blonde poker forum

More details to follow shortly, but Registration is open, & there are 62 players signed up so far.

Any questions or comments, about the Cardroom OR the TV Show, please Post on this thread, & I'm sure answers will be forthcoming.

The comp begins at 9.05pm this evening.

Im in tonight, be interesting to see how much they have changed the structure since thursday..

As it's a wholly new concept - the ability to play Poker via your TV Red Button - and a very high-tech TV Production, involving all sorts of clever software, and they are marrying the two, there are inevitably some glitches and a lot of questions.

We were joined last night by someone from Sky - "Sky Suit" no less! - and he (she?) answered a bunch of questions for us.

To get you up to speed, here is one Question, & Sky Suit's response, which answered most of the queries Raised. Sky are monitoring this thread, so if you have questions, suggestions, or just wanna say Hi, please do.

Question by No Flops Homer.....

The 'hotness' thing is a nice idea but won't work in the long term in the sense that the value of your hand will obviously dramatically change both with the increasing blinds, action in front of you, your position and relative skill of the other players. So if you're holding   on the button and the action goes raise, reraise, all-in, call, the hotness rating should change to 'bag o' poo' with a picture of a parent holding a used nappy.

Elsewhere, the levels really need to be a little longer, there's no 150/300 level and tonight when I looked at the leaderboard, the guy in position 20 from the 100 or so left had about 4.8k when the blinds hit 200/400, so 12 BB's, which is not enough for this tournament to regularly be won by the better players.

I also agree with comments made last night that an earlier start would be better since you could have some hand histories all ready for when the program starts. Alternating between 6-handed and 9-handed would also be a nice change now and then too.

Reply by Sky Suit....

The Hotometer was my idea, and I know it isn't perfect. It is designed to give a helping hand to beginners - not you guys. We aimed Sky Poker at a "softer" group of people than simply existing poker players, and we wanted to involve and educate them and make it easy for them to take part (so you guys can take their money if you want!).

Inevitably, we will likely begin to attract lower stakes players, but we expect this to build over time as we improve and as we market the hell out of it.

The reason for tables of 6 is very simple. As well as being able to play online, you can play on iDTV. The iDTV technology cannot comfortably handle more than 6 players (as it would look too small on a screen you are watching from your sofa for example), and so where online and TV players are combined (as in The Open), we need to limit it to 6 per table. We have tried to balance the need for skill (which you guys prize dearly) with the ability for a newbie to get a run for their money and perhaps to win something with a bit of luck in their favour. We'll keep tweaking till you're happy.
(
Your feedback is excellent and with tikay helping us to understand it (LOLOL), we'll bring you the next level in TV poker over the next few months.

As for varying table sizes and speeds of play and start times, we'll mess around with this to suit beginners on some nightd and online-only experienced players on other nights.

Bear with us. We love you!

Murdoch is a bot

Goodnight

81 signed up at 7.05pm, with 2 hours to the start.

blondes spotted in the Lobby so far include.....

Dewi-Cool. (He's Welsh)

Rookie ITB

Richie Rich

Any others, please Post on here, so we can follow your progress.

Is this thread going to run every day till the end of time?  ;scarymoment;

No, longer, if you don't behave......

Unless the structure changes, personally I cant see many blondes playing this.
It will be interesting to see if any changes get made.
Untill then i will keep my tenner.

Good Luck with it anyway.

FYP.....or did i, lol

So I'm not a Rock, after all.....?

TBH i really dont see the problem with the structue. From what ive seen (not alot admitidly) the poker seems to aim at new players who want a bit of fun. New players who may only know the basics of the game arent too worried about the structure the blinds could go up every hand for all they care as long as there is a nice little prize at the end. I dont see loads of online players all of a sudden moving to sky poker.

at the end of the day its a £10? comp, what do you expect 20 min levels with every blind level just going up by the minimum.

i think its a good idea from sky and they have probably hit the market they are aiming at.

they never promoted it as a deepstack tourny just as a new novelty thing where maybe new and low limit players can play and probably see their screen name on tv.

i wish sky the best of luck with their new venture.

Yes you did, you fixed it well!

Not all of us blondes hate the structure you know!!

 :goodpost: ;iagree;

"Unless the structure changes, personally I cant see many blondes playing this."

I think your totally right, hence my comment.
Its aimed for new players or just for a bit of fun as far as I can see, perhaps they will have bigger buyin nights with better structures?
we will have to wait and see.

I treid to register for this and it says Cust_Restr_Transfer and won't let me. Any Ideas?

So have there been any changes to the structure at all? How about the 150-300 level for starters.

I'll probably play anyway.

In fact, registering now, look out for RichEO going out on the 200-400 level for the 3rd night in a row.

Do you live in the ROI Mike? I'm just guessing, but it may be open to UK residents only - I'll try & find out. Do you get Sky TV where you are?

Try getting aggressive early.

What is "aggressive"? Like, play a hand now & then?

What the hell is this?

No idea, but keep the questions civil please.

I'll try & find out for you.

Depends how you play it.

Paddy power do held funds for 72 hours i believe.

Wow, that's a bit radical. I need  to think about that.

I do live in the ROI. And yes we do get SKY TV.

Just suprised me, not experienced anything like this, more info would be appreciated.

Standard for any responsible poker site. You would like it if someone cracked into your account and chip dumped!

No prob, we will find out the "why" in due course.

But when a question is phrased that way, it tends not to get the optimal answer!

I suppose. Probably needed on sky moreso as the login is less secure, just a 6 digit number. (Only 1 million possible combinations)

Not seen it on any of the other site i frequent.

numbers and letter can be used i believe

FMP  ;hide;

It's a PIN, so I assumed numbers only, personal identification number, I doubt you can use letters? I can see why though, much easier to log in via the TV this way.

Actually Tikay it wont let me register for any tournament or stt :(

"Granny" is in. Please respect the elderly.

Bear with me Mike, hopefully "Sky Suit" will be on later.

im playing tonight ive just moved to the tramps table

You in as SPURS4EVER?

I'm on Mr E's table. He's not playing any hands. Are there any bounties worth winning tonight? He'll be blinding away soon, just want to know if I should get involved trying to take him out.

Sorry Rich, I don't know. I can't even play the Comp, even though I'm entered, I cant get on the table. They must know I'd win.....

Not found your remote yet either?

LOLOL 5.5k pot kk v 1010 allin preflop flop 5 8 10
                                                      turn k
                                                      river 10
lol jokeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

LOLOL... Thats Mr E allright..

He went out. AQ vs quad fives

Unlucky, but that's the whole beauty of Poker perfectly demonstrated, it's why we enjoy it & hate it in equal measure. You'd be happy if you had the 10's!

:redcard: :redcard:

 ;)

Just gone out on 200/400 level .. these blinds are ridiculously fast!!!!   ;ifm;

I'm out in 100th. 200-400 level again. 99 lost to AJ, short stacked 66 lost to JJ, but still had 425 chips for the blind and K9 lost to 44. Bit more luck needed, or hopefull a bit more play next time sky suit ;) ??

i agree tikay, still a kick in the teeth tho!

You should have got aggressive early ;)

Nope, it's gone all remote on me.

Anyone watching the TV show? Just gave a guy a sopt prize for folding 6 8 on a 5 7 9 board cos it was all clubs and he was against a flopped flush. Only prob was it was a 1800 pot and he has 535 chips left, yeah he would have lost, but it can't be the right move, and he got a spot prize for it. Presenters were goin on about patients again. Really doesn't match up with the tournament structure. They said you could sit back and have waited for half the field to go out. Now you could have, but you would have about 500 chips left at that stage, 1 BB, good chances to win from there.

Blinds are perfectly fine, no changing them Mr(s) Sky Suit.

Down to 200 five mins before the break - up to 6,480 at the break. Silly old game.

...proving that Poker is a game of opinions......

Seems to be the regulated sites, Blue Square have it.

lol, i took the tramp out

You Berbatov?   ;)

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr

You won free entry into next sundays £4K tourney apparently

thats alright, is it tomorrow or a week tomorrow?

whats the buy in for that comp?

week tomorrow I think Nice 1 Dan

Week tomorrow,  Not sure of the buy in, Will have a look

Grrr, out in 27th for small cash after pushing with A-K suited pre flop and getting called by one other and also by the table fish. Flop A-Q-2 and I'm looking good for treble up. Checked by one of the callers but fishy idiot bets 3,000, other folds. Showdown and the fish has K-J!!!! Blank turn but 10 on the river, obviously.

Week Sunday, £4k GTD, Buy-In £25+£2.

cheers mate

out in 14th...... these blinds lol

As I mentioned in the thread on Thursday, the concept is fine, but where did they get the software?

The one and two outers that hit may make for good telly, but come on !!!!!!

Quads galore, one shot rivers absolutely ridiculous

I have played the last 3 nights,but they will not be getting anymore. Someone called fenners has just called my all in raise with J8 against 10-10 preflop and hit a gutshot 9 for a straight when I had flopped trips,    Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

On to the 25 /50 cash table limped in with 22 hit trips Marre as bet and raised all the way through to hit 10-7 for a runner runner full house. They will not be getting any more of the fogsters money!!!!!!

Fenners was the one who knocked me out with rivered Gutshot, too. Earlier she/he had pushed all in with 3-4 off suit from UTG!

8/8

gotta get final table again

2 on the bounce would be some achievement, good luck!

There was a Tikay1 at my table that was blinded away...........any comment?

it must be rigged

i have played a couple of nights and the blind structure seems to make it into a crapshoot - i think it is because the software is slower than most  - maybe make it 15 min levels and add in 150-300  - would make all the difference i think. Also i dont like that you can't see peoples chipstacks without putting your mouse on their icon.

I was in the Comp, but it would not "connect", no matter what I done, so I guess I just blinded away. Hard to know whether I'm disconnected or just playing loose some nights ......

Welcome to blonde, my friend.

If you are playing tomorrow, I'll make sure I namecheck you!

I'm sure if you had a word in one or two ears about your connection problem they would give you a refund tikay!

Any comment on the randomness of the one or two outers that are hitting with this software?

I think they are called "suckouts"!

And with the studio showing so many of the big hands, it accentuates the suckouts & monster flops. That's my read, anyway. Why would it be otherwise?

A refund? Now there's a thought.......

Mr Suit? Mr Suit, Sir?

I think we'll all play to give you something to talk about. Please don't talk about patience patience patience ;) I know they are your 3 top tips but not for this tournament anyway.


Do you reckon he has to pay his entry fees? Maybe but he does work for them  ;whistle;

I look forward to tomorrow, though I'm a little - well, a lot - nervous. I've done a fair bit of TV stuff in the last 2 years, but I'm working with a whole bunch of professionals here, in a big-budget jobbie, and Sky are the ultimate pros, so I gotta be on my A+ game, even to survive. I'll just be myself & what will be will be, I've bluffed it for 2 years, who knows, it may yet continue!

I do have to pay my own entry fees, what is more, any money I win (some hope....) I am obliged to donate to Charity, as are the Studio Guests, otherwise we may get accused of rigging things.

Squeaky clean is the right way, & it suits me just fine.

I've got no idea why Tony, but having been "sucked out" three nights on the trot with muppet play and watching the analyzed hands.I can only say as before the will not be having any more of my money.

One word of caution. Carlo was completely amazed at the frequency and ferocity of the suckouts and bad beats. therefore before you comment on a hand I would advise to expect the unexpected.................good luck on your debut

lol some of you are complaining about suck outs, some of you are complaining about the quick structure.

How long till someone puts it together, i am on the edge of my seat just waiting for it to happen! ;kev;

Thanks mate.

It's worth remembering that there is a techie in the Sky Poker Gallery whose sole job is to seek out "suckout" & "monster" hands from the entire tourney, & offer them up to the Producer. So we will always see a lot of "wow" hands. But I do personally feel we should show less "wow" hands, & more "normal" ones, but regulation hands don't make great TV, especially for Poker Newbies, to whom this Tourney is aimed, & I can't argue with that logic.

Will you ask Paul about playing sets, that's all i want to know!

does this not happen on other sites that you play on?? does the best hand always hold up on other sites?

It would be something of a waste, as it's not THAT Paul Parker........This Paul Parker claims to have been a footie-bloke, played for Man U I'm told.

So, errr....NO!

Booo.

Dan I have played on many sites for quite a long time, but they only have approx 60 tables at the start and they drop  like flies, with the featured hands taking pride of place.

It is not just these featured hands that I am quoting,Yesterday we had AA vs A9 on feature with one 9 being mucked by another player, then turn 9 and river 9 to win.You can witness plenty of exception suckouts and bad beats that are not "featured" Including my demise and as someone else stated muppet play of 3-4 o/s UTG winning.

It happens on many sites but, I have a feeling all is not quite right on this gameplay!!

what exactly are you suggesting is wrong here as i would have thought that the above hand would have made great "entertainment" given the one outer river?

Like you say it happens on a lot of sites, it happens more on here becuase the structure is so fast and it can be correct for players to move all in with anything (or just not so bad play). With this happening so often there are going to be a lot of poor hand vs good hand match ups, rather than the usualy good vs not so good, or even players having the choice of folding! Even the worst hand is going to win 10-20% of the time, so I'm not that suprised at it all really. Are you trying to say it's fixed / rigged / biased shuffling algorithms?

yay!

I said something pretty similar in the last thread. I'd prefer to follow a pro, or a table for string of hands so you can see the various styles and moves. This would predominantly be normal hands. But to do this properly I think it does need a slower structure, there are so many all ins that you can't help but have wow hands pretty much every other! Most of the hands they are showing at the moment have little interest to me, there is little play or decisions to be made. Also some of them are pretty boring, it seems to take an age for them to get through what is a straight forward hand (not all of them! But i'd say a good third i'm thinking 'couldn't they find a better hand' or 'why are they still on this hand, they could have done 3 by now'). Don't mena to put a dampner on the show, probably appeals better to beginners.

I think I'll email a question in about chip management and blinds, just to give you time to prepare an answer ;)

Break a leg.

Now you can sit comfortably.

wasn't this answered by the "suit" by saying there target market was newbie's and if you want that kind of viewing you can get it on PNL surely?

Pretty much, though I dont recall if he mentoned PNL. PNL does a fine job, by the way, & both shows can co-exist comfortably.

Im not too sure bout that. Sky dont take too well to competition!

It's official, trust me, Sky Poker aims at a wholly different market to PNL, & the more channels of this nature that populate the 800's on the Sky Platform, the better. Some Presenters & Experts may even work for both shows.

By different markets u mean......?

just interested to know, not being awkward.

they won't mind the competition too much that will be paying platform fees i suppose  :dontask:

Different markets = different types of Clients.

but i am still confused

(insert joke about me being welsh!)

Surely they both centre around new/fairly new players with similar buy ins, offering advive from professional players.

 just my point of view. PNL showing sessions of MTT or cash tables allows 'players' to see the styles of play that RIchEO alluded to where this shows the "fun" side i.e huge suckouts.

Are you going to star on PNL anymore? I think Simon Trumper is on PNL tomorrow the same time your on the Open.

Some of the PNL shows are quite advanced. They have specific beginner and expert nights too. There is a lot more advice on PNL, the open is more just showing you the action IMO, pretty much just describing the hand, rahter than any advice (a few emails answered I suppose!).

And the open has just started. I'm sure it will be completely (or a lot) different in a few months.

That's right.

PNL have started a new feature where you see the presenters cards and the others are kept hidden until the action is over (few bugs tho). Which means you can compare your own play to the presenters more easily. I like it. And a tournament in never won in one hand, watching when people steal and make their moves is more interesting than any specific hand match up to me.

I don't want anything bad said about skypoker! just won a mtt on there and let the fish swim :)

I've had 4 PM's & texts overnight telling me that the Cash Games are the world's easiest. A guy who plays £10 & 20 max won £400 last night, another £180, & two others who play in smaller sums both cleared £50 each. Apparently everyone calls all the way. Dip yer bread!

why do i only hear about these things when i have no money!!!!!!!

To be fair your not likely to get any texts telling you they lost £50 or so though, are you?