Which casinos these days will let you join a table with a mate?
Visiting from overseas and only want to play if I can share a table with him. Otherwise would rather just grab a beer.

Back home in Aus the casinos will rarely if ever accomodate a table change request just to be with a friend

Yeah I think most would be very unlikely to accommodate this. Would sound very fishy to them/other players.

Would say your best bet is aiming for somewhere that's about to start a table and getting on a list at the same time.

I think all London casinos will allow this, no problem.

If you go during peak hours it might be more difficult but that is for logistics reasons.

You don't have to give a reason for a table change, just ask the floor to put you on the list for that table.

Agreed. No need to disclose you're friends with anyone but as joejoe points out, being on the list as a new table is opening is the ideal spot. Just for the record, I do know that both Empire and Hippo are OK with two friends being on the same table but do not like three or more... and they will move one person after a short amount of time if this is the case.

just a reminder EPT London is in town from Tuesday!

expect a huge amount of players at all venues looking to play, Im looking to play a few side events and satts and of course cash games.

Im told that there is going to be cash games on site or next door, as well as the Hipporome promising to have plenty of staff on hand to accommodate the huge demand

Also, those going to play, remember its a cashless buy in venue. deposit money onto your account at the hippodrome and use that to buy in. insure you have enough funds, its a long walk or still a bit of a drive due to traffic to go too and from the venue to re deposit for a re entry. I do believe they are accepting debit card and pokerstars buy ins, but need to be used before at the casino etc

Also, if your planning on playing a few events, insure you have provided proof of income or an affordability check as they are quite hot on this and likely lots of players will be having issues trying to play a big schedule if your not known to the casino or have proof of affordability

Hmmm. Brexit has had a huge impact on the freelance market, Goliath was significantly impacted by a lack of dealers. Maybe 10 days in London will be more inviting than 10 days in Coventry but I wouldn't be surprised to see huge lists, hard caps and limited choice of cash games.

there is a big difference between EPT and Goliath, I saw first hand the huge shortage of dealers at Coventry, and if you ask the staff, it just came down to Grosvenor not wanting to pay enough. There are plenty of dealers, but not for the rate of pay they were offering. Shame as they could have had 20+ tables of cash games every day from 11am im sure, given the huge lists.

BUT! EPT is different, they have their own dealers and TDs etc, so almost certainly should have enough for most of their events, leaving Hippodrome staff to cover the cash game side of things, lets hope it goes well, can't wait to see the venue!

Hope you're right, planning on playing the 8-Game and PLO next week if I can, hopefully there will be DC cash available too.

Only one day in but my experience of getting into a cash game at the Hippo tonight was not good. Arrived 10:30PM and was put at 25th on the 1/2 list. Went back to check at 11:10PM to see where I was at and saw there were 37 on list and told I was still 25th on the list!! Best bet may be The Empire. Their list is shorter, there is still a wait, but much quicker to get a seat (at the 1/2 anyway).

Were all tables full or did they have tables available without dealers?

Well, I didn't wander around to check the back room or anything and I know they have other rooms where there are tables so I can't really answer this question. After this experience though, I would recommend phoning before turning up just to get an idea, or maybe getting on the shorter waiting list at The Empire to at least get some poker in before going back over (only 1/2 though, maybe 1/3 if they get that going). Good thing about The Hippo is they will text you when you are 3rd and 1st on the waiting list so you can either stay at or leave The Empire depending on yer table.

Why not? ;-)

OK, checked out The Hippo last night (Tuesday) at just after 10PM and they really sorted things out with getting enough dealers. 1/2 is now played in the Lower Ground floor (known as Lola's) and there must have been around 10 tables going. Lots of familiar faces mixed with plenty of unknowns and newbies. 2/5+ games are played on the usual 3rd floor.

Wait, they said there are no cash games on site or next door, only at Hippo (for PokerStars/EPT, obviously games at Vic etc), has that now changed? Where can I see lists and games running for on site and next door? 2/5+?

A little disappointing bigger holdem games don't exist so far at EPT.. £5/10 is not exactly high stakes with £ near parity with the USD

Where have you looked? All 2/5 and 5/10 games will have straddles at every room in London. Often 2/5 is 2/5/10/20 sometimes /40. I assume the park lane casino's 5/10 game will play like a 10/25 at a minimum I think as max bi is 5k£. I assure you there are bigger games running all over the place (private), what stakes do you want?

That's good to know, what's the average stack for a 2/5/10 game say? I might come next week not sure yet

What do I want? Lets say a good 10/20+ with avg stack £5k+... or instead of the straddles just do a £25/50 straight or something

So are London games usually straddled or double straddled outside a major event like the EPT?

I only have experience of casino games and I don't know of any in London that allows a double straddle, it would be a blind raise. I'd even say single straddles aren't that common but it does depends on the players, obviously! I played about 10 hours last Saturday and there were 3 or 4 straddles ...... all me! I'd say that's not usual, it's on the low side, you'll usually get one or two players per table that often put a straddle on.

Hippo and Vic unofficially let the double straddle slide, depending on the dealer and who is doing the double straddle in order to keep the game good. Some dealers are pretty lax and want the game to be fun, others are boring and make it as a blind raise.

Depends where. Vic 2/5 game is £2.5K max which is pretty deep considering. Hippo's 2/5 is £1K max or to cover whoever the biggest stack is, so if someone has £3K you can bi for £3K. There's no 25/50 game anywhere, there is a regular 10/25 plo4/5/6 at the vic, where they sit shallow with 1k and everyone is ai the whole time, pretty crazy game and not for me lol.

Games are straddled on a normal evening every night of the week outside of any festivals, depending on whos on the table. A lot of the decent regs will try and make it mandatory, but there are a few idiots that flat out refuse to straddle.

Having lived here my whole life and played midstakes cash everywhere in the world I am surprised the action isn't higher here all the time, theres alot of money here and loads of maniacs who like to gamble, but casinos seem to want 10x 1/2 games instead. But saying that in LA for example, you don't really get much higher than 5/10 running all the time. There are of course much higher private games but I prefer a legit casino-run game and atmosphere.

^ yeah casinos everywhere prefer more tables of lower stakes so they can rake more, more hands per hour etc.

Looking for a room in a grind house for a month or two in December/January, if anybody has a room or know of any discord groups etc please let me know.

Sent from my M2006C3MNG using Tapatalk

Crazy! You mean players turn up for a game expecting to play the advertised blinds within their bankroll and then get bullied by players with deeper stacks and deeper pockets to play higher stakes? And they have the audacity to object to this!?

So many idiots refusing to play on scared money at the whim of richer players. I don't know what the world's coming to.

Calm down. It ruins the game when everyone in the game is straddling including vips, if doubling the bb is too much for you, move down. Its part of the game and makes it more fun for everyone.