London

Just a quick bump

London poker is still growing, the Vic now regularly spreading 5/10 to 25/50 NL daily, and even 50/100. Not sure on the line up, but seems to be gathering traction. (Might just be during the holiday period but will monitor it and update in a few weeks.

Also shout out again to the Vic for their daily high hand promo, now I do hate any rake drop, but this is proving popular, especially their NYE promo per hour, really got the numbers up. Gives all punters a fair shot, while paying the extra drop per hand.

Gukpt London coming up this week, a bit early than usual.

Roll on 2024...let's see what it brings.

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Games getting dry these days. High reg to fish ratio

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The poker here is smaller and tougher than in the US. 1/2 in London is probably comparable to 2/5 in Vegas, 2/5 UK comparable to 5/10 maybe 10/25 in the US at times. There are lots of good players in those games who play bigger elsewhere in the world. The UK isn't anywhere near as wealthy as the US so the disposable income needed for rec players to gamble as freely/highly as in the US just isn't there. You will find very weak, nitty pros in the 1/2 games I'm sure and then 2/5 will absolutely have multiple pros in the game. You pay no tax on gambling winnings in the UK which is obviously very helpful for would be pros.

Outside of London you will find cities that have cash games but it'll probably be 1/1 and a very small game. I wouldn't travel anywhere in the UK to play poker but if you find yourself in other major UK cities (Birmingham/Liverpool/Manchester etc) you'll likely have a poker game you can play, it just won't be particularly great.

All your questions are answered in this book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Poker-Gu...

OK, it looks like The Mint on Cromwell Street (opposite Natural History Museum) is making a comeback / revival and calling itself Forty Five Kensington PKR. I personally didn't play there when it was The Mint but have heard that the games were "legendary".

I've seen that it's doing tournaments and cash games (after 8pm) and was wondering whether it's worth a visit.

Does anyone have info on the number of players it gets or any general impressions?

Cheers in advance.

It's odd to me that Genting decided to launch poker here in a relatively unknown place and arguably an odd location - I never went to the Mint, so I guess I could be completely wrong, where nobody will just fall in off the street (which is what you sort of need) - when they also own Palm Beach and could have the best poker in London in the nicest location (which it was 10 years ago), if they weren't so clueless. I'll report back once I've been but they say games from 1/2-25/50 (i'll belive that when I see it). I think anytihng otuside of W1 isn't going to work for a mid-high stakes poker environment and why would you bother 1/2 in this location, but I could be biased.

Anyone know the current status of the cash races / freerolls that Aspers, Empire & the Vic used to offer? Was a reg in London several years ago and considering doing a month or two over the summer there but its incredibly hard to find out any info on their websites about them.

I believe they all made the change to hours instead of points just around the time I left London. The Vic used to have a 6-7 week qualification period though if I remember correctly. Does anyone know approximately how many hours would qualify you for each one? I'm assuming Aspers is still run on a Saturday and Empire is run on a Sunday, so possible to play both in the same month?

Cheers for any info

Empire one is still going...1st Sunday of each month (download bravo to see live games and wait lists, they don't have twitter updates anymore)

Varies in terms of hours from month to month but to be 100% lock you need 100 hours+ (they update the board daily, and it's top 50 or 60 players) They also limit it to 8 or 10 hours earn't per visit.

No idea what Aspers is doing, I believe Hippo is still doing one but not sure the likely hours.

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The Vic hasn't had a loyalty for a few years or more and doesn't plan to introduce one, their daily high hand promo and BBJ seem quite popular and well liked.

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Going to Florida this month, and plan to play a bit of poker whilst there. Can i buy chips with bank card in the big casinos? I have a starling account which i hear is fee free anywhere in the world, but just want to double check in here.

I wont need a huge amount, 5-10k max. Id just rather not have to sort USD before going over, or get boned by exchange rates / fees every time i buy something / play poker.

Basically does anyone have experience with using Starling abroad and can confirm / deny if ill be ok relying on it for everything whilst over there?

Not sure about America but have used it in multiple countries in Asia with no problem and good exchange rates. I think the issue is (at least for me) the base maximum withdrawal amount per day from a cash point was around £300, so you might have to sort that out beforehand if it's possible. Maybe withdrawing directly from a casino is different, idk.

I def wouldnt do this. You'll incur wild atm withdrawal or 'cash advance' fees everytime you buy chips. Also a few times ive been to LA to play, I didnt take enough cash with me and resorted to what you're suggesting when I busted the cash I took and needed to reup, I ended up capped at a very small withdrawal limit of like $1K per 24 hours as per my bank withdrawal limit, no good when you're tilted and standing at an ATM at 11pm in a casino in the middle of nowhere. My suggestion is to find someone to buy 5-10k off in London and take the cash with you. There's also plenty of online sites you can reporder the cash at ok exchange rates, a few days before you need it.

Looks like Hippodrome are trying to run 1/3 now with a £150 - £600 buy-in but some 2/5 players are complaining it takes traffic away from their game. Interesting change from the £1000 cap they got going at Vic which might attract new players.

Apparently they got 2 or 3 games running on Friday / Saturday. Anyone played it? Comments?

I popped in during the daytime randomly on Saturday and heard this, very new and good to see some sensible changes. The 2/5 players don't rule the room, let them trial it and see what happens. Would like to have seen 200 min buy in but doesn't matter too much.

Vic has added another £1k to their daily high hand promo which is proving popular, and empire is also very busy most days, seems London poker is thriving!

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Feeling a bit bored so here's my update on the low-stakes London poker scene as of April 2024...

Hippo - Pros
1. Good table selection opportunities.
2. Relatively deep-stacks compared to others.
3. Lots of young (mainly Asian) fish with disposable income from the Bank of Mum & Dad.
4. Good food (especially if you like steak and burgers).
5. Central location.
Hippo - Cons
1. Very constricted seating arrangements in many areas.
2. Waiting list can be long (especially weekend evenings).
3. Rake is calculated by rounding UP to nearest ten rather than down.
4. No shuffle-machines. Roughly about 5 hands LESS per hour.
5. Very few MTTs.

Empire - Pros
1. Good table selection opportunities.
2. Very relaxed, almost pub-like, casual atmosphere.
3. Rake is calculated by rounding DOWN to nearest ten.
4. Shuffle machines. Roughly 5 hands MORE per hour.
5. Daily MTTs in afternoon
Empire - Cons
1. Cash-race makes it the most reg-infested of venues.
2. Extra £1 taken out of every £20+ pot (due to said cash-race).
3. Many short-stack players.
4. Dungeon-like / basement setting can put people off.
5. Lighting a little too bright.

The Vic - Pros
1. Very spacious (slightly cramped around the 1/2 tables).
2. Shuffle-machines. More hands per hour.
3. Usually decent 1/3 games in evenings.
4. Lots of high-hand promotions (including daily paying out top 3 hands).
5. Daily MTTs in evening.
The Vic - Cons
1. Often, very long waiting times.
2. No points system whatsoever. Unlike all the others.
3. 1/2 tables are usually infested with nit-regs.
4. Rake calculated by rounding up PLUS £s taken out of every pot for promotions.
5. Very poor food selection.
6. Dead atmosphere (plus usually a long wait) in afternoons.

Aspers - Pros
1. Spacious.
2. Shuffle-machines.
3. Very wide selection of MTTs throughout the day and evening.
4. You can match the deepest stack.
Aspers - Pros
1. Grim atmosphere.
2. Located far from west-end and a fairly long walk from station.
3. Less experienced dealers.
4. Poor food.

Conclusion
On a personal level, Aspers is too far out of the way but the real deal-breaker is that for most of the week, no tube runs after midnight to get you back to central London. Even when it does, that's still quite a long and dull central line journey. The Vic is also becoming increasingly unappealing with its long waiting times and "blood-out-of-a-stone" 1/2 games dominated by pension-age nit-regs just waiting to snag a high-hand! With it being like a morgue in the afternoon, this really means that the odd 1/3 game in the evening is the only decent option. However, what happens when these three or maybe four 1/3 games are no good? Well this leads to the conclusion that...

With The Hippo and Empire being virtually next to each other, table selection becomes vastly superior to that offered by the other two. Add the fact that it's slap bang next to Chinatown (to attract the Asian gamblers) and the tourists and casual players will be attracted to the bright lights of the west-end, as a low-stakes cash-game poker player, a trip to Leicester Square in the West-End is the no brainer.

Cheers for the update; I only play from time to time so this is really helpful, have you played at Forty Five Casino in Kensington?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: I believe it's 2/5 and have heard it's taking a while to move forward. They also do MTTs but no idea how many runners these get.

Just had a look and they're listed on Poker discover. I was going to type all the info out but just have a look on the link!!

https://pokerdiscover.com/clubs/united-k...

It looks like the structures are kind of ridiculous. The Friday evening is 8K chips (& 2K early bird) with a twenty minute clock. Pretty sure when it was the Mint it was a 20 minute clock but with 20K (or maybe even 25K) chips and a 5K early bird. This had a reasonable amount of play for £100 tourny, the new structure doesn't. Saying that, I live so close, I might pop down one Friday. If I do, I'll check back here.

wow all 4 of those sound kind of bad! Is there no regular 5/T game in london anymore? (seems like Palm Beach closed?)

Where does 2/5 most regularly run?

I haven't played at the Vic for a long time but it appears that currently it's the best place for 5/10 and above and has 2/5 running a lot of the time. The Hippo has 2/5 running most of the time and 5/10 quite often. Your unlikely to see anything other than 1/2 at Aspers or the Empire.

Yes, Palm Beach poker room has been closed for some time. Best place for mid-stakes (2/5 and 5/10) would, indeed, be The Vic. However, the place is getting a multi-million pound refurb in June/July, although I believe they will keep part of it open for cash games.

Driven by the GUKPT being on but there is 2/5 and 10/25 NLHE and 25/50 PLO running right now on a Monday night at the Vic.

There has been for quite some time a weird combo of 25/50 or even 50/100 etc PLO (4 card, not the 10/25/50 etc 6 card) for quite some time running around 1 guy I think (who’s richer than the whole room put together many times over, he’s worth high 9 figures lol), so don’t think its gukpt related. Granted I haven’t been down in a while but I know the large plo 4 card games have been running sporadically for some months.

2/5, 5/10 and 10/25 nl runs all the time if there’s multiple tables of 2/5+ then that’s festival related I think.