Had a phone call from a guy who I have been speaking to over the last 6 months. he called me out of the blue 6 months ago and told me he's setting up his own Online Poker Skin (goes live in next 2 weeks). He's been monitoring the progress of my club as he is looking to hold big comps in the UK to promote his site but is struggling to find a venue. Seems like he's pulled off a major coup to hold a high profile comp next june in a great location and I'm sure it will be big news soon in the poker world. I've agreed that I'd discuss the possibility if holding a comp for him at our club in the future (even though I remember him strongly advising me against a venture of this scale - in a very nice way though).
I see this as major focus for our Club, to be THE facility to hold the biggest and most prestigous tournamants in the UK and Europe. We will have capacity for 500-700 runners, and we will open negotiations with a number of organisations as soon as we are granted our gaming licence. I see us holding at least 5 major festivals per year, 4 with other organisations and 1 managed by ourselves. This is why the we intend to invest in a state of the art TV Table Studio, Press Room and extensive hospitaility facilities. We need to create by far the best facility in the UK to hold Poker Events, because Nottingham does not have the "pull" of London, our place needs to blow people away. However, the airport is only 15 minutes away and the M1 10 minutes way so we have a good travel network.
I need to pack for Vegas now, taking my camera to get plenty of photos for ideas for the club layout. I'm staying at the Bellagio for a week, playing a few comps and meeting a friend of mine who is just learning how to play hold'em. I also want to find out how £much those fancy shuffle machines that they use on the Bellagio cash tables cost, and have a look at that "automised plasma screen cash game system" that the Wynn use (you can put your name down on a cash game from your room, and moniter your position on the TV!). People who have been to my house will know I love gadgets, and our club will be full of them........and those palm tops that the waitresses use in Denny's to take your order.......
The plans we have will mean that we will be offering an entirely different product from a normal casino cardroom, we will not be a threat to local card rooms in the Midlands, we will not be catering for people who like to play Blackjack and Roulette, so I'm sure we can all exist together (and none of the Casino's will object to my gaming licence application please...................)
