-- And four days later still no one can answer this simple question. Such a lively and vibrant forum. I guess I'll just go ask them myself.

There's always a 1/1 game running but if you arrive in the afternoon there will only be one or two tables occupied by the same old faces. You'll often wait a LONG time to get seated so if waiting for an hour to play a reg-infested table sounds like fun then go for it. In the evenings, from about 7PM, it picks up. You might need to go on the waiting list but you'll usually not have to wait more than 15 mins or so. At weekends they get 5 or 6 tables of 1/1 going.

From the small sample size of a couple of months of 1/1 at The Vic I'd say a "super-snug" strategy seems to work fine. Expect a sprinkling of frustrating losing sessions here and there but if you wait it out, it's surprising how many players will merrily pay you off when you hit. There really are very few tables where you'll actually need to mix it up a bit.

Around 50% of 1/1 players just seem to play their hand strength disregarding opponents' ranges; the same percentage of players are totally unbalanced making them extremely easy to read; they'll make speculative calls way too often; lots of tables end up being limp-fests with few players adjusting or adapting to the fact it's multi-way; loads of newbie and impatient players end up going on tilt... and the list goes on. You'll not exactly make a ton of money in the long run but it can be a good blast.

Thanks for the reply. I am now thinking the Empire might be a good option for grinding the 1/1. I have not played there in a while, have you? Free coffees and also winning a hand with 65s you get a rake free pass. I plan to play 16 hour sessions so that could have added value. 10 hours of winning pot rake free sounds good and free breakfasts at 730m if you are n the tables. What you reckon? Empire or Vic?

There's always a 1/1 game running but if you arrive in the afternoon there will only be one or two tables occupied by the same old faces. You'll often wait a LONG time to get seated so if waiting for an hour to play a reg-infested table sounds like fun then go for it. In the evenings, from about 7PM, it picks up. You might need to go on the waiting list but you'll usually not have to wait more than 15 mins or so. At weekends they get 5 or 6 tables of 1/1 going.

From the small sample size of a couple of months of 1/1 at The Vic I'd say a "super-snug" strategy seems to work fine. Expect a sprinkling of frustrating losing sessions here and there but if you wait it out, it's surprising how many players will merrily pay you off when you hit. There really are very few tables where you'll actually need to mix it up a bit.

Around 50% of 1/1 players just seem to play their hand strength disregarding opponents' ranges; the same percentage of players are totally unbalanced making them extremely easy to read; they'll make speculative calls way too often; lots of tables end up being limp-fests with few players adjusting or adapting to the fact it's multi-way; loads of newbie and impatient players end up going on tilt... and the list goes on. You'll not exactly make a ton of money in the long run but it can be a good blast.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply. I am now thinking the Empire might be a good option for grinding the 1/1. I have not played there in a while, have you? Free coffees and also winning a hand with 65s you get a rake free pass. I plan to play 16 hour sessions so that could have added value. 10 hours of winning pot rake free sounds good and free breakfasts at 730m if you are n the tables. What you reckon? Empire or Vic?

Haven't been there for a while but I don't think the Empire hold 1/1 games. They're mainly 1/2. The 56s promotion is good value but you still have to win with it and, as you say, pays off more the earlier in the session you are.

The Vic has a more "old-school" vibe with no music in the background while The Empire has a "home game" feel but with trashy music going on (or so it was when I played there last). The Empire is certainly more generous with free soft drinks, free breakfast and points that you can actually get something with... But if you want to dabble in 1/2 there's always The Hippodrome which also has The Empire perks (no free breakfast though) and is kinder to non-regs in that they don't take money from the pot for a bad beat jackpot or a cash-race (or so I believe). The Hippodrome also has a good "night-clubby" atmosphere.

P.S. Not sure I'd recommend 16 hour sessions though.

I see, i only saw on the Empires website that they offered 1/1 games but i yeah i am not sure if they run or not. I will have to give them a ring/go there soon. I live in Kent you see, hour and a half from the casino so wanting to do long sessions to compensate for the long travel. I do not recommend them long sessions either....haha. Yeah only looking for only 1/1 at the moment so may have to be the Vic now. The only thing that puts me off the Vic is the Loyalty Race as the Rake pool is created by making a deduction of £1 from all raked game pots of £20 or over, (in addition to the normal rake table charge).....which is 10% £5 cap so the rake seems very very high. How do you think the rake is at the Vic? I guess if i only want to play 1/1 games it may have to be the place to go.

Hi guys!

Is Palm beach casino the only place in London that has daily NL 5/10 games? Also...are their any juicy NL 2/5 games that runs on a daily basis in London?

Thank you!

10% rake is crap whichever way you cut it and, in London, I've always maintained it's best to play 1/2 if you can afford it. I've personally been playing 1/1 for the last few months because I've been building a bankroll and working at my job to play 1/2 again - and as I say, playing snug at 1/1 is low variance, scratches the itch and gets you into the good value loyalty freeroll (if you play enough).

In fact, the rake is so bad I'd say the optimum thing to do - if you want to play 1/1 and "beat" the system - is to turn up at Aspers and clock-in for however many days you need to qualify for their freeroll (you only need to play a few orbits or even just one hand)... Then... get yourself to The Vic and play for ~90 hours a month... and hey! You've just booked yourself a place in TWO MTTS WORTH AN EFFECTIVE BUY-IN OF £800-£1000 FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! (Failing that ~50 hours at The Vic will still get you a £165 buy-in for their tourney.)

The 10% rake at 1/1 is industry-standard for London casinos. Aspers charges the same but has a terrible reputation, doesn't have the same class as The Vic and is basically a sh 1t-hole which is why a brief visit mentioned above is best. (You'll have to travel to Nottingham's Dusk Till Dawn if you want the 5% rake at 1/1 - a lot better but just a bit out of the way.) Finally, there is a Genting Casino with two 1/1 tables right slap bang in the West End about 2 mins walk from The Empire on the square if you want to give that a go - still 10% rake though of course.

not quite true - my local Casino MK has 1/1 with 5% rake capped at £5 (+£1 for the BBJ)
still not feasible for Londoners obv

You might be able to get 5% rake at 1/1 in Reading but last time I checked, Grosvenor changed it to 10% because they consider Reading to be Greater London essentially haha.

Don't know if that's still the case - locals weren't pleased about it - and there's a Genting as well.
Possibly even an option for travelling to if you're in West London, given it's only half an hour from Paddington.

Hey guys, American here flying out to London next week and planning to play at PokerStars Festival (wife is going to London for work so I have a free hotel room!). Any UK / Europe-specific rules or things I need to watch out for?

Forward motion i think is the main one. You can't push forward a stack of 20 chips and then count out a bet using 12 of those chips. Count out your bets behind the betting line.

Yeah, made even more difficult for non-Europeans by the fact that sometimes the line is imaginary. Basically all the chips that you move forward is your bet.

From what I've been reading and seeing, apparently the Vic has a vibrant PLO scene?

Is this true? And, any other spots with PLO available on some days?

yes,no

What bank would you guys use in London for stars, party etc. I'm opening a bank account tomorrow or Tuesday thx

I use Natwest but I think for poker players it's pretty much anything but HSBC, who are known for closing accounts when too much money is transferred about.

Thank you,

Any more suggestions from others? I will do some investigating from listed names

TYVM

Main ones are:
Natwest
Llyods TSB
Barclays

Not sure there's that much to choose between them.

A couple points on the Natwest suggestions:

- If you are going to be doing a lot of transferring and depositing/withdrawing from your poker site account, i've found with Natwest that they don't update your account balance as fast as Santander does.

- If your planing on putting money into your account via cash machine out of hours, you can only withdraw, not deposit. Not sure if that is just my local one, though.

- I don't know if this is company wide, but my local Natwest has done away with cashiers in bank and replaced them with cash machines, so if you ever need to talk to a person, be aware. I suspect it's not likely to be an issue, just thought I would throw it in FYI not knowing your preference.

Second and third points are correct and mostly countrywide. Was under the impression that it was the case for most banks these days though.

Hey there got a question for London players who frequent Aspers, Hippo, Vic and The Empire.

What proportion of players at £1/1,£1/2 are regs? Furthermore, how many are good regs/pros?

Thanks

At those stakes, hardly any regs, unless they're waiting for a 1/3 or 2/5.
I only play recreationally(sp? autocorrect got nothing) myself and I've never sat in a game at those stakes and felt like one of the weakest players at the table. Not the case in the 1/3 and higher games.

I'm sure this has been asked in here countless times, but what are the rake structures like in the London Casinos? I'm looking to play 2/5 and 5/10 if it's relevant.

Trying Natwest today TY guys

This is definitely not the case at 1/2 at the Empire and Hippo, most of those games have a decent number of regs all the time.