**THE OFFICIAL** HIGHER BUY-IN PROJECT ** THREAD

[Degen]

This thread was really started by Jman here (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=2777008&page=0&view=c ollapsed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1) but he's going out of town and I thought I'd try and give something back to the forum by getting the ball rolling on this one.


I'm sure we all agree that we could DEFINATELY use a higher buy-in SNG, it would have a trickle down effect that would soften up most, if not all, of the games we play. As I am currently trying to move up to the 109's, I will certainly be a beneficiary if this works out.


The only real way I can think of to get Party to change the structure, is to send them emails, and wait for a response. I crafted a letter which I will post as a reply to this thread, which should work well for our first go at this.

Please everybody that reads this, take a moment for your fellow SNGers and copy and paste the letter into an email and send it to ALL of the following addresses:

games@partypoker.com
tournaments@partypoker.com
info@partypoker.com

I'm sure they will all just forward it to the same person, but then that person will have 3 emails from you /images/graemlins/grin.gif Three emails from all of us, then a couple more different letters in the next week or two...and I personally think we have a real shot at getting something done here. And oh how awe$$$$ome that would be!!


Any suggestions on how else to attack this problem, please post here...and anything you get back from them.


AND EVERYBODY WHO SENDS THE EMAILS REPLY TO THIS THREAD!!



LETS DO THIS!!!!!

[Degen]

***FILL IN YOUR INFO AT THE BOTTOM***

(SUBJECT LINE) Make one up, a bunch of different ones will make this seem less 'spammy'



To Whom it May Concern:

I am a regular patron of your site and I spend a great deal of time playing your ‘Sit-N-Go’ tournaments. I have noticed, as have others who I know who play these tournaments often, that the games seem to be getting more difficult lately at the upper levels of play, specifically in the $100+9 and $200+15 tournaments. This concerns me, as it should concern you, due to the fact that if this continues many of the regular players will begin leaving the tournaments at your site.

At present, there seems to be a ‘traffic jam’ of players at the levels I stated above. What would alleviate this a great deal, in my opinion, would be to open up higher games as you have done with your No-Limit ‘ring’ games. A $500 buy-in tournament would be excellent, and you may even do well to add a regular (non Step) $1000 tournament. I am certain if you were to open up these higher Sit-N-Go tournaments that the games at the lower levels would be better for us regulars and we both would benefit.


I thank you for taking the time to review this request.


Regards,

YOUR FULL NAME
YOUR USERNAME (YOUR SCREENAME IN PARENTHESES)
YOUR PHONE NUMBER
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

[DonButtons]

very nice job...I already sent 2 emails.

[Unoriginalname]

All 3 sent

[NYCNative]

I'd suggest not everyone use the same exact letter as the support staff will quickly realize what is happening and call shenannigans.

[Scuba Chuck]

Out of curiosity, the only real benefit to having higher tables that are non STEP related is so that the skins have the games too. Is that correct? Otherwise, I don't know why the STEPs are not the preferred choice, as it virtually guarantees more amateurs at the higher tables.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Scuba

[chisness]

the payout format is also not the standard

[astarck]

I know (or assume) Party is in charge of what games can be played on their network. But would it be a good idea to send out 3 emails to each of the skins you play at as well?

It isn't a lot of work to send out this email and it just might have a ripple effect all the way back to Party.

[zipppy]

Another positive effect it could have is removing some of the sharks from the ministep5 and step5 tourneys. This might enable amateurs to collect more of the prize pools and start over at earlier steps (which is more profitable for party than the pros "pocketing" the money they win).

[Newt_Buggs]

the STEPS aren't enough. After curtains mastered 8 tabeling the $200s he wanted to move up so he tried out the steps but he ran into two problems: the different payout structure was difficult to adjust to, and more importantly the games just didn't run often enough. If $500 SNGs were added it would give $215 multitabelers a much greater incentive to move up.

all 3 sent

[deathpotato]

This is a very good idea, and I have sent them e-mails regarding it already. I haven't received any response other than the typical "forwarded to the management team" one, but here's hoping they take notice. I've been trying to move up into the mini step 5s and step 5s, and while they're definitely beatable, I find the unfamiliar payout schedules a little bit hard to deal with at times.

[Degen]

It was mentioned that the same letter over and over may not be very effective, so here is a second form letter. If you have the time, I agree that crafting your own, or making changes to this one would be a good idea...though I still think that us sending a bunch of the same one will be effective, its a lot like signing a petition. Showing that you cared enough to copy and paste it, and send the emails off, including your own information, shows that you care about the cause. Any company will take notice if they see that enough of their customers are that passionate about something.

Thank you to all that have sent the emails AND LETS KEEP THEM GOING!!!



__________________________________________________ ___



To Management:

I play a lot of your Sit N Go Tournaments and have been noticing lately that the games seem to be tightening up a lot. As I depend on these games as a source of income, and you depend upon me depending on these games for the rake I pay…I think it is DEFINITELY in both of our best interest to keep these games playable and beatable.

A large part of the reason the games are getting tighter is that the 200+15 is the biggest game you have. If you were to open a $500 Sit N Go there would be an immediate impact upon all of the games below it. There are also a number of players who would come to the site just to play these high buy in Sit N Goes and the ‘buzz’ would certainly create some good word of mouth advertising for you.

So I ask you to please consider opening up a higher Sit N Go tournament, at least on a trial basis, so that players like me can continue beating the games and moving up in levels.

Kind regards,

YOUR FULL NAME
YOUR USERNAME OR SCREEN NAME

[Degen]

As Party provides the network, they are obviously going to be the one making the final decision on this one...but it was suggested that emailing the skins would have a positive effect as well, and upon reflection I definately agree.

Some of us have accounts with skins that are very highly rated (Raptor this means you!, and anybody else who 16-tables massive limits) and this email coming from somebody with one of these accounts is probably going to be paid attention to quite a bit more than from Joe $5+1 2-tabler.

There is also an outside chance that one of the Skins could listen and start some $500 SNG's of their own.


__________________________________________________ ______


EMPIRE:

info@EmpirePoker.com
vip@EmpirePoker.com (if you are a member)
royal@EmpirePoker.com (if you are a member)

EUROBET:

customer-services@eurobet.com




If anybody uses any other skins widely, if you could please reply here with the email addresses!




KEEP THOSE EMAILS GOING!!!

[TheTimeIsUp]

Sent it to 5, hope it works.

[Degen]

COME ON GUYS!! 400 PAGE VIEWS AND LESS THAN TEN PEOPLE REPLIED SAYING THEY SENT THE EMAILS!!

ITS EASY!!!!

COPY/PASTE THE FOLLOWING:


games@partypoker.com, tournaments@partypoker.com, info@partypoker.com

(just copy that whole line into the To: email slot)





To Whom it May Concern:

I am a regular patron of your site and I spend a great deal of time playing your ‘Sit-N-Go’ tournaments. I have noticed, as have others who I know who play these tournaments often, that the games seem to be getting more difficult lately at the upper levels of play, specifically in the $100+9 and $200+15 tournaments. This concerns me, as it should concern you, due to the fact that if this continues many of the regular players will begin leaving the tournaments at your site.

At present, there seems to be a ‘traffic jam’ of players at the levels I stated above. What would alleviate this a great deal, in my opinion, would be to open up higher games as you have done with your No-Limit ‘ring’ games. A $500 buy-in tournament would be excellent, and you may even do well to add a regular (non Step) $1000 tournament. I am certain if you were to open up these higher Sit-N-Go tournaments that the games at the lower levels would be better for us regulars and we both would benefit.


I thank you for taking the time to review this request.


Regards

[ilikeaces]

Got this response

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

I understand your concern.

We have forwarded your message to our Management Team who will take your inputs and decide on the best course of action. We are always taking steps to enhance the overall experience of our players.

Note: Please do not disclose your password to any individual/organization claiming to represent us. We will never ask you for the password to your account. If you receive any email or phone call from anyone requesting you to provide your password please report it to us immediately.

Our Customer Care Department is available 24/7 to assist you via email.

Thank you for choosing us as your online gaming site!

Sunitha
Poker Customer Care

[Freudian]

I doubt it will work. Party seems to enjoy having exclusive features compared to the other skins. And right now the highest SnGs are exclusive to Party. Doubt very much they would prefer customers of the other skins playing $500 SnGs on Empire (with rakeback) instead of playing the steps.

[curtains]

[ QUOTE ]
the STEPS aren't enough. After curtains mastered 8 tabeling the $200s he wanted to move up so he tried out the steps but he ran into two problems: the different payout structure was difficult to adjust to, and more importantly the games just didn't run often enough. If $500 SNGs were added it would give $215 multitabelers a much greater incentive to move up.

all 3 sent

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah they need to be in the SNG tab, and then they would run a lot more often.

[RicP]

Sent

[RicP]

Response I received from PP below:

AND I get a free $50 SNG out of the deal

WOOOT!

Dear Ric,

Thank you for contacting us.

We really appreciate your feedback on the website and thank you for making was aware with the problems you and many of our players facing. As a token of appreciation we have credited $50 bonus in your account.

We are forwarding this email to our Managment and they will take necessary inputs to introduce new higher buy-in tournaments.

We have higher steps tournament at or website and browse the below given link to get more details.

http://www.partypoker.com/news/events/step-higher-05.html

Refer a friend to our website and get $50 for you, $25 for your friend. To get more details on this promotion browse the below given link:

http://www.partypoker.com/tell_a_friend/index.html

Note: Please do not disclose your password to any individual/organization claiming to represent us. We will never ask you for the password to your account.

If you receive any email or phone call from anyone requesting you to provide your password please report it to us immediately.

Our Customer Care Department is available 24/7 to assist you via email.

Sammie
Poker Customer Care

[Degen]

[ QUOTE ]
Response I received from PP below:

AND I get a free $50 SNG out of the deal

WOOOT!

Dear Ric,

Thank you for contacting us.

We really appreciate your feedback on the website and thank you for making was aware with the problems you and many of our players facing. As a token of appreciation we have credited $50 bonus in your account.

We are forwarding this email to our Managment and they will take necessary inputs to introduce new higher buy-in tournaments.

We have higher steps tournament at or website and browse the below given link to get more details.

http://www.partypoker.com/news/events/step-higher-05.html

Refer a friend to our website and get $50 for you, $25 for your friend. To get more details on this promotion browse the below given link:

http://www.partypoker.com/tell_a_friend/index.html

Note: Please do not disclose your password to any individual/organization claiming to represent us. We will never ask you for the password to your account.

If you receive any email or phone call from anyone requesting you to provide your password please report it to us immediately.

Our Customer Care Department is available 24/7 to assist you via email.

Sammie
Poker Customer Care

[/ QUOTE ]


PESSIMISTS OFF OF THIS THREAD!!


THIS IS REALLY WORKING!!!


This IS NOT a form letter he received!! They addressed the specific concern AND acknowledged that 'many other's' are having the same issue...THAT IS ALL OF US!!

If for nothing else...I invite anybody who reads this to send them emails (or resend them) as there is a solid +EV shot that you will get a bonus/credit from Party!!


COME ON!! SEND THE EMAILS!!! IT'LL ONLY TAKE A SECOND!!

[DrGonzo]

Sent the mails.

Good initiative Mr Degen!

[Rolen]

Ever notice how something that you percieve to be free is more valuable than something you believe you must work for? Why else do we play poker?

Anyway, on that note, my free raffle ticket for $50 is winging its way to PP HQ as we speak!

[astarck]

Just want to warn those who may not know. Make sure to send emails to the skins at DIFFERENT times. There is nothing like letting Party know directly that you possibly have accounts at all of the other skins.

Ishmaelakjda from India probably wouldn't even notice, but surely it is safer.

[astarck]

I made a cross-post on ThePokerForum. Hopefully the ball will continue rolling.

ThePokerForum (http://www.thepokerforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=010549)

[Degen]

Thanks!

[astarck]

Anyone wanna give some odds that Party actually listens and adds higher SNGs? We could get a pool going.

Or pick-the-date when higher SNGs appear. $25 to register a date, winner-take-all.

[Degen]

I'd say its 1% greater for each person that sends an email.

Probably in the 25% range at the moment.


SO ANYBODY WHO READS THIS...PLEASE SEND THE EMAILS!! GET $50 AND MAKE US ALL MONEY!!

[pergesu]

I sent it out...now hopefully you guys will get off my $22s and $33s and just move up to the new $500s

[Bluff Daddy]

sent

[Degen]

[ QUOTE ]
I sent it out...now hopefully you guys will get off my $22s and $33s and just move up to the new $500s

[/ QUOTE ]

hehe

hoping for more of a trickle down effect

thx for sending the emails guys, plz report back w/ any response/free money

[pergesu]

Got the canned reply, forwarded to the management team or whatever. No free $$

[gr8vertical]

Just mailed it to all three addresses. Hopefully it helps.

[XxPenguinxX]

These level buy-in tourneys already exist at UltimateBet...

[ripped]

As I have left pp and moved to a skin this is my email to them.

To Management:

I have recently changed sites and have started playing at Pokerstars as a result of party not having big enough Sit N Go tables. The tables on party became very tough to beat and I decided as I am a full time poker player that I would make more money on either Ultimate Bet or PS. I believe that if you were to introduce higher limit Sit N Go tables ($500 and possibly $1000 tables) that the games under it will become easier. If this was to happen I would come back to party poker and bring back the $5000 in rake per month with me. The Step tournaments that you offer do not interest me. I have ran in to many players at both UB and PS that have moved there because of the games getting very tough on party at the higher limits. They also said that if Party got some higher sng limits they too would go back.

Ty for your time and I hope that this does not fall on deaf ears.

[Degen]

wow

if they listen to their feedback, i think that will have a greater impact than all of the previous letters we have sent...assuming it is true and they will see that they did in fact lose a ton of rake from you...


thanks a lot man, lets hope it works...plz post any response.

[ripped]

Yes indeed it is true. I dont even have party installed anymore on my machine and have not for about 2 months. I have been a customer at party for 1.5 years so if they care to check my history they will see that they have indeed lost lots of money in rake.

I already got a reply and it's not much different than the others..

Dear John,

We would like to thank you for contacting us and for the time you took
to share your thoughts with us. We appreciate your point of view and
have forwarded your suggestion for higher limit sit n go tables to our
Management Team who will review your comments and decide on the best
course of action.

We are always taking steps to enhance the overall experience for our
players and are always delighted to receive feedback from them.

If you have any further suggestions or if we may be of further
assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care
Department. We are here 24/7 to assist you via email.

Sinead
Poker Customer Care

[ripped]

well I got 3 replies and they are all hand typed and not an automated reply.

here is another 1 I got and I think my reply will help.
Dear John,

Thank you for contacting us.

We appreciate the comments made in your correspondence and have indeed passed them on to our management team for review.

It is always good to receive feedback from our players as it helps us to provide the most enjoyable experience for all at our site.

You mentioned in your mail that you prefer to play the higher staked Sit & Go tables. Although not a Sit & Go tournament you may be interested in our Million Dollar Guaranteed tournament. This is restricted to 2500 entries and the direct buy-in is $600/$40. Registration is now open and will remain so until 30 July 16:25 (EST) or until all places are taken.

The tournament will commence on 30 July 2005 at 16:30 and the game is NL Hold'em. As per the title of the tournament the guaranteed prize pool is $1 Million.

Should you have any further queries our Customer Care Department is available 24/7 to assist you via email.

Thank you for choosing us as your online gaming site!

Louise
Poker Customer Care


My reply

As a professional Sit N Go player the multi table crapshoot tournaments do not really interest me. I am sure that 1 day I might start playing some of them for a change but I cant depend on them for a steady income like I do with the Sit N Go tournaments. I like to think of Partypoker as having the best marketing team in the business as you have outgrown paradise as the #1 site on the internet because of your promotions team. If you did add higher limit sng's you can only grow bigger as a site as it will bring in players from UB and PS as well as other sites, make you more money on buyin fees and not to mention the games getting softer because the pros will move up making the smaller games more easy for everyone. The word of mouth on the internet about how soft the games just became because of the introduction of higher limits should also benefit Partypoker with new players.

All in all I think this is a win win situation for both the players and the site. Please make this happen and I am at least 1 player that will venture back in to the Partypoker world.

Ty again.

[Degen]

[ QUOTE ]
You mentioned in your mail that you prefer to play the higher staked Sit & Go tables...restricted to 2500 entries

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/crazy.gif clearly Louise is not a poker player...tho the non-automated reply is def a positive sign, thx for the effort man-i really think we are starting to get somewhere here


SO ANYBODY WHO READS THIS KEEP THOSE EMAILS GOING!!!

PESTER THEM LIKE THE NL LIVE PLAYERS DID!! THEY HAVE A $2000 TABLE NOW!!!!!

[ThorKGB]

I told them that due to all the pros at 100 and 200 the lower levels was getting tougher and less juicy, and that they needed higher level sngs like their competitors ub and pokerstars to attract more action.

Response:

Dear Tor,

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We have forwarded your message to our Management Team who will take your inputs and decide on the best course of action. We are always taking steps to enhance the overall experience of our players.

Regards,

Abhinav
Poker Customer Care

[gr8vertical]

Dear Marcus,

Thank you for contacting us.

We appreciate your interest in Sit-N-Go tournaments and hope you enjoy playing with us.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We have forwarded your message to our Management Team who will take your inputs and decide on the best course of action. We are always taking steps to enhance the overall experience of our players.

Note: Please do not disclose your password to any individual/organization claiming to represent us. We will never ask you for the password to your account. If you receive any email or phone call from anyone requesting you to provide your password please report it to us immediately.

Our Customer Care Department is available 24/7 to assist you via email.

Thank you for choosing us as your online gaming site!

Syed
Poker Customer Care

[Jman28]

Hey Degen, awesome job getting this all together. Also, great job to everyone who's posted and and emailed Party/Empire/etc.

A couple of comments... I think we should shy away from sounding like pro's in our emails. Also, I think we should act like our motivation for getting these higher buyin tournaments is to play in them (They need people to play these games to make the money).

As Degen said, writing your own letter is best, but copying and pasting form letters is much better than nothing. Let's keep this up and keep posting when you hear anything.

Normally, I never lie, but I had no problem lying to PartyPoker and acting like an idiot... I'd rather no one copy this. I think it's more effective as a single email.

Dear Party Poker:

I am writing to inquire about the future of your sit-n-go tournaments. Besides multitable tournaments, I usually play the $100 and $200 sit-n-go's you offer.

I've recently come into some money which I would like to deposit and really try my luck at the sit-n-go's. I was hoping that sometime soon you would have higher buy-in sit-n-go's. The 100s and 200s aren't really enough gamble for me now.

Do you know if/when you might have some more tournament's offered?

If not, do you know of any other poker sites who offer sit-n-go's that are more expensive?

Thank you so much for your time.

-Me

[Jman28]

Response from Eurobet...

'Dear Mr xxxx,
We thank you for your message as we always appreciate feedback from our customers.

Please be advised that we have taken note of your suggestion for the poker interface, and have put it to the development team to look at.

Kind Regards,
Marcos
Eurobet Customer Services '

They're fast, but not very helpful.

[Jman28]

This is from Party. They sent me two responses. I believe both were handwritten at least partially. The other one just told me to play the STEPs. This one looks somewhat promising...

"Dear xxx,

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

I have forwarded your message to our Management Team who will take your inputs and
decide on the best course of action.

However, I will not be able to give you the specific dates, as in when the higher
buy-in tournaments will be introduced.

We are always taking steps to enhance the overall experience of our players.

I would like to inform that, we can only give you the information regarding
PartyPoker. For information on the other website, you have to contact them.

We appreciate your understating.

Note: Please do not disclose your password to any individual/organization claiming
to represent us. We will never ask you for the password to your account. If you
receive any email or phone call from anyone requesting you to provide your password
please report it to us immediately.

Our Customer Care Department is available 24/7 to assist you via email.

Thank you for choosing us as your online gaming site!

Sunitha
Poker Customer Care
"

[Degen]

welcome back, i didn't think most people would have the time to write a letter out, but i'm sure its very effective this way...as ripped's letter was well received i am certain


anybody have any other ideas on how to attack this other than the emails?

[Degen]

wow ya, to my knowledge nobody else has received a message like that...if i'm reading that correctly they are saying 'yes we will do it, we're not sure when'


LETS KEEP SLAMMING THEM WITH EMAILS!!

[Nottom]

I think its a good idea, but I don't really like your reasoning. Asking for more high limit games so that the lower limit games get easier a) doesn't really make much sense and b) isn't exactly anythign Party would care about.

I think a much better argument would include that fact that while in the past few months tons of 30/60 limit games have been added and NL-ring gmaes have gone from a $200 cap to a $2000 game with 5 steps in between. As a SNG player it would only make sense to add 400/600/800/1000/+ SNGs as well to allow for player that enjoy this form of poker to participate in higher level games as well. Adding somethign about having to go to other sites for action at higher levels would probably get their attention as well.

[Degen]

This was my reply to their standard form letter. Others please feel free to use it or change it up a bit and send it yourself, probably best as a rebuttal, as I sent it:

_______________________________________


I still haven't heard back from your management team.

I am positive i am in the top 10% of rake earners at your site, it bothers me that you seem not to care about my request.

I would really like to have the option of playing higher games, as the NL live players do. You have given them a $400, $1000 and $2000 game...and all i have is a $200 game and Steps tournaments which hardly ever run.

If you put a $400/$600/$1000 SNG in the SNG tab and paid it out like a normal SNG, these would go off all the time.


I am seriously looking into moving to another site, and I hope that you take action on this soon to prevent me and many others from leaving.