blonde poker forum

Its been 3 weeks now since Luton lost its last manager and as far as i known there isnt a new one on the horizon.

Simon Trumper at DTD and Adam Lawer from Southend have both been recently receiving rave reviews so what is it that Luton needs to find to get it to the standard that it needs to be at?

Does anybody know anyone who would be interested in applying?

A bet recently took place between Tikay and Slick Kid about the standards at Luton. 90% of the problems there can be sorted with someone with the right drive and energy.

So what makes your cardroom well run   or what would you change about it to make it better

Someone with a calming presence and a fair person who understands the game and has a passion for it. That's all I ask for from a card room manager...not too many of them around though.

keep your hands off John Taylor

he is Aberdeen's and i hope we keep him

There is something afoot at Luton regarding a new person


as to the question


consistent, firm and fair rulings

understanding of the game to provide good tournament schedules, reasonable strucutres and good range of cash games

The stature to stand up to any corporate issues that would prevent him offering the above

add passion to above

Is knowledge of the rules as important as passion and energy for the job

probably not

for Luton, which needs a leader of the room with real drive, definitely not

The real problem for any new sup at Luton will be Carmel, she is anice lady but she can't keep her nose out, you give a ruling and she overrules you. This has a very bad effect of the morale of whoever is running the room.

 :o ;shitfanhit;

You can teach someone with passion and energy the rules far quicker than you can generate energy in someone who knows the rules but cant be bothered.

I would think that the person definitely needs empowerment; to be allowed to introduce (within reason) what they want, based on demand, but also the accountability to stand and fall by how well they do.  With £ being the measure, it must be possible to monitor 'success' from the cardroom?  In return they should be properly rewarded for doing whatever they do towards selling out the cardroom every night and attracting poker punters in the door for table games (although claiming a reward for their collective table losses might be a bit contentious..)

I don't know how much ££ the role attracts (over and above say an experienced inspector in the pit) but it should command a premium and in return they should be expected to perform higher than turning up, working and going home 5 times a week.
Edit: I should add that isn't a swipe at anyone past or present, it's just that it is easier to switch off and on each shift watching blackjack than it is managing the poker room, which you must have to devote far more towards, therefore deserving better reward.

A Grosvenor Cardroom Supervisor gets paid £17,000 a year. To me this is not enough for the trouble they get put through in the name of poker, it is only a little bit more each month than a inspector with alot more work and responsability.

That is why apart from the truly dedicated staff such as Zac at walsall and Ian at Bolton you find that good sup's are few and far between.

yikes.

17k down sarf wow, unsocial hours and grief for that lol.

I'll take it. I will need a job when I return!!!!

Agreed totally

London allowance pays a Sup in the Vic more, but frankly working in Luton you deserve an extra allowance!

Thats nowhere near enough. Just imagine if they got that card-room buzzing properly. I could easily see 100+ every night and 200 on a weekend. And poker players gamble a lot. 22k should attract someone with passion + drive. The casino would make up this in what, a month once it gets properly going?

Yikes indeed. Working in a betting shop pays more than that and you get a sheet of glass between you and the punters... :)

Agreed but from what I understand grosvenor are required to run these operations as separate cost centres which means that despite what the players may contribute to the casino as a whole this is not taken into account when running the card room.

The card room is judged on it's profitability alone and the take doesn't allow for much to be spent on a card room manager.

They are hidebound by buraeucracy and outdated corporate culture...and a huge crackdown on costs

if they won't pay £2xk to get Niall back from London, they aren't going to do so for A N Other IMO

Required by whom?  Required by themselves surely?  Which they could change, if it made a net positive difference to the company.

If a cardroom manager-in-waiting said "I want 40k - I will have 200 bums on seats each night by the end of the quarter and I will bring in 4 new punters that do 200k p.a. each on table games" it would be a daft company that couldn't consider it because of their own rules.

No argument from me on that one - but they choose not to run their business in that way. Perhaps that's one of the reasons they are chosing to close down part of their operations? Perhaps they are profitable but not in the way they have run them recently and presented the figures? Tighty would know more about this I think.

its more to do with pay grades and corporate hierachies

croupier>>>inspector>>>supervisor etc etc

pay one outside their grade and you have PR problems with staff and Union issues


to quote one nameless Grosvenor manager, involved in finding a new supervisor

"If we brought him in he'd earn more than I do and thats not fair"

It is entirely fair of course if (s)he adds more value to the company than the manager does!  In IT, many managers earn far less than the staff they manage.  Why should being in the company since 1964 guarantee you more pay?

I realise that won't happen of course.  But how about recalibrating the role so that it is Pit Boss equivalent?  It basically is, responsibly for the "poker pit" and for assigning staff to duties within, not to mention of course the interaction with the nightmare punters :)  That should offer a union-friendly differential between inspector and card room manager.  No doubt that can't be done because of internal rules either...

agreed..and this is also a clear case where the unions should not get involved...and I half suspect they wouldn't

In the Grosvenor chain only the Vic has a union, the rest of the group does not.

I posted this earlier in a different thread but parts of it are relevent to this thread so ill put here as well.




Before i left Grosvenor, i was privvy to alot of info and if they are still going the way they are you can expect alot more closures.

Early last year they were setting up to be sold off so they stopped spending, they highlighted around 9 casinos that were doing bad and had the intention of closing them, due to high staffing cost ect so it looked good on the portfolio that all the casino's were doing well.

It carrys on this year in the fact that they have not given any pay raises to the lower levels this year and dont plan to for the next while.

The reason the share price plunged was Ranks new boss told the shares holders that the smoking ban was'nt effecting the company then 5 weeks later he had to announce a emergency loss of profits ( i cant remember the exact wording) statement, when this happened the shares dropped from around £1.30 to the 98p area we see now.

So we are saying that the cardroom will be rewarded if they find the right person to run the room

There arent many really good TDs out there

The casino wont pay the money to get the best person

The right TD could generate enough revenue to more than cover any expenditure

It's the bit that bean counters don't get Jim.

Let's take a high roller punter, good for 5k a visit.  He comes in, does his money, gets a 100 quid (retail, much leass actual cost) meal comped and goes home happy.  Next a bean counter steps in and withdraws or tightens up the comp, the punter gets the hump when presented with the bill and doesn't come in any more.  In bean counter world, they have implemented a 100 pound saving.

So any news anyone? any rumours?  Its been a couple of months now. Surely they have found a replacement!!!

One of the best rooms in the country i thought people wold be breaking down doors to get this job

Two interviews for the position today.

I like the fact they both wore hats to the interview - makes a good impression.

(http://www.corrieblog.tv/laurel%20and%20hardy.jpg)

yeah, under no circumstances can you have management sucking up to various players and overrulling. the card room managers descision is final. no matter how much of a high roller the prick causing the fuss is.

i hear chris swan is interested.

I was on 25K as a dealer in The Vic. They have to be prepared to pay at least that to get anyone out of there, if not more, and that aint going to happen.

they are not trying to, on this occasion.

they did once, but came up against the problem you descirbe.