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

[Royal Flush]

Thats like having AK vs AQ, the flop coming K2J turn Q river T. You didnt get beat but you didnt exactly win either!

Look on the brightside though m8, thats an extra 100k you will save a year

The way the Yong is running at the mo, it could be saving him 100k a month

That sick eh!

[simonow]

Thats like having AK vs AQ, the flop coming K2J turn Q river T. You didnt get beat but you didnt exactly win either!

Look on the brightside though m8, thats an extra 100k you will save a year

The way the Yong is running at the mo, it could be saving him 100k a month

That sick eh!

Not really it is only Dollars     LOL

[Royal Flush]

Thats like having AK vs AQ, the flop coming K2J turn Q river T. You didnt get beat but you didnt exactly win either!

Look on the brightside though m8, thats an extra 100k you will save a year

The way the Yong is running at the mo, it could be saving him 100k a month

That sick eh!

Not really it is only Dollars     LOL

LOL

He must be taking your advice.....

[Jayb]

BAD NEWS
One of the conditions of them granting the licence is that I will not be able to play poker at Dusk Till Dawn.

Cheers Rob

Does that include Private games in the back room?

[Gryff]

BAD NEWS
One of the conditions of them granting the licence is that I will not be able to play poker at Dusk Till Dawn.

Cheers Rob

Does that include Private games in the back room?

Don't be silly, thats what the pub down t'road is for.

[turny]

good news rob you deserved it mate

[robyong]

After 6 months into this project, I always knew deep down that the Gaming Board were odds on to not let me me play at the club. However, I was 50:50 whether I would play anyway, I was concerned that it was not really ethical to play for money (which basically is what poker is about when you undress it to bare bones), when all the card room staff ultimatley work for me, how can they make a impartial ruling on the owner of the club? So, its not such a dissapointment, it solves a dlilemma. There are many other benefits to me owning the club; I can make sure that I can get really good vegetarian food in the restaurant, I can entertain my staff, friends and business clients in the VIP Suite and I can generate extra revenues for my charity....so its no big deal.

My mind is now focussing on the business side of the club, the licencing processes will now look after themselves, and much of the final work will fall upon my recently recruited Compliance Officer. Its his job to get peoples White, Grey and Red licences sorted out with the Gaming Board and he has the perfect CV to do this. He starts employment with me on August 1st, and I'll announce his name then. He is very well known in the casino industry.

Good luck to everyone in Vegas, I'm the only DTD guy not there, holding the fort while Aces, Chubbs and Nick are out there!

Cheers Rob

[Dewi_cool]

After 6 months into this project, I always knew deep down that the Gaming Board were odds on to not let me me play at the club. However, I was 50:50 whether I would play anyway, I was concerned that it was not really ethical to play for money (which basically is what poker is about when you undress it to bare bones), when all the card room staff ultimatley work for me, how can they make a impartial ruling on the owner of the club? So, its not such a dissapointment, it solves a dlilemma. There are many other benefits to me owning the club; I can make sure that I can get really good vegetarian food in the restaurant, I can entertain my staff, friends and business clients in the VIP Suite and I can generate extra revenues for my charity....so its no big deal.

My mind is now focussing on the business side of the club, the licencing processes will now look after themselves, and much of the final work will fall upon my recently recruited Compliance Officer. Its his job to get peoples White, Grey and Red licences sorted out with the Gaming Board and he has the perfect CV to do this. He starts employment with me on August 1st, and I'll announce his name then. He is very well known in the casino industry.

Good luck to everyone in Vegas, I'm the only DTD guy not there, holding the fort while Aces, Chubbs and Nick are out there!



Will you b ok for playing other venues Rob?

Cheers Rob

[robyong]

The only events I really want to play in the UK are the main events at the Grovesnor Casinos, I am cutting down on my poker playing anyway. The Gaming Board have not said no, but they still may. but my gut feel is that it will depend on the other casinos in the UK, at their discretion. I am not going to be a licence holder, so there is no legal reason why I cannot play in another UK casino.

I am hoping that DTD have a very good relationship with Grovesnor (and other card rooms), particularly in relation to ensuring DTD major festivals and tournaments do not clash with Luton, Blackpool, The Vic and Walsall. I have in the process of contacting them to discuss this "working together" attitude, I am not sure what their response will be, they may tell me to get lost, I don't know the "guys at the top". I guess I'll ask them if they will let me play in their festivals aswell, as they are my favourites in the UK. If not, c'est la vie, I can still play EPT and WPT after I get DTD up and running, there are plenty of places to play poker, even my house!

[The Nomad]

Hi Rob , You are right it would be a dilema for you to play in your own joint. It has happened before though with fatal consequences for the poor dealers involved. It was no coincidence after giving the owner a bad beat to find that dealer no longer with that casino.    The funny side of this  was the owner could not read the name plates on the dealers chests so they had to wear numbers so he could tell them apart.            The guys at the top as you call them are generally suits that have never pushed a chip or turned a card in anger in their lives,  allthey have to worry about is the bottom line, and whether you are nicking their big hitters about the last it borders on paranoia.  If their revenues drop or dont go up enough and their hold is not in step they are in for it from their shareholders and so the buck gets passed all the way downto the GM who ends up falling on his sword thats the guy who will say OK for you to play or not.    Hows the dogs doing

[robyong]

I have an interesting new recruit to the DTD team - Mike Wiseman, who retires from the Gaming Board on July 31st 2006, will be joining DTD as "Compliance Director" on 1st August 2006. Mike was a Senior Gaming Board Inspector with the Board for over 20 years. He is well known and respected in the UK Casino industry. Under gaming law, he has to report directly to the casino owner (me, even though I know bugger all about running a casino) and his role will be to:

1. Ensure that Darren, the General Manager, obtains his White Licence before DTD opens
2. Ensure Yogi and Nighfly, Card Room Managers, obtain their Grey Licences before DTD opens.
3. Ensure that the necessary number of dealers obtain their Red Licences.
3. Ensure that all procedures and policies at DTD are compliant with the UK Gaming Board codes of practice.
4. Be the point of contact between DTD and the Gaming Board when DTD opens (instead of me!)

I have known Mike for a number of years, having first met him when I got banned from one of the casinos under his jurisdiction for card counting at Blackjack, at the time I wasn't very happy about it, but that chance meeting seems to have worked out okay. Mike is a really relaxed, fair and knowledgable guy, and we are very lucky that he has decided to postpone his retirement to help DTD out. Clearly, he has an excellent relationship with the UK Gaming Board, and that should make them feel more comfortable dealing with us. I can't help smiling on how funny things sometimes turn out.

I had a quick read of this thread tonight, you can read much quicker when you wrote the thing. I would say we have come a long way, but it has been a slow process. However, when I set out on this project, I never realised what I was taking on. I feel the job gets much easier for me now, I am at home recruiting staff, reviewing marketing and setting objectives for management.

There is the small fact that I have never run a casino, but I don't see it as that difficult, I see it as just creating a place that I would like to go with my friends to to play poker, eat and drink. I know thet I and the management team I have recruited and are a bit of a "motley crew", with not much gaming sector experience, but we are people that will work hard, will learn and can be trusted.........I value this above our competence to do the job!

Hopefully now, I can start to enjoy the DTD project more, see our club get created from a bare shell. It will mean even more to me that Nick is now doing the whole fit-out himself, and we will be able to have a beer after its done, and  be proud of what has been built. In the scheme of life, its a small acorn, but at my stage in life, I need to do things that bring me more that financial satisfaction (thats tooooooooooooo much pressure). I feel much better about things this week, I think all this licencing has been getting to me, letting so many people (especially the people I had recruited / offered jobs to) down if I could not pull it off. Subject to a bit of red tape we are there, I am sure of it now.

After the WSOP I think I'll get everyone together again to thrash out what we need to do over the next 6 months to ensure we are in good shape to open. I can show them the new DTD offices above the Broxtowe pub! I doubt that we will be able to hit our December opening target, but we'll see what needs to be done and take a view on what's best. After working on this for that last year, I'm sure a few weeks is not going to make much difference.

Just in case anyone wants to ask me any questions about DTD in person, I will be having a bit of a party at the Broxtowe Inn in a 3/4 weeks and anyone who has been following this thread is more that welcome. It's just to let off a bit of steam with my sf/matrix/dtd employees, friends, family etc etc and I'll post the date on this thread when I know.

Cheers Rob

[Yogi-Bear]

Cool a party already.

Looking forward to it. Just hope my new boss ain't too much of a slave driver and lets me go.



Yogi

[Wardonkey]

Well done Rob.

That's an extremely important appointment. Gaming law is a minefield, as i'm sure you've discovered, you need someone like that to keep you from treading on anything nasty.

[AdamM]

wouldnt miss that

[ripple11]

 OMG Rob, ....I hope the Pub has a BIG garden