Is it my imagination or are there now so many more private games in London than ever before? I only started playing high(er) stakes just over a year ago. By high(er) stakes I mean 2/5 or 5/10 nothing higher. Some of them are softer than the Empire 1/2 (in the old days). Also you get free food and drink (which even the Palm doesn’t do). There’s one I play in East London on a Tuesday night that just feels like they are giving me free money. As there is a private game on somewhere nearby every night – and they are (pretty much always) much better games than normal B&M – I haven’t been to a casino for months. Do others concur that there are now a lot more games, and they are nearly always a million times softer? Or is it just that private games are not run for smaller stakes – so until I moved up a year ago I didn’t notice them?

^ and the first rule of fight club is?

'Invite Wazz to fight club', pretty sure

I'm sure if you have the BR you can come to 'fight club' - PM me your number and I will pass it onto the Tuesday game host (East London) - but if you nit it up then either you won't get invited back... or they will invoke the 8th rule of fight club

I know you're obv not going to talk about them in too much detail.. Could you go into a little bit maybe the safety, integrity etc of these private games..

Ever fear of not being cashed out, of leaving alone feeling unsafe, cheating etc.

Rake must be pretty high for free food/drink

Edit: also what BR would you recommend, are they playing like a standard but juicy 2/5 games or are they playing massive compared to the stakes

Before I first went I was worried about integrity of the games.

I think I would be able to spot a mechanic - and I really looked out for that.

I know there have been some complaints about one of the games as they haven't been enforcing English only. But I don't play there much as it allows smoking - and I only want to play in the no smoking venues.

I have always been cashed out (at all of the games) and my win rate has been very high. This is down to the donators. I guess they have the money to cash out because enough of the weaker players re buy like mad.

Seems a fair few of them (the weaker players) never play in casinos - or very rarely.

I did play Palm Beach for a long stretch - and these games are so much more beatable. I believe Palm is £20 an hour, or £40 after 4am an hour.

The Tuesday game is raked £20 max. Some go up to £50 max (yikes). And I did hear about a ******ed one that is unlimited. Apparently some chap won a 20k pot and had 1k in rake taken out. But that (uncapped) game is not one I have ever been to - or would ever dare go to.

£20 for a 5/10 is 2BB. Most casinos seem to rake their smaller games around 5BB max. So it's not that bad. I guess it's worse than same sized games in casinos... but much better than the rake that Equal Chance charge.

And you get alcohol and loads of food. To be fair the free food is bad for my waist line. I have started trying to eat before I go now... as it's not a good idea to eat then sit still for hours.

Back onto the game. All the dealers I recognized from various clubs.

I feel very safe with the Tuesday game (it runs three or four nights but I call it the Tuesday game as that's when I always play it). It's a short walk from where I live. And in the safest part of London. Can't explain more.

Some of the other ones outside can be a bit scary. The one which doesn't enforce English only - is the biggest. It is super secure to get in and once you are in... just not a safe part of London.

The only 'cheating' (other than English only) is where you might get a few house players - or people playing soft against each other. But no more so than the Vic higher stakes games. And general home game antics. One place they love to slow roll. I don't get tilted by it - but it has stopped me fast rolling nutty hands - as i know they will not turn over quads, etc straight away... so I don't take them not showing to mean my hand is best and show when it was them to show or muck first.

Also there's a lot of looking at turns and rivers after the hand is over.

Made me think this means people will fold a weak hand/draw more often - so I lose a bit of value. Though they still seem to call and over play loads of hands.

And on BR - it really depends. The places I like have more than one table / game... so if you think the 5/10 has gone ******ed big - you can drop down to a smaller game. I always like to take three bullets. So if you don't mind buying in short to 5/10 ... that would mean taking 1.5k for either 2/5 or 5/10.

Other times I see very poor players and I want to buy in for what they have.

Do note you do need to play as if you are an action player - otherwise you won't be on the top of the list to get into future games. Though I found this time of year (as people are starting to go away on holiday) is a good time to get an invite - as many regs are at WSOP or on a beach somewhere.

If you want me to pass a number onto the host I can - but I don't know them or you well enough to recommend anyone. You will have to speak to them.

And just like me - if you have any worries about safety, etc - ask them. As I had long conversations before I first went.

I think I covered everything. And the free food / drink - that seems to be standard. I haven't played in a game that hasn't given you that.

So although you can buy in £500 for 5/10 - you may find most players buy in for 1k. I noticed at Palm they all buy in for around 3k. So this game starts off smaller.

My fav 'story' - was a few months ago some chap buys in for £500... games can run days... some 17-18 hours later he cashes out for just under 60k. This was a North London game.

I just don't see a 2/5 at the Empire ever giving someone that opportunity... well not now the BBJP has gone

lots of private games have been going all over london and the surroundings, but it seems the games dry up quick when the whale runs out of money or moves on to a new venue

it also seems the same group of regs in these games playing different nights,

Vic Monday Night £60+0 (no rake) NLH Turbo with 1 re-entry....

OK ... so 7:45pm start (prompt). Late entry and re-entry possible for 3 levels - so that is only 45 minutes in this event. Not much time to go busto even the way I play. 10,000 chips starting at 25/50, 15 minute levels - fast structure.

This Monday, there were 83 entries altogether but that only included about 10 or so re-entries due to the short re-entry period.

Obv a classic deep & steep. Good fun comp imo in a well-run room -- over by about 12:30am which is ideal for a work night. I'd be happy to play it again.

Today was a £80 re-entry thru level 3 with no rake tourney. Not turbo though, this one has 6 x 20min levels then 30min levels thereafter. Over 100 entries and £3k up top. Good tourney imo though I busted it shortly into level 7

Presumably this one ran later -- do you happen to know when it finished despite your untimely exit ?

It ended around 3.45. I chopped ofc!

Lucky you lol, what did you look like? Might've seen me, had a blue polo on and black hoody. Got moved to the same table as Dexter Fletcher (of Lock Stock fame) but he busted just as I moved to that table.

I can't remember what dexter fletcher looks like! I was wearing a green long sleeved t shirt.

Can't recall seeing you then, Dexter Fletcher actually looks like your typical casino degen:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...r_Fletcher.jpg

But I think he had a ponytail lol

What was uptop in this?

10 places paid; I think 1st was about £1450. 10th was £100.

Does anyone know if pokerstars/the hippodrome is planning on running any tourneys soon? Apart from the UKIPT I mean

Boring TR: went to Empire last night as friend works for PS so can't Hippo. Won money.

Seats and decor are nicer than last time I went.

The end.

Thinking about playing the £50 tourney at the empire later, has anyone got any comments on standard of play? I've played a couple of similar priced ones at the Vic before, everyone seems to play pretty standard not too tough i found


What does 'TR' mean? Forgive my lack of forum terms knowledge...

I imagine the standard would be pretty weak, probably weaker than the Vic if anything. TR means Trip Report.

If any casual players might be interested, based on my visits to London poker rooms so far, then I'd say Hippodrome > Vic > Empire > Aspers in terms of poker rooms.

That's ignoring the quality of the games, which is obv going to vary, going more on the room quality, dealers, atmosphere, etc.

Hippodrome seems the chattiest, friendliest room and has by far the best drinks, Vic is the most professional by far, Empire is a bit dingy, and Aspers wasn't really that pleasant an environment.

Trip report

hi all,

anyone been to aspers in stratford and can provide some insight into how many runners in their tourneys typically, whether cash games are soft? thinking about making a trip, lemme know if there any reg 2+2ers that frequent aspers

I was playing 2/5 from 3pm-midnight, might you have played?

I'm just a very occasional recreational online player at the moment... with the intention of playing a bit more frequently soon (well as soon as I have any free time - Joined this forum a while ago but really hadn't got round to playing seriously or on a regular basis)... One thing I have been looking at doing in the near future is playing live - re: small stakes - if by private games you'll also include small 'home games' then there seem to be plenty and they're openly advertised:

http://www.meetup.com/londonpokermeetup/ for example

Plenty of pub games too... which are legal at low stakes.

I'd presume that the more professional unlicensed raked ones that you're talking about are only really feasible at higher stakes... then again if they're giving away alcohol for 'free' rather than explicitly selling alcohol then I can't see how they're any more illegal than the various 'cardrooms' which don't actually have proper casino licenses but just have alcohol licenses and purport to be private members clubs offering skill games etc... tbh.. its understandably sensible of them to not draw attention to themselves.

I've not actively sought out any of these places but have seen one (or at least what I presume was a bit more than a normal home game)... from the top deck of a bus when I lived north of the river... could actually see into the basement/cellar where a few tables were set up so I guess they weren't overly concerned about hiding it.