You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
Comments
Hideous? beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
With the weather getting better and no incentive to maintain Priority I've played a lot less this month. 1200 points so far.
It's gone really well though. I've noticed that dym traffic is at an all time low and it's mainly juts the regs populating the lobbies.
It's actually helped as I've wanted to play more mtts and cash anyway on the nights I do play. I've had a few good mtt cashes and I'm starting to get to grips with cash and made quite a lot. A bit of studying has definitely helped.
About £1400 up for month so far which given my volume is really pleasing. Still behind on where I wanted to be for the year but heading in the right direction.
....
Watched a bit of tv for once and love Car Share. Better call Saul has also returned which although I like although it's slow paced. Enjoying Lucky Man.
House of Cards comes back at the end of next month which I really can't wait for.
....
Pleased the football season is nearly over. Interested to see which has beens and never will bes we sign for millions this summer.
....
Went to the park with Harry on Thursday. They had a fair on. Let him have a go on the giant slide. He climbed up to the top, about 20 steps, had a look round and lost his balance and fell the whole way down. Scared the life out of me. He just got up and went straight back up again. When I asked him if he was on he said that it hurt just a little bit. I'd have been in A&E.
....
Penny has a meeting with her consultant at the end of next month. She's had an MRI scan and multiple new lesions are showing. Very upsetting for her and she's very apprehensive about the meeting. It's on a Thursday morning and I will be going with her. I asked for the day off as leave at work and explained the reason why I needed the day. Not a flicker. Blank eyes back and I was told that they would have a look to see if i could have the day. They will refuse it most likely. I asked about it on Tuesday and again yesterday. No decision made yet. I asked if they could just say yes now so that I could reassure Penny that I would be going. Was told no as they hadn't had a resource meeting yet. Union guy says that they haven't had a resource meeting in months.
Given what the managers are like at our place this shouldn't surprise me but it still does. If a stranger in the street stopped me and told me that they were worried about something potentially life changing, I would show some empathy. That's just a normal human reaction I imagine. So for nothing other than being told that they'll look at it to a 20+ year employee stings. In 10 years of Penny having MS I have had around 4 days off to care for her.
Anyway, as I said, I will be going with her and will face any discipline discussions later on. Not something that I've ever had before but xxxx em.
Also reminded me why I can't go back to working alongside these people as a manager.
^^^^
Ugh at your employers Paul. Dreadful attitude.
I believe I work for the same employer Paul. Same attitude, just a different office.
About 6 weeks ago, just as I was finishing work, I received a call to say my wife had been rushed to hospital, but I didn't know why.
As I rushed out, I told my manager I may not be in the following day depending on what had happened.
“ Er, what, erm, Oh, I…...”
“I haven't got time to debate it, I'm just telling you.”
At the end of a very long day, it was confirmed she had a heart attack. (She's on the mend now)
A few days later, she had 2 stents fitted and was told she could come home the next day but must rest. (Definitely no trips to a Manchester live poker final, Tikay)
“I need more time off to care for my wife at home”
“ Er, I'm not sure I can cover your duty as there are already x people off”
“I will take it unpaid then, I don't care, but I need it.”
The only compromise I was prepared to make was how many days.
Take all the time off you need Paul, and as you say, xxxx em.
Best wishes to you and Penny.
Was just having a catch up on your blog and nice to see you winning some ££ despite playing less.
I would have a hard time not telling your bosses where to go if I was in your situation, disgusting of them to be so inconsiderate.
Regarding the bolded part and the fact you mentioned traffic on the tables on the last page too...
I love playing on Sky, I really do, great bunch of people and a friendly forum. Also customer service has been very good when I have needed them, promos are imaginative and the amount of stuff Mr T does helping out and liasing between the players and office is commendable.
With all that said, I obviously want Sky poker to go from strength to strength. This makes me wonder why some of the (trivial on the scale of things) problems still exist. Like the lagging, like the hole cards not showing after a table switch etc. To be honest it doesn't bother me much/at all personally but I bet it puts off a lot of others from playing here and hampers traffic. Surely these things would be simple bits of code to fix? I am no IT whizz but would have been surprised if a savvy coder couldn't resolve these daft little things in no time. I am quite possibly being naive on that though.
Also wonder if steps are being taken to try and push traffic up. Hopefully it is not a case of 'aw well summer is quieter' and the poker market is slow just now and therefore a case of just accepting it. Sky offers a lot of unique things which loads of people would enjoy such as the DYM focus, the BH focus in MTT's, the friendly accompanying forum and the fact it is all UK players makes it all feel a bit more 'local'. Hopefully there is some level of budget to advertise and promote the site and drive the positive aspects of playing here home.
Anyways good luck both on and off the tables Jac.
I kinda want to bang my head against the wall when I see comments like that. Why?
1) Some of these little edge cases ARE annoying, ditto this current "lag" which some players are experiencing. I definitely agree with you.
2) But here's the thing which re-doubles my frustration, especially when a bright spark like Marky says it. If it were just a case of a "savvy coder" needed, then believe me, it would have been sorted long ago. Surely that goes without saying? It is not like that at all. Whilst accepting that the responsibility sits with Sky Poker, don't you think it obvious that if it just needed "a savvy coder", it would have already been sorted? The SB&G platform as a whole is an immensely complex and efficient piece of kit. If I were to tell you the volumes it handles at times, especially peak periods, you'd be amazed. (Bets are measured in "hundreds per second"). Sky Poker though does need a bit of work. I have explained - several times - what the plans are going forward, & it is now a work-in-progress.
The backstory is quite complicated, & when I explain these things my explanations get twisted by the Usual Suspects & Team Moan, so I'm not going to give chapter and verse any more, but please be assured that the Poker Team at Sky Poker understand and share these frustrations. Nobody at Sky Poker is under any illusions that the site is in tip top shape, but what few on the forum recognize (you two are rare exceptions) is that there is plenty of positives at Sky Poker too.
Budget to advertise & promote the site? You'd both faint if I told you what % of Gross Margin Freebet Spend is. (Gross Margin is the sum of all reg fees and rake, whilst Freebet Spend is the total cost of all Promos, Rewards Payments, Freerolls, Freebies etc). Sky Poker are spending more than enough on Freebet Spend, please be assured.
You may have seen several Prio players asking what the May Promo is, or if there will be one. I'm not going to spell it out, but I'm pretty sure you two can work out why these things are not announced in advance.
I will tell you this - May will be an interesting month. It will.
Mr Ambo & myself have been summoned up to Leeds the week after next, so we can be fully appraised of what he & I will need to do to help with a few things which are in the pipeline.
It's (genuinely) exciting stuff.
Meanwhile, no matter what anyone says, Viva Las Vegas is a great promo, & I hope you two both win packages. Vegas this year is gonna be the nuts.
Tikay
Let's start with this
I love Sky Poker. I tried it out a few years ago just the same as i did with all the other sites. The difference being that I instantly adored Sky and I'm still here and rarely play anywhere else.
Sky has been fantastic for me.
The Spts were brilliant and gave me the opportunity to some really good people, many of whom are now firm friends.
Going to Vegas with Sky was an experience that I'll never forget.
I've made a few quid on the site as well and so obviously that's been good too.
It's for these kind of reasons that I want Sky to succeed
But in my opinion Sky don't help themselves sometimes. You say you get frustrated by players grumbles. In turn we get frustrated by some of the things that Sky keep telling us.
"It might be a problem at your end"
"Some players may be experiencing lagging"
It seems like head in the sand stuff
I speak to plenty of players. Everyone is experiencing lag. Everyone gets discoed when their internet is working just fine.
The lengthy maintenance has taken place. How is it that 'find a player' couldn't be fixed?
Hendo lad was doing well in an mtt last night. Honestly!
I couldn't find him using find a player and had to scroll down the mtt lobby instead to find him.
I get that these things would be fixed quickly if possible.
But what I don't get it why Sky seem to have so much trouble with lag and disconnects compared with every other site that I've played on
We don't say these things to bash Sky. We say then because we want Sky to prosper. It won't if these kind of things don't get fixed
It's a bit like that first car you bought and loved. For a while it was fun that you had to give the passenger door a kick for the drivers door to unlock. After a while though you lost your patience and moved on
...
Btw
I'm going to miss Priority for the first time in a while for May. No promotions last couple of months and actually stopped from playing in some Vegas freerolls
I'll be LIVID if there's a really good promotion in May
...
Also
Don't think that I didn't notice you mention myself and Mark, but only refer to Mark as intelligent
And "it will"
Grrrr
I am quite happy to take your word that any 'little foibles' Sky have are far more complex to resolve than I realise. I did say I am not an IT whizz and add the caveat that I may be being naive. I am just mentioning how it seems from the outside looking in. I know a few players who aren't playing here because of similar things. I am inclined to think 'hey it is your loss' as they are completely overlooking all that is brilliant about Sky because of a couple of daft issues; but then again, it would obviously be ideal if the little glitches didn't exist. Personally if none of the little 'Sky foibles' are ever addressed I will continue to play here for the reasons set out earlier. Thinking from Sky's POV, I am not the type of player to bother about with regards to this issue as I have no plans to 'GO AWAY' ;-). I am more just thinking about retaining more of the fussier sorts.
Regarding Prio and the point races for that matter. They couldn't have come at a worse time for me. Point races were slap bang around my final exams and attaining Prio this month was affected by the same. It sounds like I may be missing out :-/ You have me considering pushing for it this month but 7.5k points in the last couple of days of April may be a tall order, especially as I am tied up all day at a wedding today. Will give it some thought.
On the grand scheme of things these issues aren't that important anyway, hope everything is headed in the right direction with yourself.
^^^^^
Don't disagree with much of that Paul, & I do understand the frustration. It frustrates me more than it frustrates you, believe me. I've lived & breathed Sky Poker with a passion for 11 years, so yeah, it matters to me. I really don't mind discussing it with guys like you & Marky who understand "balance". It's Team Moan I won't engage with, as they don't ever acknowledge context or balance. Nothing is ever completely black & white.
Livid if there is a decent Prio Prom in May? Oh dear......
Mark is intelligent? For a Scot, yes. You? Lovely bloke.
Anything I ever say is not intented to be a moan at Sky. If I mention anything it is because I would love to see Sky prosper in a big way. I have really enjoyed it here since I started playing mostly here.
I think I also worry a bit more as I started out on poker on a similarly brilliant site. Great community, attention to detail, cared about their players, excellent customer support and promos and a real friendly feel. Then one day utterly out of the blue I was informed the site was closing down. So I just want to see Sky grow and prosper so that never happens here. I could still play poker elsewhere without much trouble but that isn't the issue. To me Sky is more than a poker site, it is a cracking little community.
Sky Poker DO look after it's players better than most, if not all, other sites. They do need to sort a few things out though.
I see folks going loopy over, say, a Freeroll or satellite. In the context of the overall site, a Freeroll or Satellite that goes wrong is hardly the end of the world is it? (Think of what % of a weeks business a single satellite is. Start with the basis that ALL MTT's "only" equate to one sixth of site traffic). They should not go wrong, no, that's acknowledged, but let's keep a sense of perspective. It's hardly the end of the world, especially if you are in the habit of reading the World News each day.
And there are a ton of positives which are unique to this site. Team Moan never acknowledge that.
Anyway, I think we generally are on the same page. It's a great site but it needs to do a few things better.