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

[Redbull]

Good to see you there Rob. Hope Stanley's let you in again! Best of luck with the final few hurdles.

[robyong]

just charge a membership fee (refundable against table charges or something) to stop non poker players wandering in for a pint.

Yes Russ, something along those lines that does not penailise the genuine player but keeps out the undesirables walking in off the street. I'll have a think.

Its very important to me that after all of the effort I have put in to this venture that it is a bona fide poker club with a unique atmmosphere, even if this means that numbers are lower, I want to go there myself and know everyone personally, also, I want to be 100% sure that every person will show respect to the staff and facilites, I've made it clear that "bums on seats" will not be DTD policy, and that less is better IMO

You have been to my homes games and some of my parties etc, I had over 50 people in my house and 350 at my party in my pub, we had a great laugh, and I want to enjoy DTD myself on a daily basis. Of course, major festivales/comps will have to be an exception, but on regular nights I'd like to keep it very exclusive and personal.

It may not be a money making stratgey, but I'm so tired of fighting to get this place open, so I want it to somewhere I can go and see my pals, have some bantor, and somehow feel that this was all worth it (subject to licencing)

Cheers mate

Rob

[Jon MW]

...
2. A "select" membership, serious poker players (by "serious", this can include beginners who aspire to be Phil Helmuth)
...

I hope this includes beginners who aspire to be Chris Ferguson as well?

[ripple11]

 
 How about a membership committee which has to approve your membership?
 You and your team are probably going to know a fairly high percentage of "names" anyway....so its just a case of looking at the rest of the applications.
You could design a form which asks about your Poker playing past and what you want from DTD/Poker etc.  If you're still not sure ,you could grant a provisional short term membership and/ or invite them in for a chat !!

[kinboshi]

Just get Tikay to interview every potential member.  After 30 minutes of him going on about trains and snails, if they are still there it shows that they're keen on playing and being a member at DTD.

[littlemissC]

hi rob,gutted i missed you and chubbs on tuesday.i couldnt make it out.hopefully you will be going again soon and ill see you then.

FRAN CREED

[Ironside]

the latest email i have reicieved from the OFT

"Thank you for your email concerning the Dusk Till Dawn poker room. You are concerned that the appeals lodged at the Nottingham magistrate’s court by rival gambling companies Gala, London Clubs International (LCI) and Stanley’s about Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) are intended to restrict competition and are, therefore, contrary to UK competition law.

 

I am afraid that the OFT is not able to be of assistance in this case. The law permits any interested third party to lodge objections to licences granted by local councils if they believe they are grounds to do so. The OFT cannot interfere in this legal process nor does it have any remit to intervene in activity that is provided for by law. DTD will have to take their own independent legal advice in order to address the objections that have been lodged with the Magistrates Court.

 

The OFT would be able to intervene if there was evidence to suggest that the Competition Act 1998[1] (CA98) had been infringed. For example, if there were evidence to suggest that the objecting parties had colluded or entered into an anti-competitive agreement designed to foreclose the relevant market to new entrants. However, the OFT has not seen any information to date to suggest that there is such an agreement or understanding between the parties. As such, the OFT does not have reasonable grounds to suspect an infringement of the Chapter I prohibition and does not propose, therefore, to open an investigation into the matter that you have raised.

 

We are nevertheless grateful to you for bringing your concerns to our attention. I appreciate that this will come as a disappointing response though I hope that this letter helps to explain why the OFT will not be taking this matter further"

[Shogun112]

Hi,
I am new to Blonde Poker Forum, and came across this thread.  I guess I read maybe 200 - 300 of the 1500 or so posts and found it very interesting reading.  I would hope that all is eventually good for you Rob.

While reading, I did come up with a thought, which may have already been brought up, but not in the msgs I have seen yet anyway.

Seem that the location for DTD is ready to run but cannot have customers because of the Gaming people..  My thought was why not maybe open it up for maybe some accademy type things..??  Maybe a dealers accademy, where people can come and be tought dealing..!! Who knows, maybe even set a standard for UK...  I know there are loads of croups out there that would love to add dealing poker to the list of quals..  Or even to teach players etc...  Surely the licence is not needed for this type of thing?

Just a thought, may sound rubbish and may not even be a consideration, but maybe a room full of tables can be used some way or other like this..

[boldie]

Maybe a dealers accademy, where people can come and be tought dealing..!! Who knows, maybe even set a standard for UK...  

it#'s nottingham mate..too many dealers there already

[Shogun112]

LOL..  Know what you mean..!!

Last Saturday, friend of mine in Nottingham, house broken into, stole his laptop and car keys, stole his nice fast Audi RS6 as well...  Police caught the dumb bar stewards on monday night, still driving around in it..  Dont ask me how a police car could catch one of them cars..!!  Think they radioed ahead.  Seems the 2 robbers jumped out of it while it was still moving, car ended up in a ditch, robbers still locked up..!!

[boldie]

LOL..  Know what you mean..!!

Last Saturday, friend of mine in Nottingham, house broken into, stole his laptop and car keys, stole his nice fast Audi RS6 as well...  Police caught the dumb bar stewards on monday night, still driving around in it..  Dont ask me how a police car could catch one of them cars..!!  Think they radioed ahead.  Seems the 2 robbers jumped out of it while it was still moving, car ended up in a ditch, robbers still locked up..!!

result for your mate if he got hsi stuff back and the car in in reasonable shape

[robyong]

Well I have not had much joy persuading the 3 casinos to withdraw their objections, unfortunatley it seems that they are going to go full steam ahead to try and block the club opening. "It's just business" is the feedback I am getting so I guess its just a case of rolling up our sleeves and preparing for a fight, hopefully a clean one. I keep getting whispers that the casinos believe they can get another adjournment, but my legal team are sure than this will not happen, as the courts have allocated a full 4 days for the hearing.

Wherever I go everyone is asking about Dusk Till Dawn, especially in Nottingham. Its been on TV, radio and in the local papers, although I seem to be getting misqouted quite a bit. I've tried to avoid doing interviews with the press, as I just want to focus on getting the hearing out of the way and getting the place open. Of course, there is a possibility that we may not be successful, but IMO I think we will get a positive result, and I think the casinos probably also believe their objections will be overuled.

Membership to Dusk Till Dawn is free (and their will be no door charges - we have decided against this in the end), if you plan on coming to club (even on a one off basis) please make sure that you have joined on www.dtdpoker.com, the more people that we have as members, the stronger our case will be in court. On successful opening, only members who have joined online will be allowed into the club, there will be no admittance on the door, or to guests. This is a criteria that we have agreed with the UK Gambling Commission and Nottingham Police, who want to ensure that we are a poker only club, not a general drinking establishment or night club. A lot of you guys want this to happen - so please help me by showing your support for the club!

If anybody wants to have a look around the club, please feel free, we have a site manager there from 8am to 5pm Mon-Fri, his name is Lee Scott, and if you mention you are from Blondepoker, I'm sure he'll let you have a look round. Construction has finished - so its safe!

When I think of all the comotion this place has caused, with the government bodies, the media and the casinos, I just can't help thinking that we have all lost a bit of perspective, its just a Poker Club, no big deal. Okay, its bigger than the average poker venue, but at the end of the day, its just a building on a retail park where people can come and play poker in nice surroundings. Its not like we are opening the first legalised brothel in the UK - that would be justifiably big news, I just think things have got way out of proportion.

When (if) we open, I reckon it may be a big anti-climax, and everyone will think "what was all the fuss about?" The casinos will continue business as usual and we will have a few good times at Dusk Till Dawn, life is not going to change that much for all of us! Poker players will still play poker at the casinos as well as Dusk Till Dawn, we will just be an additional venue, in a market that is already becoming flooded IMO.

From my personal point of view, I just want to get the place open and running properly and then intergrate it into my other businesses, get some "normality" back to my life, and play a few poker tournaments abroad. I dont want to build a "poker empire", I just want poker to be one of my businesses, and give some attention back to some of the others, since my only focus has been DTD for the last 2/3 years. I'm already tired of the poker business and I guess I have not even started in it yet! Its not a great industry IMO, everyone want something for nothing and there is so much legislation its tiresome. However, if we ever get to an opening night party, I think I will probably feel more refreshed........

Anyway, thanks for all your kinds PM's and emails, its much appreciated,

Cheers Rob

[Bongo]

Rob, is there anyway to check if you are already a member?

I think I signed up but I'm not 100% sure.

[Robert HM]

Rob, is there anyway to check if you are already a member?

I think I signed up but I'm not 100% sure.

Same here, I filled in a form, what seems like an age ago. Dont want to find out I wasnt a member come the date of the hearing.

[RichEO]

Rob, is there anyway to check if you are already a member?

I think I signed up but I'm not 100% sure.

I think I've signed up a couple of times... but also not certain