Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning

torryboy

Just copied this from the internet and it says Sky had no players on first day which can't be right.  Is it?

Did any of you play the first day?

"Sky Poker launched in February 2007—a relatively late entrant into the competitive poker market. It was a risky project—launching a poker room on the internet and interactive TV together with a live TV channel, all on the same day—and with no players. Since then Sky Poker has grown rapidly, and now has thousands of people playing poker every evening.

phil12uk

I wasn't with Sky from the first day but was within the first month.

It's changed a lot - both playing and watching.

Only things that don't seem to change with Sky Poker are Orford and Kendall..............oh and the hot-o-meter

torryboy

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

I wasn't with Sky from the first day but was within the first month. It's changed a lot - both playing and watching. Only things that don't seem to change with Sky Poker are Orford and Kendall..............oh and the hot-o-meter
Posted by phil12uk

LOL, What would we do without them

TINTIN

i signed up on the 1st day the channel went live 5 year ago. feb 8th i think it was and played the 1st live main event. if my memory is correct there was just over 200 runners in the event. i even played thru the tv box at the time as i didnt have computer sccess at the time

Ads2kuk

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

i signed up on the 1st day the channel went live 5 year ago. feb 8th i think it was and played the 1st live main event. if my memory is correct there was just over 200 runners in the event. i even played thru the tv box at the time as i didnt have computer sccess at the time
Posted by TINTIN

Playing through the TV screen is dedication!!

I think I was here from near the start, not on the first day though.

Has easily been my first choice of poker for many years. A LOT has to do with the community support, without a doubt.

torryboy

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

i signed up on the 1st day the channel went live 5 year ago. feb 8th i think it was and played the 1st live main event. if my memory is correct there was just over 200 runners in the event. i even played thru the tv box at the time as i didnt have computer sccess at the time
Posted by TINTIN

I would like to see Sky give you first day guys a freeroll for your loyalty although so far your only one lol.  Are you the only one left?

Quietman

I can't remember if it was the first or second day I joined Skypoker. I played in the first Sunday Main event using my sign up points for the buy in and finishing third (if my memory serves) for about £300+. Norman Pace and Orford were presenting and analysing on TV.

tiercel

I may be wrong but if I wasn't a first dayer I was pretty close to it. There was a similar show before headed by someone called the Axxeman. When that went kerplonk I kept an eye open for a replacement and Sky popped up. Not looked back

argo

i made the final table  in the first ever open . down hill with this site ever since  .

WHOAMI196

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

i made the final table  in the first ever open . down hill with this site ever since  .
Posted by argo

Im sure the first open only had 6 runners.

AcidMan27

In Response to Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

Just copied this from the internet and it says Sky had no players on first day which can't be right.  Is it? Did any of you play the first day? "Sky Poker launched in February 2007—a relatively late entrant into the competitive poker market. It was a risky project—launching a poker room on the internet and interactive TV together with a live TV channel, all on the same day—and with no players. Since then Sky Poker has grown rapidly, and now has thousands of people playing poker every evening.
Posted by torryboy

I don't think they meant they had no players on the first day.

I think they meant it was a totally new site with no current players as in it wasn't a rebranded/ affiliated site.

TINTIN

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

In Response to Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning : I don't think they meant they had no players on the first day. I think they meant it was a totally new site with no current players as in it wasn't a rebranded/ affiliated site.
Posted by AcidMan27

the channel had a sister channel called sky vegas(i think) that ran keno games long before it waslaunched. the channel ran adverts for about a month before hand focusing on the launch to encourage newbies to sign up. altho the 1st main attracted just over 200 runners i assume some were involved in pre testing as i cant see a complet launch of a product without any customers

Quietman

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

I can't remember if it was the first or second day I joined Skypoker. I played in the first Sunday Main event using my sign up points for the buy in and finishing third (if my memory serves) for about £300+. Norman Pace and Orford were presenting and analysing on TV.
Posted by Quietman

Just checked my stats and I have 17% ROI in all games on Skypoker and I am in profit, so apart from my initial deposit at the very start of Skypoker I have never actually played with my own money.
I don't think this is a bad return for a recreational player.

silver8ack

i am not sure the how long i have been here now 

but i know its almost as long as sky poker

ACEGOONER

I followed the presenters from pnl to sky, played nl200 cash pretty early doors on tv before I took BR management seriously. I once won £600 in one night against a bunch of donks but ended up with a ridiculous phone bill!

Player numbers where soo low early doors during the day, that combined with my main game being limit cash pushed me back to party. I came back in 2010 when I understood a lot more about the intriquacies of poker, sky and stars are the only sites I play on now. 

unknown_username

22nd feb 2008 i started

Kiwini4u

I first started playing Sky Poker about 4 months after they started having been playing on various other poker sites up till then.  Now I play exclusively on Sky.

ajs4385

Cant remember exact date but it was near start. My life has changed a lot since the start, I have achieved more in poker than I ever dreamt possible.

So a big thanks to sky for helping me to do this.

Although they should be thanking me more as I must have paid 100k in rake over years.

TRIP5

I opened my account throught the tele and played through it for a good six months.. the days of the set top box are remembered with fondness ;o))

xx

DAVEYZZ

deposited £100 in the first week,won the open 3rd attempt and never had to reload

five years of fun for free,,,,,,,,,,

RAB642

I joined near the begining but not the first day, when I joined I had never played a hand of poker and only joined cause I was drunk and looking for a way to gamble late at night, I used to deposit 10 quid and lose it quite quickly on the 2p  4p  table`s, I also used to play via the set top box and the phone bill was not for the faint hearted. sky is my main site, I do play others but not half as much as sky.

      RAB

TINTIN

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

I opened my account throught the tele and played through it for a good six months.. the days of the set top box are remembered with fondness ;o)) xx
Posted by TRIP5

me too but i cant forget the phonebills that came with it tho, they were horrendous

GREGHOGG

October 2007 for me roughly...

I started playing through the TV too

Remember my first open ft, in December 2007 well. I finished 2nd  for about 800 and played really awful

Not much has changed... i still play really awful

torryboy

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:

I joined near the begining but not the first day, when I joined I had never played a hand of poker and only joined cause I was drunk and looking for a way to gamble late at night, I used to deposit 10 quid and lose it quite quickly on the 2p  4p  table`s, I also used to play via the set top box and the phone bill was not for the faint hearted. sky is my main site, I do play others but not half as much as sky.       RAB
Posted by RAB642

Phone bill + rake must have been hard to profit

huuuuume

i was here pretty early i think

checked my banking transactions with sky and my last deposit was January 2007.  musta found poker pretty quick after that cos im a bad bad sports bettor

what i would be more interested to know is how many people came here from getminted.com or wptonline.com when they went under

Tikay10

What a great thread!

Yes, I've been here since Day One as "tikay1", and my company-funded PTP Account - "TIKAY10" - was not opened until a year or two later. It has never needed topping up, either, & they have removed cash from it most years at the financial year-end.

To answer the excellent question "how did they begin with no players?", it was not quite like that. As with all members of the SB&G family, when new products are launched, or major upgrades take place - the Download Client, for example, or new formats - they are "soft launched". 

First, a panel of in-house volunteers test it, then, when it is ready, it is released to a small % of the player base, 10%, then 25%, then 50%, then "Full Release".

Sky Poker had been extensively trailed on Sky Vegas, which had a TV Channel at the time, so there was a small player-base ready for the start up.

Sky Poker TV? I seem to recall that Helen "Hells Bells" Chamberlain did the first ever Show with Carlo, & Rich Orford & I did the next one. I've had to suffer Orford for five whole years now, how bad do I run?

We had actually been doing technical rehearsals since the October of the previous year, & "as live" rehearsals, every single night, 7 nights a week, from late November.

I was also working for Poker Night Live (PNL) at the same time, too, & they took me off the Show roster as they felt I was out of order working for Sky Poker, but in March or April, they invited me back on, & I returned to PNL. The PNL channel closed the very next week.....

Quite how I have hung on for 5 years, going on 6 - I was first employed as a Consultant to the TV Channel in 2006 - I'm not quite sure, but at least it shows I can run a bluff, & barrel every street. Eventually I'll get called, of course......

Now, 5 years down the line, Sky Poker is a very successful site indeed, with more & more players on the site week by week & month by month. Last week, in fact, was a record for "uniques" at Sky Poker, & it has been breaking records for numbers of uniques for several months now. I'm not sure many, if any, Online Poker sites on the planet can boast that, most of them are in decline, especially the i-poker network, Laddies, Blue Square, etc. What you sow, so shall you reap.....   

billyboots

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning:



...........How interesting and you have answered something that's always intrigued me.............

"Yes, I've been here since Day One as "tikay1", and my company-funded PTP Account - "TIKAY10" - was not opened until a year or two later. It has never needed topping up, either"
 
I wasn't sure if 'Tikay10' was someone else who had taken up that alias, now I know that it is you....:).

Great reply btw, as always v. fascinating.

SHAUNY

i believe ive been with sky from day one,i recall helen chamberlain on the tv,feels like ive been here forever,only site i play on,its grown loads and i believe for the better,keep up good work guys (-:
SHAUNY

barnsie

"

In Response to Re: Have you Played Sky Poker from the beginning: I joined near the begining but not the first day, when I joined I had never played a hand of poker and only joined cause I was drunk and looking for a way to gamble late at night, I used to deposit 10 quid and lose it quite quickly on the 2p  4p  table`s, I also used to play via the set top box and the phone bill was not for the faint hearted. sky is my main site, I do play others but not half as much as sky.       RAB Posted by RAB642 Phone bill + rake must have been hard to profit" considering in the first 18 months the site was unbelivably soft it wasnt hard at all

YOUNG_GUN

Cant remember when think mine was late 2007 or early 2008 lol 

Started playing through tv, freeplay and freerolls only for first few months thats why i have millions of free points on there #skillz 

my initial deposit was £10 and ive done ok 

PS- Mum paid phone bill so didnt make diff to me 

torryboy

2009 was when I initially deposited before that I roamed around other sites never really happy with them.

Although I woudnt call myself a winning player the enjoyment has been worth it.

Sky ticks all the boxes where I'm concerned so ty to all Sky Poker Staff for making it that way an I hope the suits take you all out for a Birthday bash.


Mike