Where’s the best place to play casino poker in the UK?

Calum Grant shares his top picks for casinos in which to play poker throughout the UK. With great venues in London, Cardiff, Nottingham, and Glasgow, there are plenty of great places in the UK in which to get your gamble on and have a grand time playing poker.

The post Where’s the best place to play casino poker in the UK? appeared first on Cardplayer Lifestyle Poker Blog.

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UK Poker comes home – MILLIONS UK takes place at Dusk Till Dawn from Jan. 4

94 players set to cash in on huge promotion worth over $1.2 Million! As the New Year turns the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS tour returns to where it all began as the UK event gets 2020 off to an exciting start. MILLIONS UK runs from January 4-12 at Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham, with the Main Event […]

The post UK Poker comes home – MILLIONS UK takes place at Dusk Till Dawn from Jan. 4 appeared first on Online poker news and updates | partypoker blog.

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£5 Million Guaranteed MILLIONS UK Heads to Dusk Till Dawn

Nottingham hosts world-famous poker tournament from September 29th – October 7th MILLIONS UK returns for Season 2 of the partypoker LIVE tour and brings with it a massive £5 million guarantee following the success of the first MILLIONS event held at Dusk Till Dawn Casino. Poker players from all over the world can win their […]

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Introducing the new Dusk Till Dawn flexible satellites

Players at partypoker will, from March 25th, be able to compete in new satellites that award “DTD£££” instead of the more traditional prize of tournament seats, giving you more flexibility when it comes to choosing which live poker tournaments you want to play. When you win some DTD£££, the GBP currency is assed to your […]

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Chris Brice triumphs in the UKPC Main Event for a £187,500 score

Chris Brice became a poker champion on February 25th as he was the last man standing after four days of intense action in the partypoker LIVE UK Poker Championships Main Event at Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham. UK Poker Championships Main Event Final Table Results Place PLayer Prie 1 Chris Brice £187,500 2 Daniel Clark £115,000 […]

The post Chris Brice triumphs in the UKPC Main Event for a £187,500 score appeared first on Online poker news and updates | partypoker blog.

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Steven Morris crowned UK Poker Championship SHR champion

Steven Morris may not be a household name in poker circles but it may pay to commit his name to memory because he has just been crowned the 2018 partypoker LIVE UK Poker Championships Super High Roller champion. 2018 partypoker LIVE UK Poker Championships Super High Roller Results Buy-in: £5,000+£300 Guarantee: £200,000 Entries: 40 Prize […]

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Introducing the partypokerLIVE UK Poker Championships

Dusk Till Dawn is gearing up to host the 2018 partypokerLIVE UK Poker Championships, a nine-day poker festival in Nottingham, which features a £1,100 buy-in Main Event with a £1 million guaranteed prize pool. Live Day 1s for the UK Poker Championships Main Event shuffle up and deal on Wednesday 21st February and Thursday 22nd […]

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partypoker announces the exciting 2018 MILLIONS schedule

partypoker today announced its exciting schedule for the 2018 partypoker MILLIONS series with events in North America, Russia, the Caribbean and Europe as well as online. Overall, the series will be offering over $100,000,000 in guaranteed prize pools between now and December 2018 – including the forthcoming Caribbean Poker Party in Punta Cana in November. […]

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Play for a share of a guaranteed $500,000 in the DTD 1000

One of the most popular tournaments that runs across both partypoker and live at Dusk Till Dawn is the weekly DTD 200, a £220 buy-in tournament boasting of a £100,000 guaranteed prize pool. Launching later this month is the big brother of the DTD 200, namely the DTD 1000. As the name suggests, the DTD 1000 […]

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Sexton Speaks: “partypoker is On the Rise”

As I’m sure you know by now, I left the World Poker Tour after 15 seasons to become Chairman of partypoker. That’s how much I believe in the direction partypoker is going. I call it “the re-enhanced evolution of partypoker”. I want to thank everyone at partypoker, partypoker LIVE, as well as all the partypoker team […]

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Robertas Gordonas Crowned Grand Prix UK Champion

Until this weekend, the only live tournament cash on the Hendon Mob page of Robertas Gordonas was a fifth-place finish in a £110 buy-in event which netted him £580. Now Gordonas has a £150,000 score to brag about after he triumphed in the £1 million guaranteed partypoker LIVE Grand Prix UK. partypoker LIVE Grand Prix […]

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Qualify for the €1M Guaranteed German Poker Championship

partypoker are partnering with Kings Casino to provide exclusive online qualifiers to the €2,200 buy-in €1,000,000 guaranteed German Poker Championship 6th- 14th August. The inaugural event coincides with the launch of the luxurious new King’s Hotel and Casino expansion. The live German Poker Championships runs from the 9th – 14th August and offers more than […]

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$25,500 Super High Roller Powerfest Event Smashes Its Guarantee

When the schedule for the $20 million guaranteed Powerfest series was being created the partypoker team put forward a suggestion that, it is fair to say, raised a few eyebrows. We wanted to run a Super High Roller tournament with a $25,500 buy-in, where all of the registration fees were donated to charity, and where partypoker […]

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Maria Lampropulos Wins the MILLIONS Main Event For £1 Million

Maria Lampropulos became a millionaire this weekend thanks to the Argentinian triumphing in the £6 million guaranteed partypoker MILLIONS Main Event. Place Player Country Prize 1 Maria Lampropulos Argentina £1,000,000 2 Jacob Mulhern United Kingdom £650,000 3 Jeremy Pantin Trinidad and Tobago £450,000 4 Mateusz Rypulak Poland £320,000 5 Jon Spins United Kingdom £220,000 6 […]

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Vojtech Ruzicka Wins the partypoker MILLIONS High Roller

The Czech Republic’s Vojtech Ruzicka is £284,210 richer than he was a couple of days ago because he triumphed in the £10,300 High Roller at the partypoker MILLIONS at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham. Ruzicka came out on top of a 110-strong field who were playing for a share of a guarantee-busting £1.1 million and […]

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Andrej Desset Crowned Grand Prix Austria Champion

Slovakia’s Andrej Desset won the partypoker Grand Prix Austria Main Event after he topped a field of 2,594 entrants to get his hands on the winner’s trophy and €92,530. Official Final Table Results Place Player Prize 1 Andrej Desset €92,530* 2 Dan Semenescu €67,470* 3 Alessandro Valli €40,000 4 Timea Kövesi €25,000 5 Sebastian Pauli […]

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Side Events Added to MILLIONS Schedule – Now Over £8M Guaranteed!

Dusk Till Dawn is the place to be this April if you are a fan of big names and big guarantees on poker tournaments, because running alongside the £6 million guaranteed partypoker MILLIONS event are several side events that help boost the combined guarantees of the festival past the £8 million mark. The MILLIONS features […]

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Introducing the Awesome Title Fight II

Our biggest weekly tournament is the $215 Title Fight, which sees its guarantee increase by $25,000 each time the guarantee is hit. This exciting event kicks off every Sunday at 2pm ET (7pm GMT) on partypoker, perfect for European time zones but perhaps not so much for our loyal grinders located in the Eastern time zone. […]

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John Duthie appointed as President of partypoker LIVE

partypoker are delighted to confirm John Duthie, founder and former CEO of the European Poker Tour (EPT) has agreed to a five-year deal to become President of partypoker LIVE, our new live global poker tour that was announced in January. As a player, Duthie has over $3.2 million in live tournament winnings and won the […]

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Ask a partypoker Pro: Natalia Breviglieri on re-raising, ranges and staying focused

partypoker is blessed with a wealth of poker talent within its stable of sponsored professionals and ambassadors. Not only are they all superb players in their own right, they also love to interact with the partypoker community and want to help each and every one of you improve your own game. So we’re presenting a […]

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Team Up With Poker Buddies for the MILLIONS Team Challenge

Back in October 2015, Dusk Till Dawn and partypoker joined forced to create the UK Team Challenge. A total of 173 teams competed online and then live at the Dusk Till Dawn casino in Nottingham, with “Nits&Natter” winning the team element and Adam Bone being crowned the individual champion. Now we have decided to run […]

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Turn $2.20 into £20,000 With the New DTD200 Tournaments

How does winning £20,000 sound? Great, right? What if we told you that you could be playing for a first place prize of at least £20,000 for only a $2.20 investment, would that be even better? Thanks to the new DTD200 tournaments you can do exactly that. DTD200 tournaments are the new weekly tournaments created […]

The post Turn $2.20 into £20,000 With the New DTD200 Tournaments appeared first on partypoker.com blog.

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More Chances to Win Your Way to the £6M MILLIONS Event

With a guaranteed prize pool of £6 million and a first place prize of at least £1 million, the partypoker MILLIONS is a must-play tournament in 2017. While the £550 (currently $675) buy in is affordable to many, partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn appreciate not everyone wants to spend this amount on a single tournament, […]

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Happy Holidays from Mike Sexton

It’s that time of year again to reflect and be thankful for what we’ve got, especially our health and loved ones. It’s also a time for giving – and partypoker is doing that ‘big time’ this holiday season. Celebrate the 12 days of Christmas (starting Xmas day thru Jan 5th) at partypoker where more than […]

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Meet The People: DTD’s Nicola Veitch

Those of you who have interacted with the various Dusk Till Dawn and partypoker social media accounts will have met this woman. If you have ever been to Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham you will have seen this particular lady busy at work while you were grinding, and if you’ve ever attended a party at […]

The post Meet The People: DTD’s Nicola Veitch appeared first on partypoker.com blog.

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Extension of the £550 Day 1 Cash Bonus

Those of you sat there considering whether or not to try and qualify for the £6 million guaranteed partypoker MILLONS tournament but are still on the fence about doing so need to continue reading because the special Day 1 cash bonus has been extended. When we first launched the online Phase 1 tournaments, which feed […]

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Are You Ready For the Deepstack and Xmas Grand Prix?

The year may be ending but the poker action is not slowing down at partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn this December, if anything it is speeding up with two amazing events taking place. The first of this brace of tournaments is the £300,000 guaranteed Deepstack, which for the first time has online Phase One tournaments […]

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Sexton Speaks: No Rest for the Weary

partyoker ambassador and poker legend Mike Sexton talks to the partypoker blog about the recent WPT UK festival at Dusk Till Dawn. If you’re following and/or participating in the partypoker adventures this fall, you’ve been quite busy. I recently spent eleven days in Nottingham, England for three major ‘live’ poker championships held at Dusk Till […]

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Luis Rodriguez Cruz Takes Down the 2016 partypoker WPT UK Main Event For £200,000

Luis Rodriguez Cruz is the latest addition to the World Poker Tour’s Champions Club after he outlasted a field of 522 players in the 2016 partypoker WPT UK Main Event at Dusk Till Dawn, a victory worth £200,000. 2016 partypoker WPT UK Main Event Final Table Results Place Player Prize 1 Luis Rodriguez Cruz £200,000 […]

The post Luis Rodriguez Cruz Takes Down the 2016 partypoker WPT UK Main Event For £200,000 appeared first on partypoker.com blog.

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Lucas Blanco Oliver Crowned Devilfish Cup Champion

Spain’s Lucas Blanco Oliver is £250,000 richer than a couple of day ago after he triumphed in the inaugural £1 million guaranteed Devilfish Cup at Dusk Till Dawn, outlasting 203 opponents to get his hands on the quarter of a million pounds first place prize and a special edition guitar signed by rock legend Brian […]

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Ben Winsor Crowned 2016 WPT500 UK Champion

The 2016 partypoker WPT500 UK has crowned its champion and it is Ben Winsor holding the winner’s trophy aloft, that and a cheque for £150,000, which is the pro’s second six-figure score of his career. 2016 partypoker WPT500 UK Final Table Results Place Player Prize 1 Ben Winsor £150,000 2 Keith Cummins £90,000 3 William […]

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Are You Good Enough to Take on Our Ambassadors at Speed Pool?

The 2016 partypoker WPT500 UK heads to Dusk Till Dawn on Friday 28 October, and aside from the action taking place at the poker tables, there are plenty of activities to keep you entertained at the breaks. One activity that always goes down a storm is the “speed pool” competition run by none other than […]

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Take on Sam Trickett at the Caribbean Poker Party

Have you ever wondered how your life could have panned out had a certain event, or events, not occurred, or you had taken a different path? The sliding doors effect if you will. Sam Trickett, another poker VIP heading to Punta Cana for the Caribbean Poker Party, had dreams of becoming a professional footballer, but […]

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partypoker MILLIONS Guarantee Increased to £6 Million!

One month after announcing the £5,000,000 guaranteed partypoker MILLIONS, the guarantee has now been increased by an additional £1,000,000 to £6,000,000. partypoker MILLIONS, hosted by ambassador Mike Sexton, boasts the biggest ever guaranteed prizepool in Europe and will be making one player a millionaire, guaranteeing a minimum of £1,000,000 to the winner. MILLIONS will be […]

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20 WPT500 UK Seats Guaranteed Every Sunday

You don’t have long to wait to play for a share of a guaranteed £1 million prize pool because the WPT500 UK is right around the corner. Although it only costs £550 to buy into, you can win one of 20 seats every Sunday for only $109 thanks to the mega satellites at partypoker. When […]

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20 WPT Caribbean Packages Guaranteed Every Week

There are not many people in this world who enjoy Mondays, mostly because it signals the end of the weekend and, for most of us, a return to the daily grind of work. But thanks to partypoker, Mondays are now going to be one of your favourite days of the week because from October 17, […]

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Reaching the Podium on the Grand Prix Poker Tour

After visiting seven superb stadiums and the incredible GPPT Killarney event in Ireland, the inaugural Grand Prix Poker Tour returns to the Dusk Till Dawn Casino in October to crown a final champion. After millions of dollars in guarantees, tens of thousands of new poker players entering the tournaments and drama at every stop, we […]

The post Reaching the Podium on the Grand Prix Poker Tour appeared first on partypoker.com blog.

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Take on Igor Kurganov During the Caribbean Poker Party

He has travelled the world playing in the highest buy-in tournaments and cash games, taken on and beaten some of poker’s most feared players, and has won more than $11.7 million from live events. We are, of course, talking about the one and only Igor Kurganov. Kurganov is the latest stellar name to confirm their […]

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£3 Million WPT UK Festival is Right Around the Corner

Those of you who love to play in major poker tournaments need to check your diaries and ensure you have October 22 through to November 6 free because those are the dates the £3 million guaranteed World Poker Tour UK festival takes place. Three £1 million guaranteed tournaments are coming at you in the next […]

The post £3 Million WPT UK Festival is Right Around the Corner appeared first on partypoker.com blog.

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Michael Mizrachi Ready to Grind at the Caribbean Poker Party

Three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles, and more than $15.3 million in live poker tournament winnings help make up Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi’s impressive poker résumé. Come November, Mizrachi is hoping to add a Caribbean Poker Party victory to his accolades. Hailing from Florida, USA, Mizrachi has spent […]

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partypoker MILLIONS Guarantees £1 Million For the Champion

If we said to you it is possible to win £1,000,000 from a £550 investment would you think we had lost the plot? Maybe we have because that is exactly what is going to happen thanks to the launch of the partypoker MILLIONS tournament. The partypoker MILLIONS is a concept first launched by partypoker in […]

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Seven Players You Meet at Live Tournaments

It takes all sorts, poker, and never more so that sat around a live table. From the Wild West to the East End, The Aria to Aspers, there no people as diverse as poker players. But forgetting the obvious need to categorize players in terms of their play, what are the characteristics that typify each […]

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Meet The People: Double Caribbean Poker Party Package Winner Adam Ford

As August flicked over to September, one of the members of the partypoker UK Community Forum on Facebook helped himself to an $8,000 Caribbean Poker Party package via the satellites that run throughout the week. Adam “p.ford87” Ford, 28, lives with his girlfriend of seven years, Rachel, and their three-year-old daughter Phoebe, but there will […]

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Dzmitry Urbanovich Confirmed For Caribbean Poker Party

The partypoker Caribbean Poker Party is rapidly approaching, and in addition to the hundreds of partypoker qualifiers, many of who have won packages for free during the $1 Million Giveaway promotion, a whole host of the world’s best poker talent is also set to descend on picturesque Punta Cana. One such player is the Polish […]

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Completing the Grand Prix Circle at DTD in October

Since its launch back in October 2015, the Grand Prix Poker Tour has travelled the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, stopping off at iconic football stadiums such as Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, Elland Road, St. James’ Park, and Hampden. Coming at you in the next few weeks are the Cardiff, Canada, and Ireland […]

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Meet The People: Sylvia Hewitt

Those of you who have frequented Dusk Till Dawn over the past few years will have seen Sylvia Hewitt at the tables on at least one occasion. Always sporting a smile, Sylvia is one of the most popular figures on the UK poker circuit, thanks in part to always being willing to chat to players […]

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£1m Guaranteed Devilfish Cup Scheduled During WPT UK Festival

The word legend is one of the most overused in poker circles. Very few poker players are deserving of such a title, but one man who epitomises the definition of being a legend is the late Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott. Devilfish passed away in April 2015 after a battle with cancer, leaving behind his wife Anpaktita, […]

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5 Essentials for Your Caribbean Poker Party

Partypoker are welcoming players to a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Caribbean this November, with the $1 million Summer Giveaway and subsequent $2 million prize-pool out in Punta Cana. How can you make sure you’re on a plane and what should you prioritise once you’re out on the beach? Pass the Factor 50 and let us […]

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These partypoker Players Are Heading to the Caribbean

Each and every week, partypoker is giving away 10 packages to the Caribbean Poker Party that are worth $6,000, via the $1 million Summer Giveaway promotion, plus a further five $8,000 packages are won via the weekly satellite. Recently, we caught up with some of the lucky winners and quizzed them about the Caribbean Poker […]

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Carl Fogarty Crowned Big Bluff Champion

Seven-time world champion motorcycle racer, Carl “Foggy” Fogarty, can now lay claim to being a poker champion after he won the partypoker Big Bluff challenge at Brighton’s Amex Stadium on July 24, 2016. The Big Bluff challenge was designed to show that anyone could learn how to play and enjoy poker in a short period […]

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DTD Regular Andreas Olympios Wins the WPT500 at Aria for $260,000

Andreas Olympios, a regular at Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham, has become a World Poker Tour champion after he topped a field of 3,956 in the 2016 partypoker WPT500 at Aria, a superb result that came with a career-best score of some $260,000. 2016 partypoker WPT500 at Aria Final Table Results Place Player […]

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Irish Grand Prix and WPT Heads to Killarney in September

Check your diaries and ensure they are free from appointments between September 15-18 because those are the dates the partypoker WPT National Ireland Festival of Poker takes place, including a €250,000 guaranteed Irish Grand Prix. Like the UK-based Grand Prix Poker Tour events, the Irish Grand Prix has both online and live Day 1s for […]

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Big Bluff Celebrity: Jorgie Porter

Here at partypoker, we believe that anyone can learn how to play poker, even if they don’t have the faintest clue about this marvellous game, which is why we’ve launched Big Bluff where four British celebrities are being taught the ropes before being set loose on a live final table held at the Grand Prix […]

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Big Bluff Celebrity: Adebayo Akinfenwa

Here at partypoker, we believe that anyone can learn how to play poker, even if they don’t have the faintest clue about this marvellous game, which is why we’ve launched Big Bluff where four British celebrities are being taught the ropes before being set loose on a live final table held at the Grand Prix […]

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Meet The People: GPPT Online Champion Ian Simpson

When Ian Simpson won the $400,000 guaranteed Grand Prix Poker Tour Online tournament on June 5, he became the first Englishman to win such a title. The hugely popular pro was a worthy champion, and the outpouring of congratulations from his friends and peers was a sight to behold. If you have played in an […]

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Ian Simpson Wins the $400K GPPT Online Leg Plus a $25K Bonus!

What is better than winning almost $52,000 from a $109 buy-in tournament? Winning almost $52,000 and a $25,000 Vegas package from your $109 investment, which is exactly what Ian “Simpioni” Simpson did on June 6 when he won the $400,000 guaranteed Grand Prix Poker Tour Online leg. Place Player Prize 1 Ian “Simpioni” Simpson $51,891 […]

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Who would be a Casino Valet?

I played a few days at Walsall through last weeks GUKPT festival and the one thing that struck me was how good the valets were at Walsall compared to other G Casinos I play at.  As a poker player I always moan (virtually non-stop) about something so credit where it’s due I thought they were really good at Walsall.
They actually come to the table and ask if you’d like a drink and go round the table in order to ask everyone. At G Cov they never do that and if it wasn’t for Delma who always looks after me at Cov (when she’s on duty) I’d die of thirst before I ever got asked.

Delma
At Grosvenor Hill St it’s a bit hit and miss as they’ve had some great valets there and some pretty terrible ones over the years. In fairness I have to say I’ve not been there lately so not sure what the current group are like, though the car park jockeys who do the valet parking there have always been excellent.

It’s so bad at Cov that even if someone calls a valet to the table they just take the order from that one person and F off. I remember one night a player asked the floor for a valet and when she came she just took his order and disappeared in an instant before anyone else could ask her.

It turned out a few other players on the table, me included, wanted a drink so we were chatting/moaning about it while she was away. When she brought the drink back for the original player another one sat by him asked for a drink and off she went again before I or anyone else could catch her attention.

So this time while she was away we (the other thirsty players) decided that we would all deliberately order a drink from her one at a time every time she came back. After the 3rd time she finally had a light-bulb moment and asked if anyone else at the table would like a drink. Hooray!

DTD Valet
Other Venues
I’ve been to the new Genting Casino at Resorts World up at the NEC a couple of times and the valets come round quite frequently there and seem pretty good.
Dusk till Dawn have efficient valets who work really hard when the big comps are on but as most of them are younger than my daughters I always feel slightly uncomfortable with the skimpy clothes they have to wear. It’s almost impossible not to notice them as they look like they’d be more suited to working at Hooters, so I’m sure they do OK for tips. 
Though looks are not in my opinion the main factor. A valet who is efficient and friendly is far more deserving of a tip than someone who is as dim as a 3 watt bulb but just happens to have big tits.
I think the best dumb valet quote was this one. 
Player: Can I have a glass of hot water? Valet: With ice?
Hooters!
Do I have the right to moan?
Personally I feel I have every right to moan about valets who are useless because I am a habitual tipper so I feel I’m entitled to a decent level of service but these days people like me are few and far between.

Generally I believe that poker players do not tip the valets anywhere near enough so if the valets stay in the pit area and don’t come into the card room then poker players only have themselves to blame.

While I was at Walsall this week there were loads of times a valet came to the table and took 5 or 6 drink orders and when he/she came back with them I was the only person that gave a tip. That’s terrible it really is. Most cash players think nothing of tipping a dealer so why not a valet now and then, and why should tournament players not tip either?

In my opinion if you play a tournament and spend 6 or 7 hours in a card room and during that time someone fetches you a tea/coffee or soft drink several times throughout the night because you’re too lazy to walk 20-30 feet to the drinks machine to get your own then if you don’t tip you are a tight arse and should be ashamed of yourself. If I was a valet and had to deal with cheapskates like that I’d be stirring your pint with my cock before I brought it over.

These people are on minimum wage and working hard being on their feet all shift long so a £1 tip now and again is hardly spoiling them is it? It has to be the worst job in the casino it really does. 

I’ve seen players in cash games empty the clip with an ill timed 3 barrel bluff spunk off £200 who are then too tight to give the girl who fetches him a coffee a £1.
Valets: The Good Old Days

When I used to play poker in the Rainbow casino in Brum in the late 70’s and early 80’s it was accepted that every player tipped the valets at least once or twice a night. (It was illegal to tip dealers in those days). Also it was normal when you got down to the 3 or 4 players in the comp and were discussing a deal the conversation always included a discussion about how much we would leave for the valets. (I used to win comps in those days)

One thing that made the Rainbow valets so good was that they kept their own tips and didn’t pool them with other staff. This always makes a HUGE difference to the level of service that players get in my opinion. In the Rainbow in those days the valets did not get any wages at all and in fact PAID the casino to work there!

They paid a fee for a uniform and a tray and worked 100% off their tips alone so if they were not good/friendly and working with a smile on their face they didn’t earn much. Back then not only did players get free soft drinks but also snacks like sandwiches which you could have toasted if you wanted. So to be honest if a valet brought you a free cup of tea and a toasted ham sandwich or a couple of rounds of toast and jam most people felt duty bound to bung them a quid.

I was told, and I can well believe it, that the top earning valet at the Rainbow casino used to earn more money than the general manger.

What do I get out of tipping?

Well I don’t do it to get something in return but there certainly are benefits that’s for sure. Here are two examples that spring to mind of when its helped me.

When I go to Hill St I always use the car jockey (Valet Parking) service and without fail I give the guy who takes my car and the one who brings it back a £1 every-time. Not everyone does and in fact most don’t, but I do. 

Now I remember once turning up just before start time of the monthly £50 comp at Hill St and the jockeys were rushed off their feet and cars were backed up out onto the road. 

They have double yellow lines there so leaving your car on them at 4.45 pm on a Saturday night is asking for trouble. One of the jockeys saw me as I pulled up (having recognised my car) and he immediately came jogging straight down to me at the back of the queue and I just got out of my car without even needing to turn the engine off.

Also I remember once at the Goliath there were about 900 people in the room and when I looked up from the table I noticed Delma who was about 50 yards away and she waived at me and made a “T” shape with her hands and I gave the thumbs up. 3 or 4 minutes later she arrived at my table with a nice cup of tea in a mug. Some of the other players at the table commented that I must be special as everyone else in the room had to make do with a paper cup if they could get a drink at all.

Best looking waitress ever?

They really know how to look after you in Vegas. Back in 2003 I went to Vegas with 5 friends. I used to run a pub in a nice village in Worcestershire and the five guys who went with me were 5 of my regulars. They were all millionaires as 3 of them owned huge sheep farms and one them owned an abattoir and the other owned a transport firm that basically took all the sheep to the abattoir. 
So anyway one night we are in the Bellagio playing blackjack before going to have dinner. I F’ing hate blackjack with a passion but as they all wanted to play I did as well. After 10 minutes “they” get invited to play in a more private area. I don’t think the pit boss realised I was with them as they had been betting $200 or more every hand. (I was betting $5 or $10 ha ha)
So off we trot to this side area which has a $100 minimum bet for higher rollers. When we sat at the table I realised the size of the min bet so said something along the lines of “F this for a game of soldiers lads” so my mates said “oh OK lets go back in the other room”. When the pit boss realised the situation he said no wait it’s fine” and he dashed off and got some $5 chips from somewhere just for me. 
So we are playing 2 mins and the pit boss says “let me introduce you to … she is going to look after you and get you some drinks”.  Step forward the best looking young lady I have ever seen. She was absolutely stunning. If you picture a young (before all the plastic) Pamela Anderson well she was better looking than that. 
Pamela Anderson. 
She smiled sweetly and took our order and off she trots. I’m sat there thinking what the hell is she doing working as a waitress in a casino?
Anyway 3 minutes later she is back with the drinks and my 5 mates tip her a $25 chip each (the smallest chips they had) and make pretty pathetic attempts to chat her up. I never felt so cheap in my entire life than when I put a $5 chip on her tray. 
Then I think “Now I know why she’s working here”. She must have been earning an absolute fortune if she just collected $130 in 3 minutes for one round of drinks. To be fair she was really nice and was chatting to us and asking questions about living in England etc so she was nice to talk to as well as look at.
We were supposed to only play blackjack for 20 minutes or so but my mates didn’t want to leave the place. That valet must have earned the casino well over 10k in the space of 2 hours from my mates alone. Eventually I had to virtually drag them out as I was starving.
No one ever said guys were intelligent when a pretty girl is involved. 
Finally 
A quick mention that Walsall did well at this weeks festival as it beat the £100,000 guarantee for the £500 main event, which I didn’t think it would, so hopefully G Casinos will allow Walsall to have a main event next year as well.
And finally please tip the valets now and then because for the most part they really deserve a bit more than the crappy wages they get for doing what must be one of the worst jobs imaginable. Serving moaning poker players all night long for no thanks must be as bad as it gets.
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Poker: Getting the Balance Right Part 2

If you’ve not read part one you can read it here. Part 1 
Firstly let me apologise for the HUGE gap in time between parts one & two, I won’t waste your time giving excuses as to why that is. Glad to finally get it done though as at least it will stop Daz Stather (G Cov dealer) from asking me every time I go in there when it’s going to be ready.

Daz Stather
My last post (Part 1) stirred some reaction. Normally I get about 100 visitors to the blog a week and that number goes up to 800 - 1,000 in a week when I put up a new post. When I posted part one though I had well over two thousand people read it inside 5 days.

As part 2 is about dealers for the next four or five weeks after I posted part one every time I went into a cardroom three or four dealers at least would ask me when part 2 was coming out!

Regarding Part 1, I was pleased to receive a great many positive comments about it via Facebook, Twitter and some via the blog itself, and also a great many FB messenger, and Twitter DM’s from people who don’t want their views made public. The privately sent messages in the main were from casino staff from a variety of different pay grades who’d rather not voice their comments publicly.

Also for the first time (as far as I know) Rob Yong and Simon Trumper both read the blog and even though I wasn’t 100% glowing in my praise of Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) Simon kindly put a link to the blog from his DTD Facebook page and was more than fair in his comments about my post. I think they (DTD) may like this post a little more.

Getting the Balance Right: Part 2: Dealers

The 2 main things I’m going to talk about on the subject of dealers are “Competence” (Competence = Knowledge & Skills) and “Attitude” (Their Authority, Table Management & Personality). Then I’m going to look at how players behave towards them.

Competence

Competence is simply the mechanics i.e. speed and accuracy of shuffling/dealing, knowledge of the rules, being able to spot the winning hand at showdown, and handling all-in side pots and split pots correctly etc. etc.

So let’s just briefly look at the 4 stages of learning that we all go through when we take on a task we’ve never tried before.

So the Four Stages are 1. Unconsciously incompetent 2 consciously incompetent 3 consciously competent and 4 unconsciously competent.

If we look at the task of walking, a new born baby is “unconsciously incompetent” when it comes to walking as although it can’t walk its blissfully unaware of the fact.

When the baby is a little bit older it starts to realise that all the grown-ups are walking around but it can’t and that fact starts to bother it. At this point it’s “consciously incompetent”. Otherwise known as the “you’re shit and you know you are” stage.

As the baby becomes a toddler and starts to take the first few steps it’s now at the “consciously competent” stage, where it can walk as long as he/she gives it their full attention. 

Finally the “unconsciously competent” stage is where most of us are (except after a few beers) where we walk around without thinking about it. So to put the kettle on we don’t have to think “left foot, right foot” as we walk into the kitchen, it’s just auto pilot and we can concentrate on more important things like wondering if there are any biscuits left?

All new dealers go through these 4 stages of learning, some quicker than others.

Think of someone who has never played cards and not dealt a hand of cards in their entire life. Stage one for them is before they ever get a job in a casino they can’t deal but it doesn’t bother them as they don’t need to. Then they apply for a job in a casino and get offered the position and on day one they see an experienced member of staff shuffle up and deal for the very 1st time and they suddenly think “Shit I can’t do that”.

So now they suddenly realise that when it comes to dealing they are totally incompetent.

Once they have been shown how and practised it over and over again they can deal but maybe quite slowly and they have to be fully concentrating all of the time otherwise they are likely to make a mistake. (Consciously competent)

It’s the same with side pots etc they will need to concentrate hard to do it correctly at first, and it becomes very difficult when 4 players are offering 5 different opinions (3 of which are wrong) on how it should be done!

Finally if they stick with it they become so skilled that they can shuffle up and deal very quickly and efficiently whilst wondering what their plans are for their next day off etc. (Unconsciously competent)

When it comes to just shuffling and dealing there is no excuse for not being competent at this within a reasonable time period because they can practise over and over until they get better at it. If they are determined to get better they will, even if they need to take a pack of cards home and practise on their days off it can be done.


Training for Staff


Sink or Swim?

This is an area where 99% of all casino cardrooms are sadly lacking in my opinion, though let me say that DTD are the 1%.

Away from my hobby as a poker player I’m a qualified training and development consultant so it does annoy me when I see so many casinos have little or no training in place for new poker dealers.

It’s down mostly to total apathy from casino management at the top levels. When I’m blaming management I’m not talking about cardroom managers (CRM’s) level but higher up the food chain that that. Most CRM’s at the casinos I go to are dedicated advocates of their cardrooms and do their best, but the higher management’s lack of interest in poker is the root cause of many of the poker room problems.

Their failure to invest time/money in staff training does them no favours in the long term and it’s therefore left at a local level to organise dealer training which means a HUGE variance in what’s on offer to a new dealer.

As far as I’m aware only DTD has a consistent structured approach to the training of new dealers and that fact shows if you ever go and play there. Considering how many dealers they have there the level of consistency is outstanding.

How Much Training Do Dealers Get?

The phrase “How long is a piece of string?” comes to mind. Different chains of casino vary as you’d expect but even casinos within the same group will vary wildly depending on the venue and who is CRM.

In the last twelve months I’ve asked literally dozens of dealers, supervisors and CRM’s “how much training do dealers get” and one thing I can tell you is that the answer to that question varies HUGELY depending on who you ask. If I ask a supervisor or CRM about training then ask dealers in the same venue the answers are MASSIVELY different.

I’ve chatted to one CRM who would have me believe he was practically running a poker dealers academy with in depth boot camp training methods lasting months. Strangely though when I’ve asked dealers who actually work there they paint an entirely different picture.

Now nearly all the CRM’s I’ve ever asked know I’m writing a blog about dealers so I guess they want to show their casino in a good light so I tend to give a little more weight to the answers the dealers themselves have given me.

The best training I’ve been told about was from DTD as you’d probably expect and also the person I asked doesn’t even work there any more so I guess they had no reason to oversell the training offered.

I was told the new dealers there get about 40 hours training prior to being “let loose” on the public which is probably about 36 hours more than your average casino gives its new poker room staff. As DTD is so busy they often take on groups of dealers together so I guess it makes training them more cost effective.

Also having a group start together means they can shuffle and deal to each other as practise and the supervisors can also have chips at the practise table to deliberately do things wrong that the dealers should be picking up. The good thing about them all being trained together is they get a consistent message from the supervisors and they can discuss scenarios as a group and learn from each other.

So DTD offers the best training but what of some of the others? When I asked one dealer at a G casino “when new dealers start here, how much training do they get?” I was given a very illuminating one word answer, and the word was “minimal”.

I shouldn’t have laughed at that answer as it’s quite serious but I did. It turned out that dealers with no previous experience whatsoever were starting work on day one about 4 hours prior to the evening’s tournament starting and when the tournament started they’d be dealing it.

Basically most West Midlands casinos I play in if they take on a new dealer who has actually played the game before they get hardly any training at all before being let loose on a normal tournament. Once they can do that OK they then get a bit of training on the rake and off they go to the cash game!

A non-player new dealer will get a bit more help but still not nearly enough. This sink or swim attitude is very short-sighted as well trained well motivated staff reduces the high turnover which all card rooms suffer from.

Don’t Blame the Wrong Person.

Some players annoy me when they get on the backs of novice dealers; this is totally out of order in my opinion. When casinos allow untrained or incompetent dealers to be thrown in at the deep end it’s important to remember that it’s not really the dealers fault, you should be aiming your complaints at management not the individual staff member. It’s the cardroom management who have deemed that person competent to deal, so speak to them about it

I never take it out personally on a novice dealer, as I know the training has probably been either non-existent or inadequate. Also it’s important to remember that they are in the “consciously competent” stage at best but they will become pretty skilled pretty quickly. Most dealers after dealing 20 – 40 hours per week for a few weeks have improved beyond recognition and if they haven’t then maybe the job isn’t for them.

I also firmly believe that a novice dealer is always preferable to me or any other customer having to deal that’s for sure. In fact if a casino has any self-deal tournaments throughout the week, like an afternoon comp for instance, then that’s the best place to start them in a live environment as a slow dealer beats no dealer every time.

Please Cardroom Managers! 

One thing card rooms should do when they have a ratio of 4 experienced and 1 novice dealer working a five table comp is rotate the dealers much more often than normal. It’s isn’t fair on one particular table to have a very slow dealer for two hours or more whilst the others have very quick dealers. By rotating them frequently it makes it fairer for all and reduces player frustration levels.

As a general rule the average cardroom doesn’t rotate dealers nearly enough and this is something that there is no excuse for in my opinion. So please CRM’s rotate the dealers more often. It’s pretty standard practise (DTD aside) for dealers to start a comp and remain on the same table until the first break which is usually 2 hours. How much trouble is it to push the dealers around at the end of each level?

Breaking them in Gently

Most new dealers are blooded in tournaments and this makes sense and the lower the buy in the better. It really does annoy cash game regulars, with some justification I feel, when they get stuck with a newbie. It really isn’t fair on the players if they are paying a session fee to get about half the number of hands in per hour that a really good dealer could handle.

I always question the logic of casinos putting slow dealers on “raked” games as it’s costing them money in the short term and possibly future business as well if players just get fed up and go and play elsewhere.

I always feel a bit sorry for new poker dealers as they really are at the mercy of how good, bad or indifferent the cardroom manager is. As players I think we owe it to them (the dealers not managers) to be as understanding as we can. Personally I do try and offer some help and encouragement to new dealers wherever possible.

Recently at the G Cov one of the valets became a dealer and she’s a very bubbly character and I remember her saying something like “I’m not very good yet” to which I replied “well you’re dealing with a smile on your face so in my opinion that puts you way ahead of most dealers already”.

That leads me nicely on to “attitude”.

Dealers: “Attitude” ie: Authority, Table Management & Personality

Once a dealer has been doing the job full time for 6 months their competence should be a given, but what about their attitude?

This is the area of being a poker dealer where the biggest variance is in my view. As I said earlier competence is based on knowledge and skills, which can all be learnt and practised. Attitude though is a whole different ball game. Getting the balance right with this aspect of being a dealer is often where it goes wrong. 

The dealer’s (and floor managers) attitude/personality has a HUGE influence on the game in so many ways and I’m going to try and cover some of the key areas as I see them.

Referee/Umpire

Without doubt the most important aspect of table management is keeping the game straight. The dealers and floor staff are the referee’s/umpires and they should be making absolutely certain that players are getting a fair roll of the dice.
The reason why players play in a casino and not in some dingy illegal gambling den is because they want to feel safe and not worry they will get cheated. You have to remember that whenever there is money involved some people will always be looking to pull a stroke if they think they can get away with it.
It’s very much up to the dealer to be the eyes and ears for the whole table and indeed all the other players in a tournament and make sure no player(s) are bending the rules, colluding, marking cards, or just generally trying to angle shoot in anyway.
So let’s look at an example of a dealer ignoring their responsibilities.  I played at a casino that I rarely play at about a year ago and the dealer basically dealt the cards and then went into dreamland until it was time to deal them again.
Two players who were sat in seats 3 & 4 and the guy in seat 9 were constantly talking about the hand in progress. That’s bad enough when they are just talking strategy or asking a player something like “are you flushing?” but their conversations were including things like what they’d folded and worse still they were getting dangerously close to saying things like “Shall I call him or are you going to?” 
It wasn’t quite that blatant but I knew exactly what they were doing inside two minutes. The dealer never even noticed, or if she did she couldn’t care less.
The first time I was in a hand with two of the three I had to say “is this a team game?” and they took the hint and cut it out. (well against me anyway) Now it didn’t on this occasion but a situation like that could easily have escalated into a row but it would never have even got to the point of me having to say anything if the dealer had been on the ball.
If the dealer or floor staff is the person who steps in and says something rather than a player to another player it diffuses any potential arguments. I could imagine in the later stages of that comp (I wasn’t there then obviously) that if those 3 had still been in at bubble time etc other weaker characters at the table would not be getting a fair game.
I haven’t named the casino as I was only in the comp up to about 5 mins before the 1st break and this was the only dealer I encountered that night so maybe the others are better? But this sort of thing needs to be stamped out or players who don’t play very often will simply not return there as they will feel there is a “clique” in the casino and they are not getting a fair game.
I would guess that cardrooms the world over have regulars/locals/friends that to a greater or lesser degree have a “clique” within the room. Sometimes it’s just because it is a friendly place and the regulars all know each other and engage in friendly banter. However if the cardroom management and staff don’t keep a grip on its room then it can become something more sinister.
I’ve visited some cardrooms round the country over the years though where the management has gone AWOL and the lunatics are running the asylum. All that happens in these situations is that normal decent punters stop going and the cardroom ends up with just these vermin in the card room and no one else.
The reason I go to G Coventry more than any other card room in the Midlands is because in my opinion it is the fairest, friendliest card room around. A sure sign of this is the fact that G Cov has a pretty high percentage of female players in their card room, certainly higher than any other Midlands casino.

It does happen occasionally and I’ve even had it happen to me a couple of times recently, but it’s still very rare to see anyone angle shooting in the Ricoh and first time visitors are generally treated well and get involved in the table banter quite quickly.

Dealers Controlling the Pace of the Game

Let’s deal with the simplest element of table control, keeping the game moving at a reasonable pace.

It’s up to the dealer to clearly indicate who the action is on, and if a player is reading a magazine, chatting to someone, asleep, ordering food, or just drunk out of his mind, to give them a gentle “Action’s on your Sir” type of prod.
Actions on your Sir. (pic from Rob Yongs blog)
The type of game it is should decide just how much emphasis they should place on this. If it’s a “session” cash game then they owe it to the players to be really on the ball. If it’s a “raked” cash game they owe it to their employer to keep it moving and of course for all cash games the more hands dealt generally means more tips.

If it’s a tournament there is a scale of urgency based on a variety of factors and this is where some common sense needs to be applied. How serious is the tournament in terms of buy-in, how long or short is the clock and at what stage is the tournament? Is it a table where everyone is there just to have a good night out, have some table banter and play a bit of poker or is it serious stuff?

No one size fits all in terms of how strictly the game needs managing but really good intelligent dealers have a feel for this aspect of the game. A great dealer has to be able to adapt to the situation and act accordingly.

During the Goliath the tables at the start of day one are for the most part some of the most sociable tables you’ll find anywhere for a £120 comp. Some of the agency dealers dealing them also deal things like EPT’s etc but the really good dealers amongst them know when it’s OK for the table to have a good laugh about something even if it means the action pauses for a moment or two.

When it’s really sociable the dealers should be prepared to ease off just a little and let the game flow at its own pace.  Players playing socially don’t want to be admonished like naughty school children. Nothing sucks the fun out of the game quicker than a dealer who only became a dealer because they couldn’t get a job as a traffic warden.

On the reverse side of the coin, one thing that shouldn’t happen is the players shouldn’t have to be telling the dealer when it’s time to deal the turn or river no matter what the game is. Its bad form when they are half asleep or looking away to see what’s happening on a nearby table or chatting to another member of staff so they don’t know the action has finished.

Poker is a Social Game

Poker, certainly at the level I play at, is a social game and the only reason I play the game nowadays. My days of making any money, serious or otherwise, at the game are long gone.

I could go to the pub on Friday night to socialise and spend a hell of a lot of money on drinks a meal afterwards and a taxi home which can be quite an expensive night out. Or I could play a variety of £20 - £50 comps in the Midlands and have something to eat/drink and drive home. (I personally don’t drink alcohol while playing)

A poker night out like this is often a lot cheaper than going to the pub, but it shouldn’t be any less “social”.

When it comes to the average £20 - £40 comp dealers and floor staff would sometimes do well to remember they are in the entertainment industry as well as the gambling industry.

Now this is only my opinion but I think before they start giving players a telling off they should ask themselves “is this guy trying to deliberately cheat” if the answer is yes then by all means knock yourself out, but if it’s clearly a novice player who’s transgressed then the next question they should be asking themselves is “has anyone been disadvantaged?”

If the answer is again no then just a friendly explanation of the rule and why it exists is all that’s needed. Dealers often tell them the rule but hardly ever “why it’s the rule”. So the player is none the wiser as he/she doesn’t understand the logic.

For example we often hear dealers say to new players “big chips at the front please”. The player is being told off but doesn’t know why so just moves them to the front but has a puzzled look on his face. If the dealer just explained that it makes it fairer if the other players can see roughly how many chips they have rather than having some big chips out of sight he could understand that and see the logic to it.

Don’t get me wrong rules have to be enforced to keep the game straight, and even the most sociable game gets a little serious as the money bubble approaches. However I believe that the rules are there to protect players and should never be used just to beat players over the head with.

5 Hand Penalty
Dealers need to be careful not to get more power crazy than Kim Jong-un and give off this “my word is law attitude”.

Without the social aspect, poker would quickly lose its allure with recreational players as let’s be honest no one plays £20 - £50 live tournaments to make a living do they? It has to be enjoyable.
Personality
Normally I say it as I see it and name names but on this occasion I won’t be naming the good or bad. I enjoy playing live and generally have a very good relationship with all the dealers I interact with so I’d rather not cause ill feeling.

However things need to be said about getting the balance right between “cold” dealers who sit like stone and do/say nothing other than what their job requires and have an absolutely rigid interpretation of the rules, zero personality and a downright bloody mindedness when they can clearly see what a players intentions were.

I know one of these dealers.

Then at the other end of the scale there are the dealers who think they are the ones on a night out with their mates (not the players) and are there to have fun, very often at the expense of a player they don’t like. G Hill Street has had some of these over the years.

Equally annoying is when I’m clearly talking “semi” privately to just one player sat right by me and the dealer thinks they are entitled to voice an opinion on the topic being discussed.

I remember once at the Broadway I was drawn side by side with an online phenomenon, (the guy had won over $1million playing cash on Pokerstars inside 3 years and was at the time a “supernova elite”.

He’s from Exeter and no one else at the table knew who he was as he was in town visiting and had never played there before. He is a very modest and shy person and I was talking quietly to him and I was obviously totally enthralled by what this guy had to say.

We were just talking to each other in little more than a whisper and to my total annoyance the dealer butted into the conversation. The poor guy just got embarrassed and just clammed up as he didn’t want to be talking loudly about his play/winnings etc. I was so annoyed with the dealer I can’t tell you.

Hill St Blues

Let me say right away that I’m a big fan of the G Hill St and Jon Baker/Mike Swann in particular but the dealers at Hill St have on occasions needed to be reined in a bit.

Things change of course and dealers come and go and I’d have to say things are better there now than they have been in the past.

At Cov a lot of players ask me where is good to play in Birmingham as they know I play there occasionally and I always recommend Hill St as their comps are good seven days a week with around 100 runners each day.

They have 2 tournaments a week that are 8 Max and one that is 6 Max and I think that’s terrific. I personally hate being crammed in 10 to a table. When players from Cov go there they always say to me afterwards how good it was, that its well run and the dealers are great etc.
So what problem do I have at Hill St? Well one of its great strengths is also its weakness in my opinion.

Hill St has a very loyal customer base and they have lots and lots of regulars. I only go once a month at most but when I go I see loads of the same players there every single time I go. They have lots of players who go there 3, 4, 5 or even more nights a week.

There is an old saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” and this I believe is true at Hill St.

Now on average the dealers at Hill St are top class and when they have their mind on the job they are as good as any around but occasionally some of them are just taking the piss and F’ing around.

I think this comes about because the same dealers deal to the same players night after night and the “familiarity” causes a loss of respect.

I have a degree of sympathy with dealers the world over as some poker players are complete arseholes and they fully deserve to be treated with total and utter contempt, but as a member of staff they shouldn’t be the ones doing it.

Some of the players at Hill St behave like nursery kids in the sandpit when they can’t have their way but even so the dealers should never be taking the piss out of players or goading them in anyway. I saw a dealer give a player the rub down there once when he busted a comp and that is just bang out of order even if the player is a knob.

It’s a difficult thing to judge exactly where the line is sometimes and in my opinion it’s very good that a dealer can have a sense of humour and be pleasant when spoken to and join in with the banter. That definitely makes the game more sociable, but there is a big difference between a dealer joining in with the banter or being the one instigating it.

G Walsall

Now it’s been a year since I wrote my last blog update and if I’d done this review at that time then G Walsall would have got a total savaging from me. When I played the £100 Bank Holiday comp there about 18 months ago I was just appalled at how bad it was. When you have a player at the table swearing, being racist, sexiest etc it’s the dealers job to step on it but what happens when it’s the dealer who is doing it? It was without doubt the worst behaviour I’d ever witnessed from a dealer.

Mainly for that reason I didn’t go again for well over  a year but I’ve been to Walsall twice in the last month or so and thought things had improved dramatically, though in truth they couldn’t possibly have gotten any worse. 
They had a lot of new dealers and although they were in the consciously competent stage they all seemed keen and pleasant so I was really quite impressed.
There were plenty of valets, the comp was busy and they had 3 full cash games and the dealers were being rotated every 20 minutes or so which is great.

G Coventry

G Cov’s dealers over the years have for the most part got the balance between approachability and authority just about right. One or two of them are right up there with the best dealers I’ve seen and as I’ve said it’s my favourite place to play.

Consistency with rulings isn’t Cov’s strongest point but generally speaking they are a good bunch. If I’m honest there is only one dealer who makes me a sigh a little inside when I see them approaching my table to take over dealing.

NEC Resorts World

I made the effort to go and see the new Genting casino on opening night and I played in a decent 50p/£1 cash game. The standard of dealing was good and the big difference there for the dealers themselves is that the dealers (who are on minimum wage) actually keep the tips they personally get given rather than pooling them.

Resorts World
Not sure how this will work out long term but I suspect that the best dealers will get the most tips and the bad ones with zero personality won’t get any and they’ll leave.

Dusk Till Dawn
I’ve not been there for ages (about 2 years) but I can’t remember the last time I heard anyone moan about dealers or rulings there so I guess it’s still up to its usual standard.

So Dealers in Summary

On the whole I’d say the standard of dealers throughout the Midlands is about 8/10 and although poker players moan like F about dealers truthfully we shouldn’t.

Regarding supervisors I would say that inconsistency is the number one thing that annoys players. What really pisses players off is if they get called on a ruling then a few weeks later someone else does the exact same thing and gets away with it. 
Other than that I’d say they do a very difficult job extremely well as lets remember poker players are never happy unless they’re moaning.

I would say that generally standards have improved in recent years and probably DTD has had a lot to do with that as they have forced other operators to raise their game.

What do Dealers think about Players?

In the interests of balance let’s try and look at this from their point of view. When we hate a player at the table with a passion we can just get up and walk away but dealers can’t. They have to sit and suffer it.

Some players are downright obnoxious; one legendary player who I won’t name is such an arsehole that I think he should just be banned from every cardroom in the country. If I ever see him come in to late reg I do a fist pump if I’m sat at a full table.

Once he famously threw his hole cards in the dealers face and shouted “YOU’VE BEEN DEALING ME SHIT ALL NIGHT LONG”. (At the time he was heads up in a 100 runner comp having won about a dozen consecutive flips.)

For those players that don’t know let me tell you that the dealer doesn’t care if he’s dealt you 9-4 off suit 3 hands running and when you start telling him bad beat stories his head is just screaming inside.

Players please don’t moan or berate them because you think a particular dealer is unlucky for you, as I have to say that pisses them off mainly because it’s utter nonsense. Most of the players at the buy in level I play at are pretty bad players and the fact that they are complete fish is a much bigger factor as to why they are losing than who is randomly generating the cards.

Ranj Ferlance, one of my favourite dealers who has sadly left G Hill St, had a guy on our table once who was continually moaning that he always lost when she was dealing. He then lost a HUGE pot she dealt when he defended his BB with 6,2 off-suit and caught a piece of the flop
So again he starts berating her, going on and on and eventually she said “it’s not my fault if you call raises pre-flop with 62 off suit, I’m a dealer not a magician”.

Time-wasters are a particular irritant to dealers (and me) so just stop Hollywooding, it’s a £30 comp you’re not on the telly and EVERYONE at the table knows you’re not going to call.

Antes difficult to remember for some as once they come into play you only have to post them every hand!

Also it annoys dealers if the big blind is 400 and some twat puts in 16 x 25 chips in and then 2 hands later asks for change for the ante. How do dealers not throw something at that guy?

Don’t go on about a hand that happened 3 hours ago, the dealer probably can’t remember a flop he dealt 3 hands ago. Because he/she isn’t invested in the hand like you are they just deal the cards!

Dealers hate players who CONSTANTLY ask who raised? As a player you really should be able to work it out for yourself.  Just look at the player to your right, and if they have no cards it wasn’t them. Keep going around the table till you see someone with cards that has pushed more chips over the line than the big blind. (That’s the person who raised)

Finally they REALLY DON’T CARE that you “would have won that hand”. Doh if only you’d called that 3 bet out of position with 8,3.

Thanks for Reading
OK so that was Part 2 of Getting the Balance right. I make no promises about when the next post will be done as I originally said part 2 would be done in “a couple of weeks” and it has been over a year.

Hopefully I won’t have upset any cardroom staff too much.

Since I started playing cards in the Rainbow casino in 1977 I’ve met and interacted with literally thousands of dealers over the years and I think 99.9% of them do a pretty difficult, poorly paid job, with little or no thanks very well indeed. So I’d like to thank them. 
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2015 partypoker Grand Prix Million Final Day Updates

Three Tables, One Winner We have just 22 players left in the mix, and we’ll be bringing you the chip counts in a few minutes. Don’t forget, the winner will receive the cheque for a cool million dollars. All the lights point to the feature table, but who will make it to the final nine? […]

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Meet the people: partypoker Qualifier Josiane Hubert

While enjoying some competitive poker at the Grand Prix Million, we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know some incredible people, compelling us to share their stories as part of Meet the People. Full-time mum and carer Josiane Hubert couldn’t believe she qualified for the Grand Prix, especially as it cost her next to nothing. […]

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Who will be crowned our Grand Prix Million champion?

Playing in a poker tournament that has a million dollar prize pool isn’t, like the massive amount indicates, something reserved for the high-stakes professionals. It’s something all poker players can be a part of, but only if you hurry. The inaugural partypoker Grand Prix Million at Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham features a $1 million guaranteed […]

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Online and live legs of the partypoker Grand Prix Million gather momentum

We imagine by now, unless your internet coverage over the past few weeks has been as patchy as Adam Brody’s beard, you’re aware that our showcase event, the partypoker Grand Prix Million has commenced. The $120 buy-in tournament that features a massive $1 million guaranteed prize pool is underway and gaining momentum by the day. It’s kind of a big […]

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Hear The partypoker People

Every second Saturday, through one of our four new social media segments, Hear the People, we’re opening the doors to our partypoker players because we understand it’s you, our loyal followers, making partypoker tick. You play on the site day-in day-out and we want to ensure you have the best possible experience each time you […]

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DTD Ticket Tourneys: Satellites and Cash Rolled Into One

Ever since the aptly named Chris Moneymaker turned a $38 buy-in satellite into $2,500,000 by winning the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, satellite tournaments have become one of the most popular formats in the online poker world. Satellite tournaments offer the opportunity to play in higher buy-in tournaments, usually with much larger […]

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10 tips to survive your first live poker game

Some of you, with the Grand Prix Million almost upon us, will be preparing to play your first live game at Dusk Till Dawn Casino in Nottingham. Starting on May 15th, The Grand Prix Million has nine online and live Day 1’s and the choice is all yours. You’ll probably feel more in your comfort […]

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Six awesome tips to survive your first casino visit

So, you’ve come to the decision that poker is where it’s at and you want to grab yourself a big piece of poker pie, especially now that partypoker and DTD are massively shaking up the UK poker scene. Well I can tell you, poker, like Guinness, is definitely an acquired taste. But who hasn’t acquired […]

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Making the transition from online to live poker

To play poker or not to play poker, that is the question? It’s not a trick question and the answer is, of course, yes. With the $32,000 promotion well under way in the partypoker UK community Facebook forum, many of you are winning seats and starting to get nervous about playing in the “Grand Prix […]

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partypoker WPT UK wins Best Poker Tournament at the British Poker Awards

The 2014 British Poker Awards took place earlier this week and we’re delighted to announce that the partypoker WPT UK festival won the Best Poker Tournament award. The partypoker WPT UK festival was held in November 2014 at Dusk Till Dawn with its two major highlights being the inaugural £1 million guaranteed WPT500 UK and […]

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UK poker growth on the cards with DTD/partypoker partnership

Having staged successful events in the past (’24 hr Big Game’ and WPT UK), a new and exciting agreement between partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) promises to expand and strengthen UK’s poker scene, both for live and online events. DTD owner Rob Yong is a European poker pioneer and one of, if not the […]

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partypoker/DTD announces $1 million guaranteed poker tournament

Good news keeps flowing from partypoker HQ lately and is showing no signs of slowing down. First, we told you about the exciting partnership between Dusk Till Dawn and ourselves, then we announced that cash is back thanks to our revamped loyalty program 2.0 and now an incredible $1 million guaranteed tournament, dubbed the Grand Prix Million, […]

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Dusk Till Dawn joins the party!

There are exciting times ahead for the poker community because partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn (DTD), Europe’s premier award winning live poker venue, have entered a multi-year branding and online agreement that has the players in mind. Later this month, as part of the ground-breaking deal, DTD’s online satellites and online tournaments will move to […]

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Things To Do In Nottingham When You’re (Drawing) Dead

There will be no shortage of action at Dusk Till Dawn tables in the coming weeks when players from around the world will flock to the Nottingham-based club in a bid to grab the biggest slice of the £1,000,000 prize pool on offer at the partypoker LIVE Grand Prix UK.  If you’re heading there you’re likely to […]

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Onto The Next One

It’s been a while since I updated my little corner of the internet, mainly because I’ve not been inclined to write anything on here. With this being primarily a poker blog and the fact I’ve played little in the way of poker since returning from Las Vegas in July, I didn’t think you’d be too interested in stories of my playing on the Xbox or the pulled rib muscle that’s kept me popping codeine tablets as if they were Smarties.

As it happens, I played some poker on Thursday, hence this latest update, but it didn’t exactly go to plan. I was invited to play the Sky Poker UK 6-Max Poker Championships Main Event at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, a £1,000 buy-in tournament with a £500,000 guaranteed prize pool, and I obviously accepted the offer to play. Managed to sell 20% of my seat to cover my travel and hotel costs and was looking forward to mixing it up with some of the UK’s finest poker players.

I almost missed my train to Nottingham after leaving the house later than expected thanks to finishing some work. The train I’d pre-booked left Huddersfield station at 08:31 a.m. and I arrived in the town centre at 08:25 a.m! After running like a complete loon – running as well as a fat, unfit man with a rucksack and a suitcase can – collecting my tickets from the machine, then darting through the station, I somehow managed to catch the train with a few seconds to spare. Didn’t have a heart attack, which was a major bonus.

Nearly forgetting to get off and change trains aside, the journey to Nottingham was straight forward and as boring as you’d expect. The boredom was broken up by the sound of a toddler screaming its tits off and its mother moaning about how it “was always fucking crying.” Dug out my trusty Bose headphones, fired up some The Smiths and whinging baby was no more.

My run good of managing to catch my train, not have a coronary and being able to drown out high-pitched whining continued when the hotel – Jury’s Inn – had a room ready for me at 11:00 a.m. despite check-in not being available until 2:00 p.m. A quick shit, brush of my teeth and a “squaddie wash” later and I was ready to head to DTD for the pokers.

Arrived at DTD and saw that I was on Table 23 Seat 1. In a full ring tournament, Seat 1 is a pain in the bollocks, but in the six-handed format it isn’t as bad, still not ideal though. My starting table seemed great when you consider the plethora of big names who had bought in. The two players to my direct right were very aggressive, one busted relatively early and the other was a constant thorn in my side and he ran the table.

I splashed around a little with small pair in an attempt to make a set, but never managed to flop one. Then whenever I raised light, I would get three-bet huge and when I three-bet with the good they would fold, or at least it seemed.

There were three hands of note and I lost all three. The first saw me lose with a set of jacks versus As-Qs that went runner-runner flush for a decent chunk.

The second saw a player new to the table raise from the button and I three-bet from the small blind with Ah-Jh. He called and the flop came down 8c-8s-2c. I led and he snap-called. The turn was the Ac and I tapped the table and checked only to see the button instantly bet ¾ of the pot. I was going to jam over the top of him, but I went with my gut that he had me beaten and folded. Later, after I busted, I saw him and he told me he had ace-seven and did so before I told him my hand. He said he wanted it to look like a flush and I guess his plan worked.

Hand number three was my exit hand. I raised to 1,100 from the button with 10s-9s and the big blind, an older guy who had been quite loose, called. The flop fell Q-10-9 with one spade and the big blind checked. I bet 1,900 into 2,750 and the big blind check-raised to 5,100. At this point I think he has a hand like KQ, QJ or JT so a pair and a draw and against such a range I have around 60% equity.

“I’m all-in” I said as I pushed my remaining 15,500 chips across the line.

“Call,” he said with a slightly worried look on his face, but he needn’t worry because he had fucking Jc-8c in his hand for a flopped straight. The turn was the 7s to give me a sweat and the river the 2h to send me to the rail.

I ran the hand past a few players and they said that even if I flat-call the check-raise on the flop, we’re getting it all-in on the turn anyway. Guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

Hung around DTD for a bit, played like a twat in a £1/£1 game and made my way home.

Played a small tournament online on Friday while I worked, a €1 rebuy on Betfred on the iPoker Network. All was going swimmingly until I min-raised to 800 with As-Ac from under the gun and the button raised to 8,000! I raise all-in for 8,900 in total and he calls with pocket sevens and then flops a seven to bust me. Win that and I have a stack for a deep run.

Onto the next one.

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Dave Shallow and Richard Kellett chop the UKIPT Nottingham High Roller for £68,000 each as the festival rolls on

It was a bold move by Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Yong to put a £300,000 guarantee on the £3,000 UKIPT Nottingham High Roller event but, with 101 players entering that guarantee was just met. Many of the biggest names in UK poker – including Ben Vinson, Toby Lewis and Craig McCorkell – all took…

The post Dave Shallow and Richard Kellett chop the UKIPT Nottingham High Roller for £68,000 each as the festival rolls on appeared first on PokerPlayer.co.uk.

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Dusk Till Dawn to host Sky Poker 6-Max UK Poker Championships this summer

The inaugural Sky Poker UK Poker Championships in February 2014 was such a big success that Sky Poker and host venue Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) have decided to do it all over again this summer. The one difference this time round is that the entire festival will be played out in an exciting 6-max format. …

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