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Hi George, you wouldn't believe what a pickle I've been in trying to work out what it was I did and how to apologise.

Eventually I realised that I wasn't the Tom you were referring to.

Hope you are happy and well.

Tom.

I do apologise for the confusion! I suppose most people wouldn’t recognise Chinamug by name.

Given our meetings over the years, be that at Luton for blonde poker events or across the UK at various festivals - I find it extremely unlikely that you’re capable of behaving in a way that would require you to make an apology. You were, and I am sure you remain, a kind and gentle man.

I am well. As was mentioned on Chinamug’s blog - I am living in Singapore with my wife and son. We are incredibly happy and whilst I miss Luton daily, I have no intention on returning. 😅

I hope that everyone here remains well. I do check back now and again just to silently read and see what’s going on.

I was sorry to hear about Gavin. He was one of the good guys, for sure.

.............as to what became of george i asked uncle fester that works for the luton g and he said the lad/man is in singapore     i wish him well
.....

Hello Tom,

I’ve left a short note in that other topic you created about 15 years ago.

I still check back to read, time to time.

Hello Tom,

I’ve found my way back to this subject after 14 years, and I’ve come to settle a wrong that has been outstanding for far too long - now that I am no longer bound to contractual clauses restricting my right of (further) reply on the subject.

Before I get to the important part - I want to preface my response by getting biographical and just sharing a bit of my experience.

* I joined Grosvenor Luton at 18.
* I did a year or two on the Tables, and then decided I’d agree to learn Poker as well because they needed help and hey, it was the height of the Poker boom and it was the place to be. (So I thought).
* From a career perspective, it was not a great prospect to be in Poker - your trajectory basically stops at running the Poker Room. The management couldn’t really care less about it, and most of them wished it wasn’t there.
* After a succession of failed Card Room Managers/Supervisors - I went to the GM, a 23 year old guy with hardly any experience in anything with a business plan I’d written up on word and said, “I honestly think I can make this work, here’s how I’ll do it and I want you to let me try.”
* Curse him. He gave me the job.

So that roughly gets us to 2011. I can’t remember exactly, I am sad to say, and even the incident in question is extremely hazy to mind. I definitely recall that whatever you said made me snap, and that’s an achievement in and of itself - but there’s not much else there recollection wise.

* Running G Luton was by far the hardest job that I have done, up until this point in my life. Not because it was the most difficult, or taxing - but because of the toxicity.
* In and amongst the group of people that we refer to as “Poker players” are some of the most vitriolic, abusive, unpleasant individuals you could hope to meet.
* This is not reflective of everyone. I met a lot of wonderful people through that journey - and I don’t regret a second of it. It was extremely effective in making me the resilient person that I am today.
* You are treated with contempt by the organisation. You are the least valued, least important people in the building. You get treated the same way by, a sadly significant portion, of the players.
* The hours are extremely long - and I, and others, were working 80+ hour weeks to try and ensure that games were kept open and people could rely on us to never close a game on them.
* I’ve never endured as much abuse, and I’m still working in Casinos, as I did in that job.
* We had a direct competitor that was able to operate in ways that we were prohibited from, and could pay dealers a far better salary - and it was really damn hard trying to keep that place manned for £6 per hour.
* The competitor was also pretty vicious and backhanded in social media - and we were never allowed the right of reply for corporate reasons. I still get annoyed, thinking back on it, that one of the regulars jumped on me at the one opportunity that I made a passive swipe back at them; even though he was probably right that I shouldn’t have stooped to doing it - the inconsistent treatment and expectations were somewhat stifling at times.Players expected the absolute world from you, and crucified you for every single thing that they could.
* Even some of the more reasonable people ended up being extremely horrible by the time that I had enough, and I begged Russell Tamplin to let me move into London because I had reached my limit.

So - I’ve said enough about that. I have a lot of fond memories, and I look back on the good times with a good deal of nostalgia. The bad, well, it was character building at least.

I don’t remember what you did, Tom. I remember that you were capable of boiling my blood with your endless barrage of criticisms, complaints and rude remarks. Not that you were unique in that respect - and it is a common theme for poker players to exploit those that they know cannot retaliate for fear of a repercussion.

People often say that the customer is always right, and it should never happen that a staff member behaves that way to a customer.

What I’ve practiced in my years in this industry since then is that I never allow those kind of customers to become right, because I show them the exit and I have no remorse about it. Albeit without the commentary.

Staff members don’t deserve to be insulted and when the line is clearer and the team members are protected from that kind of abuse - it is much less of a problem.

That being said - it was very much a part of the culture and it would be unfair to say that you were behaving that way because of your inherent character. Honestly, I can’t remember enough to be sure. I recollect that the whole room clapped at your exit - which probably gives some indication of what the collective opinion was.

I was wrong to say what I did, irrespective of whatever the trigger point was. Not because you didn’t deserve it - because quite frankly if you are able to make me snap, then you really must have deserved it - I am the calmest person I know. I was wrong to call you anything because I should have held myself to a higher standard. I should have just asked for the management to ask you to leave (they would have told me to fuck off).

The real reason that I am sorry is because you were not the worst offender, not by a long stretch, and you did not deserve to be embarrassed by me in front of the entire poker room.

And when I think back and try to remember exactly what I remember about Mr. T. M. is that I recall a man who was patient and instructional with me when I was brand new to poker, and was to all other new dealers that joined. A man that would always encourage us to do charity events - and be there to support them. A man that would put his hand in his pocket every time, whenever he heard someone was sick, or was leaving.
And that was a rare thing in that community, and your behaviour otherwise was just typical of the normal culture in that time - if perhaps a bit more effective at getting under my skin than most others.

So yes, I am sorry for what I did, Tom. I do hope you can forgive me.

Grosvenor operate a 3 strike policy on Self Exclusions and thus I don’t see that you’d have any chance of reinstatement. Taking into consideration the regulatory framework now in place - it’s unlikely that your commercial worth will be greater than the potential fines should issues arise.

Regarding proof of earnings - if you can prove it, you are fine. It’s not enough to say that you’re a professional gambler though; you have to have evidence of where the funds originate from. It is about money laundering and terrorist financing - and so the challenge for someone that derives earnings through gaming tends to be in evidencing their original investment. Trying to distinguish whether your constant use of cash is from a secret stash at home, built up through your professional gambling, or from the sale of drugs is quite a difficult one to distinguish. Once again - commercial worth is weighted against a potential fine.

Don't think I ever did upload that video.

I'll check to see if it's sitting in my iTunes account.

Did have a video from that GUKPT though - but it was just a drunk Antony the dealer and I encounter with a seagull at our hotel window.

Looking grim for HC. Similar tones to watching Brexit for me.

Trump has swung in to the lead with the bookies, though Clinton looks to have recovered somewhat. Can we call it at all yet?

Is theft morally acceptable? No, it isn't.

Is it morally acceptable to run a business that effectively gives people credit to fund something that could be a problem or an addiction? No, it isn't.

Because you are all poker players, it possibly doesn't register as unusual because staking is normal and accepted as a practice. It's illegal to give credit for gaming for an operator. I don't really think this is that different.

If you're going to take the moral high ground about ethical behaviour, the first port of call is surely that we don't put ourselves in a position where we potentially exacerbate the underlying problems/demons that other people have.

Again - I accept that theft is wrong. But desperate people will behave desperately.

I thought about this at length, but I have a few theories. It's possibly an amalgamation of them all.

1) inconsistency of rules across operators.
2) lack of consistency within a given venue causing confusion and lack of understanding. It's not really a fault of players if they keep getting different rulings and as such get confused.
3) poker players are never wrong.

Hi,

Yes. It wasn't aimed at the Blonde hierarchy.

I understand the nature of your sponsorship arrangement.

I'm engaged now to a particularly lovely British born Singaporean lass who is in charge of my wardrobe. So regrettably, my suits are a touch more size appropriate these days.

Hi.

I refer to necromancy in the sense of a darker aspect of resurrection.

I don't actually work at Luton any more. I left a year ago to become a Casino Manager within London.

I've come back just recently to cover in the absence of a Supervisor to try and provide some insight going forwards post Raj having left.

She's now working freelance. Predominantly GUKPT and EPT stuff.

The new poker room is at the far end of the venue in a purpose built £1.6million room. It's lovely - and it will no longer be plagued with the music problems of old.

I will keep half an eye on the thread, but I don't want to ruffle any feathers over the matter. Far too opinionated to let people snipe away without some balance offered, however.

Hope everyone is well. Possibly see some of you next week.

George

I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that as a result of necromancy, it has only taken a few days for someone to have a pop.

A player can assume any position - small blind, big blind or button. The only position you cannot assume is between the small blind and the button.

Pretty standard, too. But you know, it's "Luton and they make it up."

Hi,

Firstly can I take the opportunity to apologise profusely for my interjection upon your blog - but I can't help but feel that it provides the perfect sample size coupled with a multiplicity of varying characters that I am sure to derive some benefit from asking a few questions of you and your intrepid following.

As I am sure most of you are all aware, it is with great regret and sadness that Raj has departed the shores of Grosvenor Luton to move on to bigger and better things. That being the case, the boss of my bosses boss has sent me from the dizzying heights of the capital back to my most beloved of venues (and my hometown) - Luton.

There are a few issues that are foremost evident to me and in short order I'll provide a list of these. I am curious, and I hope with your help, that I could brainstorm for a greater understanding of perceived problems, shortcomings etc at the Grosvenor. I'm given to understand that Genting has created a more stalwart following in the last year than was the case when I worked in Luton, and as I have been tasked with trying to restore some glory and prestige unto the Grosvenor once more, I'll be needing some insight and feedback - to which I am hoping you'll all oblige me (in a constructive manner, I hope!)

It's Understaffed, undergoing a refurbishment and so disruption internally and to parking, there's a distinct lack of 'experience' within the team. The tournament numbers appear to be declining - certainly against the figures I analysed compared to 2013 and 2014. That said, the cash game league has certainly worked and the cash games have grown year on year. So, tell me, in your own opinions - what's going wrong?

That boat has sailed. Prior to EA clamping down, you could pay £20 (as an example) and offer a craptastic player to the market and these gold farmers as such would pay the outrageous fee. Thus, you've bought the gold.

They placed, as mentioned, restrictions on the amount a player can be sold for based on their ratings, so it's not really worth it.

You can buy him legitimate gold/points through the play station or Xbox store though!