QuickBet (PokerStars)

The PokerStars QuickBet feature was built ahead of the 2018 World Cup with the objective of facilitating bets whilst at the poker table.

High Level Overview

Ideation

My Team and I led the ideation session with key teams aimed at identifying solutions as to how poker players could bet on key World Cup games without risking missing a hand.

Design

Worked closely with design teams in creating various iterations of the feature, including writing the poker logic as to  when and where the feature is surfaced, as well as updating the settings menu.

Tracking

Assisted in the definition of the tracking metrics for the feature, including engagement, revenue, dismissal, user demographic relevance and opt-out rates.

Stakeholder Management

The feature relied on input from Sports, Poker, Marketing, CRM and Product Stakeholders. Regular reporting, steering meetings and workshops were fundamental to the project’s success.

Match Surfacing

Presented the user with the real time odds to bet on key World Cup matched without leaving the poker table.

Bet Options

For any given match, provided the user with win/loss/draw options, and a bet slider to set the stake.

Menu Settings

Updated the menus in order to ensure the user could configure this feature to suit their preferences.

Logic Definition

Defined when to surface message banners, based on factors including poker action, open tables, balance, etc…

Key Information

The feature included relevant information such as the user’s balance, potential returns and wager type.

Feature Tracking

Defined metrics to gauge the success of the feature, and gather information required to refine functionality in future.

For the first time poker history online poker players were able to bet on the days hottest sports events without having to leave the table.

Some more information…

Background How it was Built My Scope

How can the poker table be adapted to allow players to bet on the biggest events?

With the World Cup approaching, the business wanted to ensure players wishing to bet on that day’s key games could do so without needing to leave the poker table on the computer and mobile apps. We also wanted to leverage the World Cup to increase cross-sell traffic from poker to sportsbook by facilitating the betting process as much as possible.

As part of the Cross-Sell Team, we held ideation workshops with all Product, Sports, Poker and PMO stakeholders, as well as key members of the UX Team and poker product developers, in which we presented a series of challenges, and as a group, sought to troubleshoot these and deliver a best-in-class, pioneering cross-sell feature, just in time for the 2018 World Cup.

How do we go about aligning a large shift to native within internal teams? 

Once the project was scoped and the features and NFRs were defined, Cross-Sell was prioritised for Q1 and Q2 2018 so that development, testing and launch could be completed in time for the World Cup. I created a World Cup task-force and chaired fortnightly steering meetings, as well as ensuring regularly progress reports were distributed to all key stakeholders, ensuring any potentials speed-bumps were highlighted and addressed as soon as possible so as to avoid delays.

What were my main areas of focus?

Strategic

  • Working with the business to identify World Cup cross-sell opportunities.
  • Creating and hosting ideation sessions and workshops which brought all relevant stakeholders together.
  • Working with a number of stakeholders in defining the strategy allowing poker players to place sportsbets without leaving the table.
  • Working with key stakeholders in defining the feature HRL.


Product

  • Translating the Quickbet feature HRL into well-defined user stories, and acceptance test criteria for both the computer client and the mobile apps, including for all related menus.
  • Defining the logic for how and when messages would be surfaced to the user.
  • Working with cross-functional teams and stakeholders including: design, compliance, BI, engineering and testing.


Testing

  • Assisting the QA teams in testing the feature to ensure it met the requirements.


Reporting

  • Presenting ideation results to the business with a plan as to how to refine and roll these out.
  • Reporting on the progress and feature rollout.
  • Reporting on feature adoption, and positive impact on revenue.
  • Presenting feature demos to stakeholders.