"Dusk till Dawn" Poker Club In Nottingham Diary (by Rob Yong)

[robyong]

There are some fantastic bars here in Hong Kong, giving me plenty of ideas for the 2 bars in the club, the VIP bar and the main gaming room bar. I'm not back till next Wednsday so I'm gonna get plently of photos.

The layout of the club is very important, I want people to feel that they are coming into top notch facilities. I think we will need some help on interior design and the fittings, so if anyone knows anyone who has an eye for style and understands hospitaility, please get them to contact me.

When I get back I intend to do a "tour" of the poker clubs and casinos in the UK, as I'm sure they will give us plently of ideas. I have heard the Western and the Broadway are the most impressive, but everyone has different tastes.

I see a few posts on numbers of tables, room etc. Our plan will to be provide capacity for 500 runners within the 15,000 sq ft of premises. However, realistically this WILL ONLY be used if we managed to land a huge event such as a WPT or poker becomes massivley more popular in 5 years. On a day to day basis I have only budgeted for an average of 100 players per day including cash, STT and tournaments, so we are planning to have tables set out as follows:

1. A Main Tournamant Area : 25 tables with over generous space used for STT, Tourneys and Cash Games, open evey day

2. Surplus Tournamant Area : This area will have 25 more tables, 250 chairs, but will be CLOSED OFF with a partician on a day to day basis and is just there for increases in demand outside of the "norm", which may NEVER happen. this does however allow us to run 2/3 different comps at the same time, but in reality, its just spare capacity for the future.

3. High Rollers Cash Room : like the Bellagio, there will be 3 or 4 tables here for higher limit cash games, probably £1000 min sit down level. Initially I expect not to use this room on a daily basis, maybe only at festival time, but it will give the playershwho want to play high stakes a private luxurious area to play in. I really want big high limit players to come to the club, and we will be actually being pro-active in ARRANGING games in this room, ringing people up etc (just like my home game). When younger players see high limit games it gives them something to work up to, this is the culture in the US, you work up the limits as your bankroll increases.

4. TV Room : This will have the WPT style "peek" camera system TV table and have an interview/relaxation room attached. We can use it for some of our own finals, put a live feed into the main bar and maybe even online in the future.

So, it total we'll have 50 ish tables and use the remainging area to provide hospitality.

An 8ft x 4ft table is 32 sq ft + room for chairs and a walkway

To get a general guide, although tables DO VARY is size. I spoke the the card room manager at the Bellagio, who told me based on "their" tables that it was a absolute minimum of 100 sq ft for a 10 seater table with 10 chairs (this is what I worked the Vic Club and Luton at - yes I measured them, sad I know, but that is so so cramped).

So, if we used 150 sq ft as a guide, +50% on Vic and Luton, (although this is overestimated due to table around the perimeter not need the 1m walkway), that would be about 7,500 sq ft for poker, and 7,500 sq foot for the rest, sounds about right. We havn't even chosen out tables yet, or chairs, or anything, but with 15,000 sq ft, we play around with things to create the best of everything. These premises are bigger than a lot of casinos, so is we can't provide a poker club with space and luxury, we 're not doing out job.

I sort of know that 150sq ft is about right and my bar in my house is 260 sq ft and we had 2 table in there and it was a bit too small, although we had seating for spectators and room Colcherster Kev / Simon Nowab.

I've posted a picture of the VIP bar in the Bellagio, this is the level of spec we need to be going for.


Cheers Rob

[robyong]

The VIP bar, called "club prive" in the Bellagio. We need to refurb our premises to this standard to give the members a place they are proud of.

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[DTD-Nick.W]

The tour starts mid January any ideas on best place to visit please post.

Ta

[robyong]

Just got back from Hong Kong. Managed to cover the trip costs with a bit of online poker and backing Liverpool to come back at half time versus Bolton. Would have been even more profitable if my internet connection had not gone down in a £7,000 pot when I flopped the nut straight with 3 way action V KK and AA, but hey, I knew the connection kept dropping and still played on, what an idiot.

Looking forward to the Blonde Bash this weekend, read some of the posts and it looks like everyone is up for a good weekend. It will also give me a chance to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and visit the Broadway, which seems to get very positive feedback from poker players in the midlands.

Loads of administration for the Club to get on with this week so I plan on locking myself in my office and ploughing through it.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Rob

[RED-DOG]

Happy new year Rob

I just found out that this is the Chinese year of the dog, and also that I was born in the year of the dog

I'm going to take it as a good omen

[Rod Paradise]

Happy new year Rob

I just found out that this is the Chinese year of the dog, and also that I was born in the year of the dog

I'm going to take it as a good omen

That's probably an omen for my luck with the ladies this year 

[robyong]

Today I went the the premises to show round my solicitor, Andrew Woods. He's a nice down to earth bloke and although I am yet to part with any hard cash to him, he's been doing his homework.

He even sent one of his assistants  down to London to watch the Gutshot case. He's really keen to get involved with this project as he has seen the growth in poker over the last few years and thinks that using us as a test case could bring him future business in the poker licencing area.

Hopefully, he will bear this in mind when I get the final bill, which he has estimated at at around £80,000,  £40,000 legal bill + £45,000 licencing fees (more negotiation need here I think, an an element of the fee to be success dependant). Our licencing targets are:

March 2006 -  Certificate of Consent from Gaming Commission
April 2006 - Liqor Licence (we are applying for 24hrs under new legislation)
April 2006 - Hearing with Nottingham Magistates Court for Gaming Licence

After that I popped in to see our IT guy, Pete, who was waking up from an afternoon nap after working through the night. He's making steady progress with the plan we agreed but the results are still hard to measure at this stage. I'm a massive fan of using technology to make peoples jobs easier and control a business.

Tomorrow Chubbs is coming down at 12pm to work on the marketing stuff, then I'm doing a guided tour of premises for a few people who have asked, then back to work on more marketing, then some HEADS - UP, then Blonde Poker Bash on Saturday.

I can't believe the amount of people who know about the club plans, even when I play online, players are asking me how its going and wishing me good luck. Word of mouth spreads quickly in poker and I'm sure this diary on BP has helped loads. I've had 3 requests for interviews from newspapers (but thats Chubbs job) as well as loads of emails from people I have never met or spoken to, its getting real interest which can only be a positve thing and hopefully mean we wil be able to meet out target membership.


Cheers Rob

[Chili]

Yes Rob you are quickly becoming a poker super god. Enjoy 

[Woodsey]

Bloody hell I didn't know I had a second job, i'm Andrew Woods as well!!

[robyong]

Bloody hell I didn't know I had a second job, i'm Andrew Woods as well!!

Can you reduce your fees please

[Woodsey]

I'll settle for a years fee membership when you open how does that sound?

P.S. I might be wrong but I think you may be the same Rob I bumped into in vegas recently? I'm the random bloke from Nottingham who came and said hello while you were playing.

[snoopy1239]

Happy New Year, Rob, and good luck! 


I can't wait to play at your club. With the accessibility of online poker, playing live is often too much effort. However, if everything goes to plan, and you get your place looking as aesthetically pleasing as you suggest it will, I'll be there in a shot. People often forget that you don't have to gamble to go out to a casino or cardroom. If there's a friendly atmosphere and pleasant surroundings, then some folk are just happy to go out for a quick drink. If your bar, restaurant,and seating area look as stylish as the Broadway or Bellagio piccy, then you should succeed in attracting more than just the poker players. Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. Bit like Cheers!

[robyong]

What a great do Blondepoker put on. I was planning to come home on Sunday morning but ended up watching the quiz, battering Flushy at head-up ("he's not ready" and reminds me of Ariston), and playing 15 minutes of the £100 freezout.

When we first arrived people were a touch apprehensive as they had never met each other "live" before, but everyone soon loosened up once the bantor started. It must have been a bit daunting for people who had come on their own but those who knew eachother went out of their way to may others feel welcome.

Me and Simon had a really good laugh with the Jocks from the Cincinatti club, and spent a lot of time at the bar with them. What a great set of lads, and we're gonna get up there at play at their club soon. I could go on and on about the Blondepoker do and how much I enjoyed it and I really hope that we can have a strong link with Dusk Till Dawn and Blondepoker when we get up and running.

In terms of the Broadway, what an superb place, excellent decor, great staff and wonderful facilities. They have gone to great lengths to make that Casino "classy", even with touch button toilet flushers. I was a bit surprised with the management attidude to ex casino staff though, not allowing Dik 9 to join us and banning Foxy Minx (even though she has left Grovesnor), mind you, the latter is not a dad decision overall!  I also got a warning for celebrating loudly when I won £2k on roulette for Nick Singh. Hey, its their place and they make the rules, and an absolute super facility it is aswell....the best I have been to in the UK.

Thanks to all the people who asked me and wished me all the best with the club.

Cheers Rob


PS. Boderham, you're on the hit list.

[glenn]

An interesting read Rob & nice to meet you

Im sure this will be a big success given your ideas and the speed at which poker is growing
I look forward to becoming a member and wish you every success !

 

[booder]

PS. Boderham, you're on the hit list.

it was a pleasure to spend time in the company of yourself and " the edge".   i think you must allow  some time away from working on your club , so that you both get in some practice for the rematch.


boo  (undisputed  heads up champ )