.20 tokens (which is the realm many will fall into): 1. It's a bit naughty giving a £2.20 tournament token instead of £2.20. Only £2 of the £2.20 actually goes into the prize pool, so it's raked twice. 2. The £2.20 tokens need to be cumulative. I want to be able to use 10 of them to enter a £22 MTT rather than have to play 10 smaller tournaments. Are they?
Posted by BigBluster

Bump.

Are the tokens cumulative?

ajs4385

Sky to do list:

1) Make rewards system so complex no one understands

2) Dont do anything about ridiculous state of lobby

3) Annoy existing loyal players by offering new players a much better deal


You couldnt make it up

BigBluster

Just worked out that I'll be miles better off under the new scheme.

Currently I get about £10 per month based on 1000 MTT points. With the new scheme, based on 4.5 weeks per month, I'll get 9.90 in tournament entries and also access to £22.5K of freerolls.

If the 2.20 tournament entries are cumulative that would be the icing on the cake.

unknown_username

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Hi Thanks for all the feedback. Just three things to mention... Firstly, we know from experience that it's very difficult to make changes to things like this to make everybody happy. Some might be a bit worse off, some better off and some the same. It is natural for people to say what it means for them but we design these things to reward people correctly and fairly and appeal to the most people possible. Also, this scheme is not set in stone forever. We and you will learn from the changes and depending on how things go, it's possible future tweaks will be made to make it the best we can for the benefit of the most people on the site overall. The new weekly model gives us more flexibiity on this. Finally, remember there will be more cash and prizes available to people to add to or compliment this scheme - like the iPads in June. There will be more things like this in future so watch this space as we annouce more. Thanks Sky Poker
Posted by Sky_Poker

It's important to remember without regular contributors there will be no Sky Poker.

As most of the big names on the site regularly post in their diaries they make profits without having to deposit.

What purpose does it serve alienating the smaller bank rolled players who feed the professionals?

50 points a week for some people equates to £50 a week contribution, £200 a month.

Why take away their measly £2 rewards?

I'm sure you've thought this through and made the decision in the best interests of the business.

but it does seem, judging by the posts received. This may be the straw that breaks the camels back.

An increase of 100% to achieve a return , Only suceeds in making rival sites more appealing!

Surely that is not the way forward.

F_Ivanovic

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Well I have to say apart from like most not being overly happy with the new process, top marks for your customer service and how you are dealing with each query Sky JP. You and sky deserve great credit for this.....
Posted by gerardirl

+1

On the one hand I'm not a huge fan of the new system because I'm quite lazy and don't always put in the hours every week (so one week I might make 4k, then the next just 1k). But turning the negative into a positive - At least now, I'm forced to put in the volume each day to make sure I reach 2500 every week

re. The freerolls - I agree that no time will not suit everybody so surely a way around this is to put freerolls at different times? So have some freerolls in the morning and afternoon as well as in the evening.

The only thing I'm annoyed about is the continued 30% rakeback by new customers. I'm aware it's important to attract new customers but the 30% RB for ever after they sign up is too much. If it was just the first 3 or even as much as 6 months I'd have less of a problem with it. If you signed up with 30% RB, can sky not cancel this? I'm sure with most things it says "sky reserves the right to alter/change this promotion or similar" so you'd have thought you could cancel the 30% RB - or do you think if you did this, then all those customers getting 30% RB would leave?

The alternative to taking away new the 30% RB to keep loyal customers happy is to reward them more and make 30% RB (or new equivalent as 20%) more easily attainable - or at least able to get closer to it. One suggestion I have is as follows:

For every month you make Priority (after the initial month you make it) increase the bonus rakeback by X%. X can depend on how many points you have earned per month. If you make between 10k and 20k, then lets say you can gain 0.5%. If you make between 20k and 30k in one month then you will gain 0.5% the first time and 1% thereafter for every increase. If you make between 30 and 50k in one month then you will gain 1%.

This way, if you make Priority 20 months in a row only getting 10k points each time you will now be earning 20% rakeback on top of the rewards (and the same as platinum) This rewards consistency and being loyal to sky throughout the year. *

If you fail to make Priority one month then you will lose some of your bonus rakeback and this might depend on a number of factors including the level of Priroty you are/how often you have made Priority in a row and how many times you have failed to make Priority. 

* The only problem with this is that there's less incentive to keep getting 30k or 50k points a month every month if you can reach the 20% bonus rakeback and then because of your priority level but I'm sure that can be figured out to make something work. Maybe make 25% bonus rakeback as the maximum for reaching platinum, 22.5% for reaching Gold, 20% for Silver and 17.5% for Bronze.

Donttelmum

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Thanks for that Gerardgirl!
Posted by Sky_JP

JP is a legend but give me back my £150 a month plzzz  

Matt237

Changing something that isn't broken, when time could be spent elsewhere?

Snuffer

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Bump. Are the tokens cumulative?
Posted by BigBluster

Makes absolutely no difference if they are or not, and they are not.

sikas

Rewards for 10k+ points SNG+MTT grinders has substantially increased....why is this?

MattBates

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Rewards for 10k+ points SNG+MTT grinders has substantially increased....why is this?
Posted by sikas

I think its common knowledge but it is pretty much impossible to get 10k points from MTTs alone.

Ranners

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Makes absolutely no difference if they are or not, and they are not.
Posted by Snuffer

Of course it makes a difference. I have little interest in playing £2 tourneys and therefore any tokens I get will sit in my account for an indefinite amount of time. Being able to use five or ten of them together would make them far more appealing. 

Ice_Tiger

Could it be by getting most recreational players to sit playing a freeroll each night for a number of hours that SKY believe that players will play more often than they used to?

stuarty117

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Of course it makes a difference. I have little interest in playing £2 tourneys and therefore any tokens I get will sit in my account for an indefinite amount of time. Being able to use five or ten of them together would make them far more appealing. 
Posted by Ranners

I am sure you will be able to use these tokens for higher games.

the last 2.20 token i usef on a 3.30 dym. It just took 1.10 out of my account

so if the mtt is 11 you use the token and u only pay 8.80

FCHD

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Could it be by getting most recreational players to sit playing a freeroll each night for a number of hours that SKY believe that players will play more often than they used to?
Posted by Ice_Tiger

Or they'll be playing the freeroll rather than raked games?

YouMad

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : In all honesty, we're expecting the total cost of Sky Poker rewards to stay the same or increase.  The changes have been put in place to reward customers more frequently. However, your feedback has been taken on board, and is appreciated. 
Posted by Sky_JP

I think this is the most disappointing thing.

Sky could be paying more out and the majority feel like they are getting less back. Something does not add up.

Sky_JP

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Ok the amounts I earn in c4p are never a great amount but as with everything in this country at the moment bit by bit is chipped away from the little guys pie. Players like myself who previously earned around £15-20 have just seen that halved to £8.80 tokens. gg sky
Posted by jdsallstar

You're correct, but I will point out that you will still recive £20 for earning the same amount of points, presuming you earn 500 per week.

You may or may not be able to earn 500 points every week consistantly. I don't know. BUT.. there's certainly an incentive to do so with the new rewards scheme.

Sky_JP

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Just worked out that I'll be miles better off under the new scheme. Currently I get about £10 per month based on 1000 MTT points. With the new scheme, based on 4.5 weeks per month, I'll get 9.90 in tournament entries and also access to £22.5K of freerolls. If the 2.20 tournament entries are cumulative that would be the icing on the cake.
Posted by BigBluster

In all honesty, I'm unsure if the tokens are cumulative. I'll find out and let you know.

You've summed it up perfectly though. There's quite a few people in a similar spot to yourself, and I'd dare say that some will not be happy with this initially despite getting more value from the new Sky Poker Rewards.

Sky_JP

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : It's important to remember without regular contributors there will be no Sky Poker. As most of the big names on the site regularly post in their diaries they make profits without having to deposit. What purpose does it serve alienating the smaller bank rolled players who feed the professionals? 50 points a week for some people equates to £50 a week contribution, £200 a month. Why take away their measly £2 rewards? I'm sure you've thought this through and made the decision in the best interests of the business. but it does seem, judging by the posts received. This may be the straw that breaks the camels back. An increase of 100% to achieve a return , Only suceeds in making rival sites more appealing! Surely that is not the way forward.
Posted by DUNMIDOSH

I believe that the new Rewards scheme will benefit these players more than the old one.

200 points in a month would have earned a £2 bonus previously, which I'd argue doesn't go far when it comes to "feeding the professionals", and doesn't really allow for a lot of poker to be played. It's certainly not enough to withdraw.

In the new scheme, 200 points in a month could earn you entry into 20 x £1,000 freerolls, or could be rewarded with 2 x £2.20 tokens, and entry into 10 x £1,000 freerolls, depending on when the points are earned.

Even if each freeroll had 2,000 runners, each freeroll would (theoretically) be worth £0.50, which would equate to up to £10 in benefits each month, for players earning a total of 200 points in the month.

Additionally, £2 may only allow someone to play poker for 1 day, if they were unlucky enough to lose. The freerolls allow customers a full week of poker for earning 50 points in the previous week.

Final point I'm going to make, (trying not to get too off track) is that there's a lot of customers who don't play very frequently. They'll come on and play one night, earning 50-99 points. Previously, these customers received nothing from the loyalty scheme. Going forward, they'll have a week of free poker.

churchy18

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : You're correct, but I will point out that you will still recive £20 for earning the same amount of points, presuming you earn 500 per week. You may or may not be able to earn 500 points every week consistantly. I don't know. BUT.. there's certainly an incentive to do so with the new rewards scheme.
Posted by Sky_JP

Sounds a bit like rake races without the promotion! and really there is not.

MattBates

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Thanks for the reminder Tommy - I missed these. As far as I'm aware, there's no changes to acquisition offers, however this doesn't sit within my team. I've heard quite a lot of arguments for and against these offers - but at the end of the day, they're there to acquire new accounts, which should have a positive impact on everyone. We will also be continuing to run offers alongside the new loyalty scheme, and will continue to try and keep as many players as possible as happy as possible, as often as possible. If you'd like to discuss these offers in more detail, please get in touch on the usual priority details, and I'll be in touch tomorrow. (Just about to leave the office!).
Posted by Sky_JP

Had to adjust your post as the offer I have seen said old accounts can be upgraded to get the better deal and also there is the MASSIVE concern that regs have that existing players open a new account in another name. The current rewards scheme appears to make opening a second account under a different name very tempting. There must be a cost to sky of investigating suspicious accounts so Sky are comfortable they are protecting their loyal customer base against players setting up new accounts in another name.  If the new accounts offer is to continue it would be good to have confirmation from sky that all new accounts are being reviewed against old accounts with less volume/from similar areas etc etc as it does give me and the other regs I speak to concerns that someone can be playing against us on a new account with a better rakeback deal and with knowledge of how we play!

JP, Thanks for taking the time to answer questions/queries. Your help is appreciated, we await the promised response from the relevant department.

Sky_JP

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : +1 On the one hand I'm not a huge fan of the new system because I'm quite lazy and don't always put in the hours every week (so one week I might make 4k, then the next just 1k). But turning the negative into a positive - At least now, I'm forced to put in the volume each day to make sure I reach 2500 every week

Exactly. It's better for everyone if more frequent players, such as yourself, play consistently throughout the month. 

 

re. The freerolls - I agree that no time will not suit everybody so surely a way around this is to put freerolls at different times? So have some freerolls in the morning and afternoon as well as in the evening.

Very good suggestion. The question is, is it better to exclude the majority who can't play through the day, but can play on an evening, to include the minority who can not play on an evening. (Just to clarify, I'm not stating my opinion, I'm just raising the question).

 

The only thing I'm annoyed about is the continued 30% rakeback by new customers. I'm aware it's important to attract new customers but the 30% RB for ever after they sign up is too much. If it was just the first 3 or even as much as 6 months I'd have less of a problem with it. If you signed up with 30% RB, can sky not cancel this? I'm sure with most things it says "sky reserves the right to alter/change this promotion or similar" so you'd have thought you could cancel the 30% RB - or do you think if you did this, then all those customers getting 30% RB would leave?

 

I can understand yoru frustration with this, which makes it quite frustrating for me also. However, there's people that are experts on acquisition and affiliates, and I have to trust that they're doing what's best for the site. Additionally, this is something that happens across the industry, and across all products. (I'm not suggesting that I think this makes it OK, just stating).

 

The alternative to taking away new the 30% RB to keep loyal customers happy is to reward them more and make 30% RB (or new equivalent as 20%) more easily attainable - or at least able to get closer to it. One suggestion I have is as follows: For every month you make Priority (after the initial month you make it) increase the bonus rakeback by X%. X can depend on how many points you have earned per month. If you make between 10k and 20k, then lets say you can gain 0.5%. If you make between 20k and 30k in one month then you will gain 0.5% the first time and 1% thereafter for every increase. If you make between 30 and 50k in one month then you will gain 1%. This way, if you make Priority 20 months in a row only getting 10k points each time you will now be earning 20% rakeback on top of the rewards (and the same as platinum) This rewards consistency and being loyal to sky throughout the year. * If you fail to make Priority one month then you will lose some of your bonus rakeback and this might depend on a number of factors including the level of Priroty you are/how often you have made Priority in a row and how many times you have failed to make Priority.  * The only problem with this is that there's less incentive to keep getting 30k or 50k points a month every month if you can reach the 20% bonus rakeback and then because of your priority level but I'm sure that can be figured out to make something work. Maybe make 25% bonus rakeback as the maximum for reaching platinum, 22.5% for reaching Gold, 20% for Silver and 17.5% for Bronze.

Posted by F_Ivanovic

Very solid proposition, and something I've looked into myself. Certainly not something I'd rule out altogether.

One thing I will point out is that there's a much clearer boost when hitting Priority in the new scheme, giving customers more of an incentive to stay in Priority regardless. From a business perspective, it may not make sense to offer a further incentive to stay in Priority. (Just my opinion this time - not speaking on behalf of the business).

Finally - thanks for the feedback. Very constructive, and is certainly appreciated.

gixxerk4

Apologies if this has been covered before.

I have been on sky since 2006 i think and was a priority member but have not played a lot recently on the site.

With regards to affiliates can i delete my account and rejoin with one of these sites and get 30% rakeback legit.

Or would i have to be erm creative lol not that i would consider that of course.

I dont really see much incentive to play here these days and even less under this rewards scheme given the small edges in sit n goes and high rake on turbos 

cheers

shakinaces

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

Apologies if this has been covered before. I have been on sky since 2006 i think and was a priority member but have not played a lot recently on the site. With regards to affiliates can i delete my account and rejoin with one of these sites and get 30% rakeback legit. Or would i have to be erm creative lol not that i would consider that of course. I dont really see much incentive to play here these days and even less under this rewards scheme given the small edges in sit n goes and high rake on turbos  cheers
Posted by gixxerk4

This.

Personally I don't have any issues with players doing this, as they aren't doing it to gain any unfair advantage over other players, simply trying to maximise the rakeback they generate.

I know in most cases it isn't life changing money, but for a rec to potentially jump from £20-30 per month to £60-90 through starting a 2nd account on 30% rakeback can provide an awful lot more extra money to play with than a few freerolls that they may well not be able to use anyway.

Good luck to all those that take the risk of starting a new account!

jordz16

if sky are going to keep this extra rakeback scheme for new customers then why dont they at least offer an incentive for current players to stay?? maybe an extra 2% rakeback per year on this site, or per 1000 games, obviously i dont know the ins and outs of what kind of thing would be most suitable but surely for the players who have been playing on here for nearly a decade and have played tens of thousand games they surely deserve a better deal than someone who jumps on ship just for some extra rakeback

jdsallstar

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : You're correct, but I will point out that you will still recive £20 for earning the same amount of points, presuming you earn 500 per week. You may or may not be able to earn 500 points every week consistantly. I don't know. BUT.. there's certainly an incentive to do so with the new rewards scheme.
Posted by Sky_JP

Yeah so if I maintain my normal volume I get the same but any month/week where my volume drops even slightly my rewards get halved. 

It's a brilliant money saving scheme by sky. If we introduce this we'll save 50k on rewards and we'll give 5k back in freerolls. Bonus for the chief exec safely in the bag!!!

Sky_JP

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards:

In Response to Re: New Sky Poker Rewards : Sounds a bit like rake races without the promotion! and really there is not.
Posted by churchy18

I'd argue that it's nothing like a rake race.

There's set rewards for set targets - you don't have to beat anyone to it, or earn more points than anyone.

If you earn 500 points per week (which you're more than capable of), you will receive 1p per point in the form of a cash bonus. If you don't, you miss out.

So yes, you will be rewarded more when you play more, and rewarded less when you play less.