Used it and was easy enough.

Download app > Verify identity (selfie + passport photo) in 2 mins > Upload money (bank transfer option I used > Then you can buy-in through the app

Didn't cash the event i played but assumed if I did I would be paid out through the app and did read of potential £10-20 charges for withdrawals.

Pretty smooth system

If you are able to pick up chips, and have 3.3k spare, get down to WSOP.

do you know what the overlay was in the end?

910 runners @ £2910 + £390 = £351,900 overlay with £354,900 taken in rake and fees.

Hippo make increase to their rake starting Monday 18th September

going to 5% capped at £11, instead of cap of £10, no promo drop so still the cheapest rake in London, and offer their own house funded promos.

source twitter -

https://twitter.com/PSLive_Hippo/sta...widget%3DTweet

im told Empire will be doing something similar, and im sure the Vic will jump at the chance to increase their rake too.

It's the "raked to the nearest 50p" bit that I'm finding hard to process. Does this mean that a £16 pot will now get raked at £1 (because 80p is closer to £1 than 50p) ?
Likewise will a £26, £27 or £28 pot now get raked at £1.50? (Cos £1.30 - £1.40 is closer to £1.50 than it is to £1) It's this little detail that's appalling and far more egregious than the £11 cap cos those extra 30p and 40ps really mount up. I think, over time, this might make The Empire the cheapest rake in London tbf.

I think this is actually the most reasonable increase we could have seen.

Rounding up the 50p is minimal, and for a room like hippodrome or empire with its constant stream or players it won't hurt the game.

The new rake structure for the Vic however is horrific at 1/2 and it's ex 1/1 short stackers, I have never played such a small 1/2 game in my life.



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Anyone going to the UKIPT/Hippo (can meet at Vic too) that needs Euros cash? I need some £ cash for Euros at spot, have about 5k euros to offload. Lmk

Post in the UK POKER ROOM Facebook page...might be some buyers there as Malta festivals in a few weeks time


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Oh yeah forgot about that place - thanks 😊

The book "London Poker Guide" explains that very well. It has a rake table for every casino. Basically, at the Vic, if the pot £11, they will take £2 (£1 for the rake and £1 for the promotion). And to answer your question, at £16 they take £1 + £1, and anything between £21 and £40 will be raked at £2 + £1. They don't have 50p anymore.

Are there any Vic regs in here who could speak to the overall action at 2/5 and above please? I haven't been to the Vic since 2015 when I accidentally mucked a winner because I misread the tiny cards but I'm told that they're gone now? I've also been told that 5/10 seems to be running regularly too?

2/5 - 10/25 NL has been running regularly, more than I used to see when I was there (it is very random when it starts)

follow their facebook page, and you can go back and see the amount of games and what days they run. the 2/5 itself, can't comment on the action

OK, so I'm not really not happy with The Hippodrome at the moment. First they put the rake up to rounding to the nearest 50p. (So we're basically paying an extra 50p every other hand we win.) Yet what are we given back in return?

They continue to cram the players in like sardines. For Table 1 and 2; Table 6 and 7; and Table 8 and 9 -- the back of seat 3, 4, 5 and 6 have virtually no free movement because they are back to back with the table behind. This means that for anybody who wants to get in the far seats, half of the table are inconvenienced and need to move. It's totally ridiculous for a poker room to operate like this and I actually wonder if the management are aware of it.

They need to put just ONE table in each of these areas so people can actually have easy access to their freaking seats. The extra three tables worth of players should play in the back room beyond the cash-desk OR even move some tables up to the 4th/5th floor where the poker room was pre-pandemic and where the area is now totally empty and NEVER USED. This should/could really be used for the 2/5 or the 5/10 games or maybe the introduction of 1/3 tables at no real inconvenience to the casino but with a major step up in comfort for the players!

For a casino with such great facilities and an extra area doing absolutely nothing, plus the big name they have for themselves, there really is something wrong when sitting down to play a game of poker is really just a PITA.

absolutely everytime ive been there recently ive been crammed in a seat and its super uncomfortable. Really disuades me from making the trek. I wish they'd move back to the old area, that was great.

Thanks for affirming. The annoying thing is that if they raise the rake, you'd think they might give something back - but there's nothing.

Why would you expect something back? If your loaf of bread went up in price, would you then expect an extra slice? It kind of defeats the object of putting the price up if you give something extra.

At no point did I say I "would" expect something back for the raise in rake. I merely suggested that one "might" expect something back.

That there continues to be unacceptably cramped conditions for the players is my main point. The fact that a rake increase has come into place (with no benefits whatsoever given to the player) is just a side-issue I thought I'd mention to highlight the unfair situation.

Good capitalist logic here! If prices go up and wages don't, there's no increase in quality or quantity of product, that's just a money grab. I think it's totally reasonable to expect that if prices go up while buying power remains the same then we should get more.

Agreed. Some people saying the increase in rake is justified because it hasn't increased in the last 12 years and it's due... blah blah blah. Thing is, if a percentage is taken then inflation is actually fixed-in to the equation. It's total BS. You're increasing it through pure greed it has NOTHING to do with being in line with inflation.

the stakes have not increased with inflation (1/2 is still 1/2)

the cap has not increased with inflation

so the casino's take has not increased with inflation

but costs will have increased

hate on casinos all you like, but this specific take is dumb

Hippo is great overall, but has a few problems which really should be sorted as it's becoming the place people want to go to as tourists, anyone I speak to in cardrooms in America or Europe knows about it and asks, this is coming from someone who isn't a reg at all, but plays quite often at various places (but moreso online and aboard than here in London):

1) They need shuffling machines, its really too slow
2) They need to fix the waiting list issue or find another space to put more tables, I'm not a 1/2 player but have often been amazed at the fact there are 20+ people on a 1/2 list and if you're not lucky you won't get a seat at 2/5 unless you turn up early, just open some more tables (at the back?).
3) The cashier situation is a joke, the line is absurd and you've got 1 cashier, also I have been called out a few times giving in loose notes of £20s/£10s when buying in for £1-2K instead of it being in a casino wrap, I was told I can't do this anymore, which is incredible (but I think Government issue not specifically Hippo)?
4) The cramped seating is something less of an issue at 2/5 but the whole room seems small and cramped, and also very hot.

There must be some sense to it because Hippodrome as a casino and business is one of the most profitable, independently owned casinos in the country, it had a turnover of around 100m and a ebitda of nearly £7m last year, so they know what they're doing but it does need improving as a player. I think it was better in the Gods.

The food is amazing though and partly why I prefer it to the Vic and also the atmosphere generally within the casino is the most similar to a Vegas style casino we have here, which is also more exciting than the miserable Vic. As a more London specific query I'm amazed that 2/5 and the odd 5/10 or sporadic 10/25 is the highest game in every casino. It should be easily a place that caters for higher stakes.

On another note, I miss Palm Beach.

Higher games not being available is certainly not a London- or UK-specific issue. These are very often private, or kinda semi-private games, not publicly available, open casino games. Of course as winning players we would like that to be different, but it is what it is. I challenge you to give me a list of places that run higher than 5/10 daily or at least on a regular schedule in the US or Europe or Asia. There are some but they are few and far between and usually one table only. That's the reality of poker these days.

But peoples' wages HAVE increased over time and therefore they bring more money to the casino over time and, hence, the casino makes more money to pay costs. To facilitate this they do things like scrap the 1/1 poker cash game and hike up minimum bets on Blackjack from £5 to £15 and Roulette and the like. However, casinos have kept the odds the same for all their table games since the 1940s / 1950s - and they have survived very nicely thank you very much (with or without a poker room).

If casinos haven't needed to tinker with the payout odds for blackjack, roulette, slots etc - why have the suits at The Hippo (and The Vic) felt the need to suddenly tax poker players more in 2023? This has nothing to do with having to pay costs but everything to do with squeezing as much profit as possible from their customers.

I know all of that, I have played in private games and have helped organise some - some I've played in that I wasn;t involved in have been legit and no cheating and some haven't and there is blatant cheating, which put off alot of recs obvously or they are quickly taken to the cleaners and the games die. There are some places in the world outside of Vegas, which have 5/10+ running at certain times and I agree it's across the board for every coutnry reallt, but still in a city like London, with the amount of money here (i've lived here my whole life) it's always surprised me that the demand isn't there in public games. Really 2/5 is the highest public game running most of the time unless 5/10 goes off and 10/25 is rare and only at the Vic. Also this cancer of PLO5/6 has ruined alot of the NLH games imo. There are no high stakes games semi public in London, apart from perhaps a big game at Les A, but I don't belive that is a regular game unless I'm out of the loop. Also Park Lane Club tried to get a regular 5/10 running weekly and failed and scrapped the idea - it's just so odd to me. That couldv'e been the new Palm Beach, and I still don;t understand why PB got rid of poker. It's a long time fantasy of mine to buy a high end casino and specifically put high stakes poker in it publicly in a nice high end environment with great food in a central location, if you poach players to private games you're banned, maybe if I win the Euro Millions I'll do it

Also, London isnt seasonal like some other places where bigger games run, in season. So even more odd, theres money here all year round and is a late night city.