London
Haven't seen one around and there are a few threads about general poker in London. Don't know if there are many 2+2ers here?
16 Replies
Popped into the Hippo last night - was packed to the rafters. Quoted an hour wait and 20 people in front of me for 1/2 at around 9pm. No shortage of punters it seems!
Hi guys, where can I find 6 card or 4/5/6 card plo outside Empire and Vic?
Aspers usually have a table running.
No shortage of punters but maybe a shortage of staff explains it well enough
If any of you autists are interested in playing a friendly low stakes fixed limit 4/8 HORSE+Triple Draw then DM me. We organised a game way back in 2016 with a few 'regulars' from this thread and a couple of other degenerates, was great fun. This one will most likely be hosted at the Horseshoe, its comfy and I know some of the management. Rake TBD but probably the same as hiring a private table from them. Might even be able to negotiate just straight rake from them which should be cheaper given small size. For those not familiar but interested, antes for stud games 50p, blinds for TD and flop games 2/4 - but 4/8 stakes - so 8 quid bets on turn & river. 5 bet cap per street, the same as Vegas limit rules. A decent size loss in this game would be around 50-60 bets, so £400-480.
I'd prefer a red chip game, perhaps 10/20 limit to have some decent size in the action, and happy to play up to 15/30 or 20/40, but I think no chance anything higher than a £1 chip game will run, so looking for some heads to start something with for funzies stakes in a casino environment. I live in SW London so the schlep up to Luton for DC / Mix just isn't for me.
Also anyone interested in mid-stakes (5/5) 6PLO home games, DM me.
Anyone know what sort of difference the shuffle machine makes in terms of hands per hour? Am I right in thinking it’s maybe 5-10 more hands per hour so if you’re getting 25hph at Hippo without shuffle machine you’d get 30-35hph at the Vic? Or am I off?
Cheers
It depends both on the game and why type of machine.
The SM2 is much faster than the original SM. If every hand has enough action (or slow enough decisions) then machine impact is greater.
Machine maint also matters. If the machine (or the cards are so bad) screws up, the time the dealer waste on the machine while having to also hand shuffle will actually slow down the HPH.
But I suspect that with good dealers 10 hph is on the high side.
There is the Deckmate 1 (used by Vic) and Deckmate 2 (used by Empire). Dunno what Aspers uses but the difference to hands-per-hour is negligible. Of course, every table has slow and fast players who make decisions with varying degrees of speed but with a machine and a half-decent dealer you should expect to get around 35-40 hands-per-hour. With the hand-shuffle routine you can get expect to get between 25-30 with a slow dealer (I've timed it) and 30-35 with a fast dealer.
30 hph with the London definition of a slow dealer is a bit of a stretch in a full handed game imho. 60-70% of casino poker dealers in this town are some of the worst I have ever seen anywhere in the world. For most of them it takes 20 seconds after showdown to even collect the cards and put them in the shuffler. Some even give them a chemmy shuffle before they put them in which is even more infuriating. An incentivised dealer hand shuffling would have a new hand out 13-15 seconds after pushing the last pot. Keeping tips helps!
Its a while since I been on here, anyone want a quick update...
Been playing mostly at the Vic and Empire, and just a couple visits to Empire.
New!!!
Empire has an extra table in the room, and 2 more upstairs in the main casino. Gives them more tables at peak times, not kean on 10 tables in main room, but it's been busy when I went. they mostly spread 1/2 nl and the daily 1/2 plo 4/5/6 is mostly short stack regs, and not until the evenings when a juicy game can get going.
The Vic
Currently going thru it's refurb, first floor shut and all gaming, table games and poker on the 2nd floor.
This has created a real buzz in the room/floor and it's packed at peak times. This has generated loads of new casual players wandering off the table games and into the poker tables. BUT, have also seen many punters from the tables doing off their money in the pit games, not sure if previous pit game players but it's surprising to see how many punt it big on BJ and the wheel.
It's hot! The ac issue hasn't been fixed and on a busy night it's boardline unbearable.
Food options are new, but mostly rubbish and have a 12.5% service fee automatically added
The national BBJ has reached its lowest hand to qualify, (lose with quad dueces) and is growing weekly, making it busier than ever! Huge variety of games, 1/2 - 5/10 NL. Big selection of games, with 3 or more 1/3 games going with plenty of action.
Omaha! The 1/2 has gone back to 100-500 buy in, and is full of the old regs nitting it up, it truly is a terrible game, no action, best avoided.
Plo6 DOUBLE BOARD BOMB POTS - For the past 4/5 weeks plo6 double board bomb pots was all the rage. £1k min, no cap, £25 ante 6 handed. A rather slow game, lots of chops, and saw all whales do off their money to anyone with half a brain in this kind of format slowly but surely. For the last week it hasn't run, no confirmation why but the 2/5/10 plo6 has taken its place back on top of the plo action.
Tournaments
The GUKPT grand final and other big events have been moved, with the GF now being hosted at Luton end of the year.
Their daily tournaments are now afternoon start times, and seem to be getting strong numbers considering the change, and there has been plenty of dealers almost all the time except at peak Friday and Saturday times.
Aspers
Not been myself, but seen the BPS events get a strong following and turn out, seems there is plenty of players with £200-300 to blast away in a live donkament. Might give this a look next month, as appears plenty of value albeit in a scummy location/venue
Hippodrome
Only one visit in a few months, same old faces, nothing much changed but have heard of plenty of times big queues for a seat. Still a lovely venue but very tight for space, and great food and drinks service.
Have played the biggest volume of poker ever this year. With most of it in London, any questions just ask. Looks like live poker isn't slowing down, the games and action have been amazing, and show now signs of stopping. Now, time for a cheeky break, off to Malta tomorrow for a week.....BATTLE OF MALTA POKER FESTIVAL!!!!!
Added a few pics of chip porn.
Inc a £6k winner at PLO6 double board the first time I played
Some massive plo6 pots at empire. Inc the heads up battle vs Mr K in the summer, which over 2 nights see me have a £25k+ swing in the right direction at 1/2 plo6 (ok it was 1/2/5/10/20 most of the time) and a 100/200 heads up match that lasted until one of us got kicked out for playing too long!
Plus a big pot 6 way all in with top set vs 3 straights and some other spanners, and go twice for the big side pot, win both, for full scooopaaaa!!!
Also a visit to Coventry to goliath, for the full 9 days, decent profitable trip.
And a late/early morning session in the most action 1/2 game at the hippo, where a known female punter had a 5k+ stack and sent old Frank the Tank home early with a rivered gutshot in a £6k+ pot.
Happy punting!
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Great write up thanks, nice chip porn.
Do Eltham Terrace Club still have poker tournaments? It seems any mention of poker at this venue has vanished from the internet.
Pretty funny to have such a huge chip stack while you can see people shipping in their last £50 on the other side of the table!
I also hate how similar the £100 and £1k looks. Seems like an accident waiting to happen.
Nice writeup though!
Where can I find a poker tournament in London on a friday night?
The vic has cashgames only.
Empire tournament is at 12 (noon).
Not planning on going to Aspers
Not many options, you will need to look at some private members clubs, but Friday is always busy for cash games, so not many options for Tournaments
Went to the vic for first time in yonks on Saturday and it is like playing outside in the vegas desert, temperature wise. Games were just as dry as the desert too. Sad state of affairs.