Genting Casino Coventry, Double Oh Dear

Well the new Genting Casino in Coventry is due to open on Friday November 23^rd 2012. The address and phone number are as follows.

Genting Casino Coventry,

Skydome, Coventry, CV1 5JD

Tel 02476 231234

The name “Skydome” sounds like a James Bond film but they’ve just released the poker schedule and it looks more like double “oh dear” than double 07.

I was expecting something to shake or stir the Grosvenor Coventry but instead of frightening the “living daylights” out of them they have left them as still Coventry’s “Casino Royale”. (OK enough Bond puns)

I’m frankly staggered that Genting have done absolutely NOTHING to try and entice players from the Ricoh to the Skydome. First impressions mean a lot and this smacks of “we don’t give a shit” before the place has even opened.

Where is the great promotion? Where is the fanfare? Where is the… well anything really? A glass of cheap champagne and canapés is hardly a grand opening.

As for the poker schedule it’s a half arsed attempt at best. I was expecting them to come on the scene and give Grosvenor Cov (G Cov) something to think about by trying to lure their loyal regulars away from the Ricoh.

I thought the poker schedule would be innovative or reg free or have guarantees or something but not a bit of it. I don’t know what their cash game rake or session fees are but if it was my club I’d be running them rake free for the first month to get players in and gets the games started.

If it was me I’d have a big (not buy-in big) tournament to kick it off, with some if not all of their sponsored pros in attendance. It would have been a great boost for the local players to have a chance to play alongside the Hendon Mob and players like James Akenhead etc. How much trouble would it have been to arrange something, Paul and Ben Jackson live in the Midlands?

Genting Sponsored “Maylis Boardman”

If they’d at least invited the Genting sponsored Maylis Boardman to the opening of the card room that would have guaranteed my attendance and I suspect a great many other poker players.

Anyway I’ve put a copy of the Genting Skydomes Poker Schedule below (Courtesy of the Midlands Poker Forum) and rather than write a huge long report I’ve done a quick video comparing it to the G Covs schedule with my thoughts on the relative pros and cons of each card room’s tournaments.

Can I just point out that the views expressed here are my own and I have no affiliation with either company.

Genting Skydome Schedule;

Monday

£20 Turbo Freezeout , with 1 rebuy and addon , £3 reg , 10k chips with 15 minute blinds

Tuesday

£30 Deepstack Freezeout , optional 1 re-entry , £4 reg , 15k chips with 30 minute blinds

Wednesday

£10 rebuy , £1 reg , extra 1k chips at start for £2 , 2k starting stack with 5k addon, 3×30 min then 20 min blinds

Thursday

£15 Turbo Freezeout , £3 reg , optional 1 re-entry , 25k chips with 15 minute blinds

Friday and Saturday

Cash Games available from 8pm

Sunday

£5 rebuy , £1 reg , extra 1k chips at start for £1 , 2k starting stack with 4k addon , 3×30 min then 20 min blinds

To compare the two casinos poker schedules I’ve put them side by side in the table below.

	G Cov Ricoh	Genting Skydome	Winner
Sunday	4.30pm deep & steep 15k 15m 8.30 £25 25k 15m	4.30 £5 rebuy , £1 reg , extra 1k chips at start for £1 , 2k starting stack with 4k add on 8.30 No comp	Ricoh. The Skydome looks to be catering for the lower end of the market with this offering. Plus Ricoh does offer an evening comp.
Mon	Free Entry £5 re-buys add ons 1,500 starting stack 3k r 6ka 20 min blinds	£20 Turbo Freezeout , with 1 rebuy and addon , £3 reg , 10k chips with 15 minute blinds	Ricoh. Free entry a bit gimmicky but a nice touch. On balance if I was just looking for a cheap nights poker I’d probably opt for the Ricoh. 20m blinds over 15 would edge it for me.
Tues	£20 6 max 10k chips 20m blinds	£30 Deepstack Freezeout , optional 1 re-entry , £4 reg , 15k chips with 30 minute blinds	Skydome. With the extra 5k chips and 30m throughout I make this the winner, even though I personally really enjoy 6 max.
Wed	£15 deep & steep 15k 15m £500 guaranteed	£10 rebuy , £1 reg , extra 1k chips at start for £2 , 2k starting stack with 5k add on	Ricoh (just) I hate 15 min blind structures but I hate re-buys more! Also the Ricoh guarantee is a positive.
Thurs	£25 double chance 10k 20m	£15 Turbo Freezeout , £3 reg , optional 1 re-entry , 25k chips with 15 minute blinds	Draw. Tough choice. A lot more chips at Sky but 20m levels and a great structure at Ricoh. If you’re on a tight budget maybe lean towards Sky
Friday	£30 10k 30m blinds	No Tournament?	Ricoh. To be honest no matter what the Skydome put on it would be tough to beat the Ricohs new £30 comp which is one of the best comps I’ve played for that level of buy in for a very long time.
Sat	£25 Super Stack 50k	No Tournament	No Contest!

Anyway I shall visit the Genting casino out of curiosity for sure and will post my thoughts afterwards, but I don’t think I’ll be going there too often going forward with the current schedule in place.

If you are ever really not sure which poker tournament to play in the Coventry area then it might be worth finding out where “Luck Box” Pete is playing and go to the other one 🙂

Thankfully there’s only one “One Eyed Pete”

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