If you want decent table selection, night-club type atmosphere and plenty of tourists then Hippo + Empire is the way to go, especially Thursday to Sunday evenings. But you're mainly talking 1/2 with the occasional 2/5 opening up on busy nights. The Vic can be a tad reg-infested and the atmosphere is a lot quieter (but I haven't played there since pre-Covid). I think The Vic does more 2/5 but, again, that will need to be clarified by someone else. As for the daily grind - action only really picks up from around 5-6PM but be aware of those Friday/Saturday waiting lists around 7-8PM, they can get pretty brutal - especially The Hippo where you could easily be waiting for nearly two hours!!

sad to hear. I used to play there a lot in 2018 =(

I'd actually say 2-5 is much more regular at the Hippodrome than the Vic. I also think they relatively often get higher at the Hippodrome, where I'd say it's very rare for the Vic to get anything higher than 2-5.

A quick search of the Twitter feeds:

Vic
NLHE
5/10 Mar 5, 23

PLO
5/10 Mar 4, 6, 11, 15, 18, 20
10/25 Mar every day

Hippodrome
NLHE
5/10 Mar 7, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28

PLO
5/5/10 Mar 5, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

Anyone playing any of the UKIPT events at the Hippo in the next couple of weeks?

Will play the PLO if I can move some calls.

Played in the London Series & made day 2 (3rd bullet mind), played down to 15 players from 102.

Horrible moment at the end (after 8 hours play) short stack been folding into the final 15 for day 2 (which is also ITM), player busts on other table so announcement is made that play will pause at the end of our hand, big stack has opened UTG+1, short stack asks dealer "so I'm in the money" dealer says "yep" short stack snap jams, few of us on the table have been chatting about it and flag to the player that you have to actually make day 2 to be in the money, so if he busts no, no Bueno.

Floor called, didn't really know how to handle it and just said players responsibility to read the rules and that the all in stands, original UTG+1 opener sigh calls AQo, short stack (who is furious at this point) tables AKo - flops a Queen & short stack busts, 8 hours and a £500 min cash down the swanny.

I will be in London for a few days, looking for current (early April) live poker information.

I have visited the rooms at Leicester Square, current info or insights on those or others operating would be appreciated:

Operating ?
Hours, midweek evenings ?
Covid rules ?
Masks (although I'll have one on regardless)

Also, operating hours/restrictions for the underground, bars, restaurants ?

(I have been spoiled by the open door policies in Las Vegas, but if anyone has questions closer to WSOP, feel free to pm me.)

Will lay -300 that you get at least one strange look if you try that.

England is completely back to normal.

maybe 1 in 100 are wearing masks in a card room now but up too you if you wear one.

Hippodrome is shutting at 8am and re opening at midday Monday to Friday (24 hour weekends)

I did see the Vic were struggling with dealers last week and the week before and had huge waits on cash games and capped tournament seats.

Check each room's twitter for updates and games available

I’d say that anywhere near a casino you’ll likely get late bars and restaurants into the early hours given the areas they are located in (empire/hippo/even the Vic really as the Arabs on Edgware Road stay up all night and you’re 5 mins from the West End).

If you are really grinding I think london is pretty good because everything is open late and everything is pretty close to each other. I’m currently in the states in California and playing a bit here and there and you’re basically stuck at one casino and can’t get anywhere else as it’s all so far away from each other, London is the opposite and nothing is stuck in the middle of nowhere casino wise really.

I’d avoid Aspers, complete dump in the middle of nowhere in a shopping mall, small stakes games and very depressing place to play miles out of central London (yes the tube is rather quick).

Caveat I haven’t played live poker in London (even tho I live there) in a long time.

OK so I'm coming home for a month in a couple of weeks, first time in UK for 3 years or so.

My question is this:

It appears clear that Hippodrome/Empire/Vic are best options for poker. What stakes cash runs at these places? Also, any nuance I need to be aware of that cash/entering a casino in London is different to cash/entering a casino in the US? It's been a while since I've been in one at home.

**edit**

Like I don't even know what standard cash stakes are in the UK......... not just what runs but what would normally be even available.

Check out the excellent https://poker-cashgames-london.herokuapp.com to see what is running currently. The Vic offers the most stakes, download the Grosvenor PokerLive app, essentially their own in-house version of BravoLive.

^^perfect thx

Nuances include higher rake, which affects the play somewhat, and string bets are enforced more strictly than in the US. Both of these are valid almost everywhere outside the US

Guess I'll find out, but you mean people playing tighter or preflop raise sizes being even more astronomical?

Most peeps adjust poorly or not at all to this, and it's not that simple, but all else being equal to a table with lower rake you should play fewer hands in most situations, yes. But don't worry about it too much, these are nuances esp for the UK where the rake is not actually THAT high. This is more important in other countries where the rake is even higher

^^ this

People aren't adapting to the high rake, but you should!

Also thinking about the before-times, anyone remember The Fox Poker Club? I loved that it was a poker room, not a casino.
Miss that place.

If you were there in the early 2010s you may remember the crazy Syrian that would sit down at the £1/2 and raise pre to £40-50 every hand and then shove any flop, his thinking on stack sizes was SOD STRATEGY.
Mass chaos as normally standard players would all simultaneously lose their minds trying to get it in with him with any Ax hand.

Yes, I remember that. Monthly £330 was always pretty good value iirc

The Fox was just round the corner from my office, perfect location.

I remember playing PLO and the entire table wanted to change it to PLO456. We asked the floor and the response was "no, it will only encourage gambling". And we all thought we were there for a debate on 18th century politics....

To be fair, I am of the opinion that 5/6 card PLO is not good for the game. There's no rake reduction so you just have almost every pot hitting max rake when everyone has similar equity.

Yes, I remember the Fox Poker Club very well. Was not into the PLO games myself and the NL cash games were notoriously poor on most occasions. I mainly played the £20 / £30 tournies on a Friday / Saturday night in a drunken state against players who took it all WAY too seriously. Would then pop across the road to the (now non-existent) Golden Nugget for some 1/1 against the likes of Pedro and co. (Anyone remember that place?)

Hippodrome Casino opened in the summer of 2012 (Golden Nugget closed in 2014) so for a short time cash game players actually had 5 poker rooms in very close proximity to choose from. (If you count that weird poker area in that casino a few doors down from the Empire.) Happy days.

Any place that has 5card plo running quite regularly?

I haven't seen it running just as 5 card but only a mix in 4/5/6. Vic/Bayswater prob your best bet.