Unibet Poker Team "Ask Me Anything" series: Social Media Specialist Jamie Sykes!

[JamiesOld]

Welcome everybody to the first installment of our "Ask Me Anything" series, in which each member of the Poker team will come in to answer questions about, well, anything at all! We've pinched the idea from Reddit as we think it's a good idea for you to be able to get to know us a little better, understand the process of building the site a little better, and just generally become a little more connected with the team. Every member of the Unibet Poker team will host their own thread over the next 2 weeks.

 

We are kicking the series off with the newst member of the team: Jamie Sykes.

 

Hello! My name is Jamie Sykes and my official title is "Social Media Specialist", and it's my job to manage Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch.tv, and try to think of new ways to acquire players through these means. I was a pro MTT then cash game player for 7~ years, and this is my first career job. Ask Me Anything!

 

[psrquack]

Hello Jamie,

 I want to say that I've really enjoyed all of your streams and still miss the monday coverages.

Do we have any chance to ease the hiatus of the butler stream in the future?

May I ask for a working facebook page link on the twitch page (I'm not a facebook member but I'm curios about your messages)?

May I ask for an upgrade of the twitch promotion page in my local language( that page still promoted the monday coverage and the e-sports sng on the 25th of may)?

May I ask you and all of your community collegues to make us a special video singing the Unibet sallallalaa song after we've reached the 25K posts?

As I saw Unibet puts a great effort to improve relationship with the e-sports community. May we calculate with a professional Unibet esport team in CS:GO, H1Z1 or a sponsored esport gamers in hearthstone etc? Or maybe may we calculate with special unibet prizes (bonuses, cash game tickets etc) after clearing some missions in egames or with poker tourneys with stream pass next to the pp or special loots for egames? I personally enjoy the esports SNG's but may we get the chance to win one seat to that tour (I know that Unibet prefers the 6 or 9 seat tables but for a winner of the butler league or twitch/community league you may make an exception). I do not follow the life of e-gaming community. May I ask some introduction about the players before the e-sport's SNG please? It may come on twitter too.

What is your opinion about the future of gambling firms in the Uk after the brexit? Do you think that most of them will change their location to Malta or not?

I personally found some leaks in the knowledge of the support agents about the twitch things in the past. Now they know things much better. Was it hard to educate them?

What is your goal with the twitch stream in this year? Do you want to reach the five-trick(stream from monday to friday?)

What is your social media strategy on the markets in where Unibet don't have licence? Do you focus on existing players to keep them (via social media) till Unibet can get the licence or leave the players alone (worse promotions, no advertising etc)?

As I read the meet the community topic all the members speak danish. Do you need to learn it?

What is you opinion about Bitcoin? Will Unibet accept it as payment method in the future?

How can I get as hot girlfriend as yours?

How can I get as long beard as yours?

Do you think that Charlotte missclicks 4 or over in the next stream?

Do you want to play a streamed heads up against David Vanderhayden?

Thank you for the answers. Cheers.

[polarbear]

---

@psrquack wrote:

 

How can I get as hot girlfriend as yours?

 

do you have money?

[psrquack]

---

@polarbear wrote:

---

@psrquack wrote:

 

How can I get as hot girlfriend as yours?

 

do you have money?

---

Means no. So no money no honey? Btw you read all my questions?  Respect Sir!

[JamiesOld]

Hey PSRQ, nice to see you :) Now let me start tackling your wall of questions.

Do we have any chance to ease the hiatus of the butler stream in the future?

It's not looking likely at the moment, as there is a lot going on in the background here -- especially with Twitch (so watch this space) -- so I just don't have the time.

May I ask for a working facebook page link on the twitch page (I'm not a facebook member but I'm curios about your messages)?

I can do that indeed! We had one on tehre before but removed it as the channel description became too messy.

May I ask for an upgrade of the twitch promotion page in my local language( that page still promoted the monday coverage and the e-sports sng on the 25th of may)?

We don't update that page ourselves, and it requires a formal request each time. So because we are trying to work out the best way to run twitch and we change things ona  regular basis, the promo page will sometimes be a little slow in updating. Once we have something more solid (which should be very soon) we will get it all translated and up there for everyone.

May I ask you and all of your community collegues to make us a special video singing the Unibet sallallalaa song after we've reached the 25K posts?

We're not much for singing... Although that Unibet trallalala song is simply incredible. I'll wait until the next time we've had some drinks and I'll suggest it then.

As I saw Unibet puts a great effort to improve relationship with the e-sports community. May we calculate with a professional Unibet esport team in CS:GO, H1Z1 or a sponsored esport gamers in hearthstone etc? Or maybe may we calculate with special unibet prizes (bonuses, cash game tickets etc) after clearing some missions in egames or with poker tourneys with stream pass next to the pp or special loots for egames? I personally enjoy the esports SNG's but may we get the chance to win one seat to that tour (I know that Unibet prefers the 6 or 9 seat tables but for a winner of the butler league or twitch/community league you may make an exception). I do not follow the life of e-gaming community. May I ask some introduction about the players before the e-sport's SNG please? It may come on twitter too.

We have been doing a lot of work behin the scenes with the eSports community and will have some exciting things to announce in the near future. The eSports Sit n Gos were a great way of meeting people in teh industry and testing strategies, and now it's just a case of using that information to work out the best way to integrate ourselves with the eSports world. And because of the success of those tournaments we now have a little more support from the rest of the company so I won't be alone in organising the next events, whatever form they take. So in short, yes, yes you will get player profiles.

What is your opinion about the future of gambling firms in the Uk after the brexit? Do you think that most of them will change their location to Malta or not?

I have absolutely no knowledge of this area, and to be honest I think it will completely depend on the terms of the UK's deal with the EU.

I personally found some leaks in the knowledge of the support agents about the twitch things in the past. Now they know things much better. Was it hard to educate them?

Our dedicated poker customer service agent Kristoffer deserves the recognition for this as he has done a really good job with helping to direct CS as new situations arose.

What is your goal with the twitch stream in this year? Do you want to reach the five-trick(stream from monday to friday?)

We are going to keep our 3 streams on our channel for now, and try some streaming on already established eSports channels. Alan "hotted" Widmann and Craig "onscreen" Shannon will be streaming poker on Unibet starting very soon!

What is your social media strategy on the markets in where Unibet don't have licence? Do you focus on existing players to keep them (via social media) till Unibet can get the licence or leave the players alone (worse promotions, no advertising etc)?

We don't have a strategy for those markets, as we can't advertise in them. So our social media platforms serve as brand awareness tools in those areas.

As I read the meet the community topic all the members speak danish. Do you need to learn it?

I'll learn Danish when they learn Yorkshire.

What is you opinion about Bitcoin? Will Unibet accept it as payment method in the future?

Unibet has a history of staying ahead of new technological developments, so I can only imagine if BitCoin or another crypto-currency becomes a commonly used and stable currency option, that Unibet would look into it as a serious option.

How can I get as hot girlfriend as yours?

In her words: "I liked you because you were funny, then you got hot when you grew a beard."

How can I get as long beard as yours?

The biggest thing holding beards back is fear; don't let the haters tell you to trim that bad boy. Let it run free.

Do you think that Charlotte missclicks 4 or over in the next stream?

I'll take the overs for every future stream for any amount of money.

Do you want to play a streamed heads up against David Vanderhayden?

He's a friend, and I'm not sure making him cry on stream would be good for Unibet's brand.

[pirahn]

What was your biggest online and live poker wins ? Funniest poker moment ?

 

[DaVitsche]

---

Do you want to play a streamed heads up against David Vanderhayden?

He's a friend, and I'm not sure making him cry on stream would be good for Unibet's brand.

---

Think of all the viral possibilities. I'm a snotty crier.

[jonny2192]

How broken does a phone screen need to be before you replace it?

Have you ever answered a poker question in less than an hour?

How do you deal with the emotional swings of poker?

Will you be coming to UK tour Glasgow?

 

[jonny2192]

---

@DaVitsche wrote:

---

Do you want to play a streamed heads up against David Vanderhayden?

He's a friend, and I'm not sure making him cry on stream would be good for Unibet's brand.

---

Think of all the viral possibilities. I'm a snotty crier.

---

I could post in on youtube right next to the pant pooing incident :)

[JamiesOld]

What was your biggest online and live poker wins ? Funniest poker moment?

I won the Stars Sunday Millon in 2010 for $204K. My biggest live cash is a 3rd in GUKPT Bolton for £19K. I am also the quickest ever bust in Late Night Poker history, busting in less than 2 minutes unibetFist. Vid below for your viewing pleasure.

 Funniest moment is hard because there have been so many. I'll have to have a proper think.

 

[JamiesOld]

How broken does a phone screen need to be before you replace it?

It has to literally stop functioning for me to replace it. I don't even mind a cut or two.

Have you ever answered a poker question in less than an hour?

Only when drinking. I'm not allowed to drink during office hours AMAs.

How do you deal with the emotional swings of poker?

By getting a job at Unibet.

Will you be coming to UK tour Glasgow?

I don't think I'll be able to make it I'm afraid. It was a delight sharing a beer or 12 with you in Malta though Jonny.

[MoreTBC]

Do you think Twitch (or just live streams in general) are going to end up being the main media outlet for poker in the future? With guys like Jcarver and Jamie Staples getting thousands of viewers each week and things like the GPL running have traditional TV shows run their course?

Have you considered sponsoring a 'Twitch Pro', similar to the PS Team Online guys to stream on a more regular basis? Maybe doing a €10 to €1000 challenge or something like that?

Do you think the boom in poker streamers has created a group of players that see making money on the tables as a second income to the revenue they can generate by just creating good content on a regular basis plus donations etc?

 

 

 

[jonny2192]

---

@Jamie-Unibet wrote:

What was your biggest online and live poker wins ? Funniest poker moment?

 

I won the Stars Sunday Millon in 2010 for $204K. My biggest live cash is a 3rd in GUKPT Bolton for £19K. I am also the quickest ever bust in Late Night Poker history, busting in less than 2 minutes unibetFist. Vid below for your viewing pleasure.

 Funniest moment is hard because there have been so many. I'll have to have a proper think.

 

---

That video expains a lot, Jamie you brought the KK curse to Unibet!!!! :)

[Mynona]

I agree with   , you brought the KK curse to unibet Jamie !!

My question for you is this one:  why is the Unibet UK tour coverage so poor ?    I tried several times to follow the results of our stream buddies but i can't find any information anywhere ?   Is there a reason unibet doesn't do any social media/coverage for this event ?  Just being able to check the stacks/ranking once in a while would already be a huge improvment.

Are you gonna do any stream cover/social media advertisement for the tournament in Belgium in september ?

On a more personal level: do you intend to go back to pro poker player one day or the stress/lifestyle doesnt interest you anymore ?

Thanks for the Ama :)

 

[WuDu]

Scarface or Goodfellas?

[homon2345]

plese can give me free ticket?

[NeriPoker]

With stories of bots, games getting tougher, win rates getting smaller and large player pools continually being prohibited on joining their global counterparts. Is the "poker dream" still very much alive in 2016?

 

Interpret the "poker dream" any way you want.

 

 

[DaVitsche]

low fat, skimmed or whole milk?

Do you fold your toiletpaper or crumple it? Also, wipe from the front or from the back.

Do you have a solar sneeze reflex?

On a scale from 1 to 10, with 5/7 being the best possible score, how much did you like fight club?

 

[psrquack]

I registered on Möngöl Hörde but the tourney didn't started. How can I get my money back?

[Sally]

Hi there,

Normally you get an automatic refund.  Check your account on line.  If it's not there, then you can open chat via the contact us link at the bottom of the webpage and ask the customer service team to look into it for you.

Hope that helps

[psrquack]

---

@Sally wrote:

Hi there,

Normally you get an automatic refund.  Check your account on line.  If it's not there, then you can open chat via the contact us link at the bottom of the webpage and ask the customer service team to look into it for you.

Hope that helps

---

I'm really thankful for the help but that was tricky question for Jamie (Höngöl Hörde is a british band and my question refers to the refrain of their song). So I apologise for any inconvenience again it was my bad.

[MathrimC]

Hi Jamie,

Can you name some of your favourite professional poker players?

Can you name 5 of your favourite punk songs?

Do you play any single player strategy games, if so, which are your favourites?

Which do you prefer: streaming again starting this Monday, or waking up with a severed horse head beside you in bed?

Thanks for the answers :smileyvery-happy:

[jonny2192]

Beard added so people know who it is and a bit of revenge for 

 

[JamiesOld]

Do you think Twitch (or just live streams in general) are going to end up being the main media outlet for poker in the future? With guys like Jcarver and Jamie Staples getting thousands of viewers each week and things like the GPL running have traditional TV shows run their course?

This is a difficult thing to predict, and I don't think it will ever be as simple as that due to the Poker demographic being split into two main groups: under 30's who are attracted to the strategic and academic element of the game, and over 30's who are more attracted to the character-driven side of the game; and importantly the way these two groups consume media tends to be quite different. The former group tends to consume more online media, and the latter more traditional media like TV. So with that in mind I would say that in the short term more traditional poker media will still be created, however over time I think poker media will transition almost entirely to online.

Have you considered sponsoring a 'Twitch Pro', similar to the PS Team Online guys to stream on a more regular basis? Maybe doing a €10 to €1000 challenge or something like that?

We have, but after some discussion we have decided that's not the way we want to proceed. I like the idea of the challenge, and we have had some of our community members try similar things on strem but couldn't for one reason or another continue with the challenge.

Do you think the boom in poker streamers has created a group of players that see making money on the tables as a second income to the revenue they can generate by just creating good content on a regular basis plus donations etc?

No I don't think so, I think that it is just a way of providing a second income, and give them a platform to promote themselves for future endorsement deals and business partnerships.

[JamiesOld]

My question for you is this one:  why is the Unibet UK tour coverage so poor ?    I tried several times to follow the results of our stream buddies but i can't find any information anywhere ?   Is there a reason unibet doesn't do any social media/coverage for this event ?  Just being able to check the stacks/ranking once in a while would already be a huge improvment.

I think David has replied to this question on another thread, but I will answer here again just for the benefit of others. Because this was the first time we have done this, we didn't have a big enough budget to include media coverage, but we will for the next "season".

Are you gonna do any stream cover/social media advertisement for the tournament in Belgium in september ?

I don't think so, this is being handled by another department in the company.

On a more personal level: do you intend to go back to pro poker player one day or the stress/lifestyle doesnt interest you anymore ?

I am planning on travelling again at some point and during that time I will likely do bar work and play part-time, but I will never go back to being a fll time pro for the reasons you outlined above; and fundamentally it just doesn't fulfill me anymore.