Luton "G" Casino, opinions please!

[Slick Kid]

Played there this week and thought it had nothing to offer. It was lifeless, with the staff going through the motions, hardly ever seen a valet. When we chopped the £400 we decided not to leave a drink for the valets as it was that bad. Any regulars feel the same or have l caught them on a bad week?

I have decided to ring at 530pm and if they have 60+, l will come for the ME, if not DTD for the £100 and a nice atmosphere for the fight!

[action man]

i remember being down in brighton for a £300 freeze and flushy was offered the best ever deal ive seen in poker, you came over to argue that he should play for the win. You said "play for the win james"  and now you chop the £400 lol. Nice result, but from what i heard from you early this year i would think you were the last person on earth to deal.

[Slick Kid]

Action, 3 reasons for the deal last night mate and u would understand if you where there. It was 710pm m8 and we had been playing from 8pm - 5am the night before and then from 3pm yesterday. It was a shocker! I wanted to play the Omaha and the final 4 where all competent players with plenty of play left.

It was the situation more than anything.

[action man]

ahhh no bother just thought you were anti-deals! how much you pick up and who were the players left in? nice result. GL for the M.E

[RED-DOG]

Played there this week and thought it had nothing to offer. It was lifeless, with the staff going through the motions, hardly ever seen a valet. When we chopped the £400 we decided not to leave a drink for the valets as it was that bad. Any regulars feel the same or have l caught them on a bad week?

I have decided to ring at 530pm and if they have 60+, l will come for the ME, if not dtd for the £100 and a nice atmosphere for the fight!

I don't agree with you, The last thing I would call Luton is dull and lifeless.

Luton is one of my favorite cardrooms, and it's the staff that make it so. They are always willing to listen to suggestions from the players and IMHO really do everything they can to keep everyone happy.

The long suffering dealers are, by and large, excellent. They do a tough job very well and interact well with the players.

I do agree, to some extent about the valets, (many times I have suffered severs cheesecake withdrawal symptoms) and the loud music gets on my threppeny-bits, but the players are good fun, the staff try hard, and on the whole, I think the G is a great place to play poker.

[M3boy]

The staff at the G are great.

The poker room is great.

The atmosphere is usually very good.

Its the "powers that be" that need changing!

Luton G COULD be a great card room if only things were run properly.

I have been a regular at Luton for a few years now and have seen a steady decline - now this may be due to the market reaching saturation point, but the complete lack of marketing/advertising MUST be a contributory factor to the fall in numbers.

Mick, I cannot honestly see 60+ for the main event, I just cannot.

[TightEnd]

Valets are a big problem, a lot left when the casino moved and have been replaced by "newbies". In addition there aren't enough of them. However its not their fault they are over-stretched.

that apart, the staff are very motivated, the players are a good bunch and its a fun place to play

I must admit that the atmosphere this week was "un-festival" like, probably due to the abandonment of non GUKPT festivals by Blue Sq, head office and the like in terms of promotional material, presence at events etc etc

[kenjude]

I have been a regular at Luton for a few years now and have seen a steady decline - now this may be due to the market reaching saturation point, but the complete lack of marketing/advertising MUST be a contributory factor to the fall in numbers.

8 days into December and the web site still has November's schedule on there - says it all really. A shame - I've enjoyed all my experiences in the card room.

[vinni]

of all the times iv played at luton ,iv never had any probs ,
from vallets /dealers ,must say its one of the best places in the country  apart from dtd of course.

[AlexMartin]

Problem with Luton is its so variable. When the competent people like Nina and Alistair are present and in charge its generally run well. Take the changes to the £200 FO structure this week for example, fantastic- well done Nina.

However, the day 2 of the £400 FO clashed with a £30 satellite that had about 15 runners. Guess which competition got priority on the clock display screens even after we whined. Yep. F**King joke.

[tikay]

Luton? Well, each to their own. Personally, I adore the place, & I intend to use Luton & dtd as my default Venues, as they both care so much for players best interests.

G-Luton opened early in 2007, & struggled for a while to sort enough Dealers. But the initial batch who were trained up are just super, ever smiling, friendly, & long-suffering at the rudeness of many players towards them. More are being trained as we speak, & the progesss Luton are making is exemplary.

Valets - or lack of them - is their achilles heel, but again, they are on the case. Ditto their Catering, which is just awful - but they know that, & are working on improving it. By the way, I always lave the Valets a drink at Luton when I (so rarely.....) get a draw, because it's not the Valets fault that there are not enough of them.

Most of all, the regulars are a terrific bunch, & that counts for so much. Nina has grow in stature beyond recognition, Adrian is a future Top TD, very much in the Yogi-mould, & Alastair, though he gets some stick, has his heart in the right place.

The chairs & tables are beautiful, & no cardroom in the UK - even DTD - gives the players as much "space" to wander around without falling over side-tables or asking players to "give me room to get past please". It's achingly large & supremely comfortable, it's just lovely to be able to stretch your legs & wander around freely.

The range & stucture of their week-in week-out Tourneys is as good as any in the UK.

The reception Staff do that weird thing that other venues - especially The Vic & Brighton Rendezvous - find so hard to do - smile.

The music - they have a "turn" most nights - is just horrendously loud & incredibly distracting, but we have to rermember, it's a Casino, not a pure Poker Venue (a'la dtd), & so they have to cater for "Casino Tourists" who come to play the table games, especially at weekends. On Friday & Saturday nights, the place absolutely heaves with people, "night out" folks, & this is where Grosvenor make their income, not from Poker. Were it not for that income, there would not be the superb Cardroom at Luton, so I guess we have to endure the damn music on that basis, & remember thart we can't have our cake & eat it.

This week's Fessie has suffered with low numbers - as most Fessies have in 2007, due to the "series poker" craze, but plans are afoot to address that in 2008.

As an aside, & apropos Luton "developing" their new Cardroom, have a guess at how many Staff they employ - it's the top side of 120! And how many different nationalities within that? 32!

It's not easy starting a new Poker Venue, as Rob & his dtd Team will testify, & I think Lution are working very hard to be one of the UK's Premier poker venues. These things are not easy, & take time. I know of no other Venue, dtd excepted, that is trying so hard to please their clientele. We are lucky to have them both, in my opinion. Festivals & work apart, I shall share my Live poker time between Luton & dtd - 4 days a week at each.

[RED-DOG]

I shall share my Live poker time between Luton & dtd - 4 days a week at each.

You can't manage that and work as well?  Pfft!

[Geo the Sarge]

Only been to Luton once and thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in the cardroom.

Tikay's post covers all.

I am begining to get bored with everyone comparing DTD to Casino cardrooms, yes we know it is probably so much better...........it's a poker club for pokerites, that was Rob's intentions.

Whilst we all agree that Casino cardrooms could be better, it is not until places like DTD have been up and running and showing that, treated properly, there could be additional profit to be made by entertaining pokerites will Casino's catch up.

Geo.

[Slick Kid]

Only been to Luton once and thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in the cardroom.

Tikay's post covers all.

I am begining to get bored with everyone comparing dtd to Casino cardrooms, yes we know it is probably so much better...........it's a poker club for pokerites, that was Rob's intentions.

Whilst we all agree that Casino cardrooms could be better, it is not until places like dtd have been up and running and showing that, treated properly, there could be additional profit to be made by entertaining pokerites will Casino's catch up.

Geo.

Geo, l'm not comparing it to DTD. I was stating a fact of how l found it now, after many previous visits there as a UK Circuit regular.

[Snatiramas]

Love Luton
Love DTD

Played DTD last night after having wathed Leicester beat Toulouse........nice to have the option

Playing Luton tonight probably.....always be home