So, with a £50k overlay just too good to miss I finally got my arse into gear and made the drive to Nottingham to visit
DTD for their WSOP tournament.
Nottingham is an awkward distance from me, just too far to drive there and back in day, but so close it feels like a waste of money to stay in a hotel.
Rather than a blow by blow trip report, I would like to briefly outline the positives and the negatives of the tournament and the venue from my point of view..
POSITIVES:
Staff. The most important feature of any service industry business is the staff. And the staff at
DTD were just fantastic. I have never see so many smiles. The staff seem very happy to be working there and this shows by their eagerness to help and positive attitude. Kudos must go to the management for keeping them so happy.
Dealers: Flawless. Probably had 5 dealers in my (short) time in the tournament. Each one was excellent. Not sure if they were trained by
DTD or poached from other venues, but they were way better than most other places I have played. Kept the games running smoothly and concentrated well (My petpeeve about some dealers is they don't concentrate well enough and that's why mistakes occur). I would put the general level of dealing on a par with the Vic. Which means they are equal best in Britain.
Floor: There was one small dispute at my table, which the dealer dealt with perfectly, calling the floor at exactly the right moment before tempers flared. The floor made the correct decision and (just as importantly) explained the decision to the aggreived party perfectly.
Management: A bit unfair for me to judge the management, because the 2 Simon's were friends long before
DTD was even thought of. But, put simply they seemed to be as excellent a job as I would have expected.
Valets: I have played poker all over the world and I have never seen so many valets at one venue. The last tournament I played was the €10,000 + 600 event at Monte Carlo. I wanted a bottle of water. I had to ask the dealer twice and the floor 3 times (!!!!) to get a waitress and when one finally arrived it took 20 minutes for her to get my water and she never gave me any change from a 20 for a 6 Euro bottle. No such problems at
DTD. The valets were swarming around eagerto help and fast and efficient. And when I tipped one £2.50 after she brought me a burger and chips she must have thanked me 5 times!
Facilities: A well stocked and very pleasant bar area, That is enough facilities for me! Seriously, the poker player was very well catered for when not playing.
Tournament: I remember there was a big hoohar about 5 years ago. The Grosvenor Wallsall had a tournament called the "Quarter Million"
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=1258. It was a £2,500 event and they guaranteed 1/4 million. When they realised they weren't going to get 100 players, they whipped off the guarantee as quick as you like.
DTD makes a similar guarantee and they are man enough to swallow the loss. Hat's off. The structure was just amazing. I do think as there was such a small field playing 5 levels on day 1 was unneccessary. 4 would have been plenty. But that's a small thing. For a venue to attempt to stage such an ambitious event was very impressive. To go through with it and run it so well was fantastic. They really deserved to get at least 250 runners. For sure I will be playing the other 2 legs.
Playing: The plasma screens told you everything you needed to know and were kept up to date far better than those at the UKPT's. The tables were spacious and there was room to move about. The chips and the cards were of the highest quality.
Cash games. I didn't play any cash games, so it would be unfair for me to comment. Altho I will say I saw an old friend who I hadn't seen in 5+ years and he's a cash game grinder. He is currently in the process of moving to Nottingham, so I think it's safe to assume rthe games are blinding!
NEGATIVES
Location/Gettig there: Now I am a pretty terrible driver at the best of times. I printed off the directions to find
DTD from the website and drove pretty slow once I got to the city (So slow I got beeped about 6 times!). I am certain I followed them to the letter, and I still got hopelessly lost. Nottingham is a nightmare to drive in with one ways and ring roads. I wouldn't be confident of finding
DTD again without terrible problems.
Food: I ordered burger and chips at the table and that was excellent. However, just before leaving I availed myself of a breakfast and to be honest it wasn't very good. The bacon and sausages were cold and the scrambled egg looked like lumpy porridge.
Price: £7 for burger and chips was just about ok.. but I really would have baulked at paying £3 for a cheese and onion sandwich. That is way too much imo.
Toilets: I understand it was a pretty busy night (maybe one of the busiest of the year?) But the toilets weren't in great condition. Someone had pissed all over the floor and it hadn't been cleaned up and there was toilet paper everywhere on the floor. The place seems so well staffed, surely there could be room for a toilet attendant?
CONCLUSION: All in all an excellent experience. The place desrves to succeed, the staff are excellent and the management are trying so hard to give poker players a better deal. I am only kicking myself for not going sooner!
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