blonde poker forum

Rob/Simon/Nick/Tighty/All at DTD past and present,

Ian and I have recently returned from a trip to Deauville for a few France Poker Series/EPT side events. In conversation there I promised to Ian my intent to write an open letter to you all, posted here on Blonde, so here it is. Some will flame me for this, others will understand the points I am making. I will not be at all surprised should the former to speak more loudly than the latter, but then empty vessels do make the loudest noises so be it. I'll keep my points simple and away from hyperbole.

When you arrive at DTD there is a free car park.

When you enter the club you are greeted by polite doormen and efficient front of house staff.

When you wish to register for a tournament the system is efficient, the queue well-managed and the process swift.

Your tournament guarantees are (essentially) unconditional and generous.

Your tournaments are well-structured and professionally run/dealt/managed.

When you wish to play cash the process for securing a seat is fair and clearly communicated.

Your cash game rake is reasonable and, imo, fair.

You make constant and renewed efforts to listen to players' demands.

You make constant and renewed efforts to offer players/poker something new.




Thank you for all your efforts in running a wonderful poker club.

Ed Gascoigne

You forgot to mention the valets :P

This.

I consider myself very lucky to be only 20 mins away from this wonderfull oasis.

Typically, we take these things so much for granted.

The truth is, DTD is different class to almost ANY European venue when it comes to efficiency, Customer Care, & running games of poker.

If we cast our minds back to the days before DTD, the "organisation" of some Poker Tourneys was nothing short of terrible.

At the then predominate Tournament Venue in the UK, the average starting time of ALL Tourneys was 45 minutes late.

The exception to the rule was Blackpool, where they always began on time, because they had a really mean & moody TD. No idea where he ended up. The Vic were fairly prompt with their start times, too, but not many others. 

ha ha. That moody TD would not let Mr Trumper play a comp because he was not seated.

Dtd is the best Cardroom I have ever played in and takes poker to a different level. They are seen as the bench mark for everyone else to follow.

I've always wondered..and obv don't want any specific figures..

But is the club a Labour of Love for Rob or does it actually make a profit with all the extra taxation introduced.

....but that is the point which people do not realise. That was standard then. If you were not seated for the very first hand of a Tournament, you were not allowed to play it. End of story.

Imagine if that still existed today.

Thought it was part of the law then?

I'm fairly sure that was a gaming commission rule.

Definitely mean and moody though,  had a penchant for wearing orange woolly hats too.

It was my understanding that it was how most Casinos in those days interpreted the law, or more correctly, GC Guidelines.

Yea <3 everything about DTD, whoever hires the valets needs a raise because that man just keeps delivering. Even the menu is deece.

Only ever thought one single dealer was poor and he has improved considerably.

My only gripe with DTD is the dealers watching football when they should be concentrating on their job. This tilts the hell out of me!!

Everything else is pretty f**king amazing. Love the place :)

Wont have a bad word said about the place... ;hattip;

I'm not going to reopen/reignite the valets debate, but suffice it to say that I wholeheartedly support and concur with everything Ed said.

It goes without saying that the valets are of course incredible.

Excellent hiring skills.

I'd never played poker anywhere other than Rileys or a pub until my first visit to DTD and although obviously they offered way more than my previous experience I just assumed that that was what you got when you played somewhere where it was 'proper'.
I'd had my first DTD cash before I played in a casino and imagine my surprise when I discovered, in a proper venue, that we had chips made from extremely thin plastic; we were to start late; play with cards that moved in the breeze from the air-con and worst of all, we had to deal for ourselves...

A few years on and a little more experience at other venues has shown me that DTD is, quite simply, head and shoulders above the rest.

If only they'd open up a franchising operation

Doubt it would be the cheapest of franchises to own and operate!

Not been in a good while and really miss the place, it is an excellent venue for poker.

I know, although wouldn't it be amazing if your local cardroom adopted all the DTD practices and policies...

Going to DTD tilts the life out of me, but only because I know that it isn't somewhere feasible for me to visit regularly and I have a 5 hour drive home coming   >:(

Definitely the best card room I've played in, it is that good I didn't even mind when I pulled up and there was an Aston in the disabled spot meaning I had to park around the corner   ;)

DTD is so good because from the word go it installed DISCIPLINE.

Hi All

Thanks for the feedback we really do appreciate it.

Very surreal moment after reading TK's post,

When Rob and I ventured onto the UK poker circuit all those years ago these were the reasons we come up with the crazy plan to conceive DTD.

There just wasn't a half decent cardroom out there catering for the us nowadays cardrooms have certainly stepped up there game, which is great for us as an operator and the players.

It really is strange to sit back now and think of those times and where we are today.


Enjoy

I hope you all enjoy DTD as customers as we enjoy bringing DTD to you

DTD is the reason I moved to Nottingham, thank you to Rob, Nick and the team at DTD for creating the best place to play poker in Europe!

doubt you'll find anyone who will disagree it's one of the most pleasant places to play poker on the planet, every time I step foot in the place I feel extremely welcome.

Funny what 35 bags will do :)

Yeh I tweeted a months ago that I've played all over europe, vegas, even colombia and never found anywhere even close to DTD.

It's the reason I live in Nottingham and probably the reason I'm still playing poker tbh!

Keep up the good work guys :)

Try Nottingham mate :)

Is this your diary?

Simply the Nuts

Only by playing elsewhere can you really appreciate what DTD is all about.

The mutts nuts IMHO even



if it did nearly kill me trying to get there :)

Lol wish I could move close miss won't let me mean changing schools ext lol ow well I only live 1 hour away

I also would like to thank dtd staff owners for what they do without them I wouldn't have my new motorbike.being coming there know for 2 years at least 6. Times a month I don't see any reason to change this


Before this I use to play in badly run card. Rooms too cancelling touniment ext without notice

Well done dtd
Garry

Changed Poker in this country.  Simple as.

Agree totally, now why haven't I been in over a month? ;carlocitrone;

It has definitely changed poker in this country, having introduced RE's too!

It's such a shame that it's in a location where it's not able to hold EPT's & so on like Rob mentioned, would be great.

Whilst also the new concepts are brilliant.

Already looking a great first 4 months!

My only two gripes with DTD is that some dealers lose concentration through chatting to players too much and become slower. My other one being tea and coffee prices, I think they are £2.25?!

Tea is £1.80 (one of the perks of being a teetotaller :) )

Come one you expect us to stare you ugly lot all day, speed half the players go we could have a game of football in the car park during some decisions.

lol. Are you a Dtd employee Jack

I've dealt there in the past. Think they called us blow-ins.

All joking aside, they've a huge asset for UK poker, and all the serious praise is fully justified.

I've spoken to Rob on a few occasions, and know very few cardrooms/casino's where the owner takes the trouble to do this, can't fault what he and the staff over the years have created.

great thread

It would be ok if it was Babestation though rite ? :P

Camera in valets changing rooms?

only problem that dtd has caused is that outside of vegas i have to seriously lower my quality expectations when playing poker. World class joint