Opinions on the new daily contest format

[Royals2mm]

 - Hi SueCasey - - long  time no 'chat'.MM from the ol' Skip Hughes and LVA forums!*BTW - I have been playing regularly on this website the past few months.Check out the "AUGUST & Sept" Top 10 MONTHLY winners.I finally made it!  (Aug- Numero Uno!) Sept - 2nd place!! **And as to game variety, that definitely helped.  I think having only ONE game format makes it alot harder.....esp. a game weighted more towards getting higher hands for wins, vs 3 kinds paying only 10 vs 15 credits every time.... 

[BillyJoe]

I feel that by only having THIS single game alone as the choice , that this is more biased towards 'luck' than 'skill'.

Getting a DEALT RF (or AWAK in TDB), which is ALWAYS needed to win ANY contest, doesn't take skill..

[player_2746]

I for one hate this new contest format, no choices and its boring.  Its all luck anyway its not about the $50.00 top prize.  Give me back my choices.  I'm not playing until its back.  See the chat everyone feels the same.  Would have been nice if you took the survey FIRST.  

[Webman]

Alright, here is the dilemma we are facing here... We were going to let this play out for a month, but it seems to be a hotter topic than we anticipated. We will put together a survey within the next couple days and let our members decide which format they prefer.With the Winner's Challenge, the objective was to reward people who 1) Play a smart strategy 2) Play often enough to be competitive in an endurance challenge. It accomplished both of these these. However, the problem is that there are only 20-30 people who actually do this regularly with the effectiveness necessary to win. I didn't mind that the first couple months, as it is nice to see hard work rewarded. But after several months, the emails started piling up that the Winner's Challenge must be rigged because the same people keep winning, which was not the case at all... they simply have developed the necessary strategy to be competitive. I was expecting the pool to be only a portion of our participants, but not to the degree that it ended up being. Further, the Winner's Challenge was more at odds with the regular contests than expected. You need to play one way for the Winner's Challenge, and another way for the Daily Contest prize, and that made it completely out of reach for people playing TDB, though their expectation was that they had an equal shot in both. When you see people getting 120 wins every month and you can't get past 40 on a good month, I can understand that sentiment when you're not realizing what a difference your game type makes in win percentage.Moving to one game family seemed to bring the two concepts together, and was suggested by quite a few members as a way to make the contests better. Now you would have a shot at that dealt kicker, as well as doing your best to come up with a winning session- which is harder now, but you can still employ tactics to try to come out ahead on your session.What we expected, but not to this degree, was that some people who play a lot of Deuces or other game types, would still want those game types available no matter what. While I think the current format is better from a competition standpoint, I understand some people are just playing for fun and want the selection whether it decreases their odds or not. But that opens the Winner's Challenge up to the problem we have been experiencing.I congratulate the people who were able to dominate the Winner's Challenge so effectively, and it's been fun to watch those players compete against one another for the top spot. In truth, I did love seeing that ability rewarded, as everyone DID have the same chance, if they played their cards right and had the determination. But the pool is too small and the number of complaints too large for it to continue as it was.So the options as I see them are:1) Put all the game types back in, and cancel the Winner's Challenge after this month2) Leave it as it is with one game type for Daily Contests / Winner's Challenge, and have the Monthly Contest be the one with multiple game types available.I would appreciate any feedback regarding this prior to putting the survey together.  Thank you all for your thoughts so far...

[Webman]

I for one hate this new contest format, no choices and its boring.  Its all luck anyway its not about the $50.00 top prize.  Give me back my choices.  I'm not playing until its back.  See the chat everyone feels the same.  Would have been nice if you took the survey FIRST.  

We did have a topic asking for contest ideas, which we also featured on the home page in order to get as much feedback as possible. This decision was based on that feedback from our members, but it's clear that the participants in that discussion were not an entirely representative sample of those who play. I'll add what someone else pointed out previously, which is that if it's not about the $50 top prize, the games are still available. Today's game is Wheel Poker, and anyone can go play Wheel Poker right now in whatever game type they choose. They just won't be in the contest.So there is still clearly a reason people are drawn to the contests, and I'd like to hear more on what that is. My guess is that it is as simple as having a chance, should you get that dealt royal flush, you might qualify for a prize. But is the contest environment in some other way more fun than the regular games as well? That would be helpful to know as we plan the path forward. Perhaps the regular games are lacking something that could be added, or perhaps the contest games can be adjusted in a way we haven't yet thought of. Thanks again for your thoughts.

[LasvHall]

I also am going to cancel my membership, use my free month from winning one contest and then just go back to being a non-member. My Mom who was going to join has decided not to because of this new format and has pointed me to another site ...I hate not being able to change games when one game is not hitting, this is not how I play in a casino, if they gave me no choice would not play there, PLEASE change it back, who cares about the bonus points and how someone else plays to get them, not me, let us play how we want.Admin Note: Site name removed. Thank you for the additional feedback.

Oops, sorry about the other site name, didn't read the rules for posting first.

[SandySueWho]

I have seen many complaining, but I love this format as well. I come here to play Video Poker. Daily contest is just part of that. You have the choice of playing many games, which is what I do. I didn't play TDB much, but I did so in the monthly contest last month, and at least got on the board for a while. I absolutely love this site! I hear people complaining about non gold members winning as well. Hey, they make money off those advertisements. I for one think it's worth $8.95/month to not have to watch them. Keep up the good work. I'll be playing for a long, long time!

[Minn. Fatz]

I feel that by only having THIS single game alone as the choice , that this is more biased
towards 'luck' than 'skill'.

I'd have to say that as long as everyone is playing under the same restrictions as to game choice the winners challenge will still reward 'skill.' Some people will hit that 4K dealt quad, yes, but they will still net only the one point in the winners challenge, just the same as the player who executes a perfect strategy and barely makes 1805 (or whatever the minimum is for a winning session).

I'd vote for keeping the one-game format, or at least keeping it in the "mix." But I suppose if enough members threaten to drop Gold over it they'll have to go back to the "old way."

Personally, it's enough of a benefit not to have to wait for an ad to load and play before each game that I wouldn't drop Gold over this (and might even wind up paying for it unless I make the top ten after two "off" months ). You can always play your favorite games on the side; and 19 times out of 20 I'd estimate the daily prize is going to go to a TDB (or Royal Aces for single hand) player.

All in all I'd say this month's experiment is worth it and interesting. Thanks, Webman & colleagues.

[itsalock]

Please keep the winner's challenge.
 
So I vote for # 2
Leave it as it is with one game type for Daily Contests / Winner's Challenge, and have the Monthly Contest be the one with multiple game types available.

[BillyJoe]

So the options as I see them are:
1) Put all the game types back in, and cancel the Winner's Challenge after this month
2) Leave it as it is with one game type for Daily Contests / Winner's Challenge, and have the Monthly Contest be the one with multiple game types available.

I would appreciate any feedback regarding this prior to putting the survey together.  Thank you all for your thoughts so far...

Option 1... I think the Winner's Challenge, while a nice idea, had limited appeal to the broad membership.