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

[TheChipPrince]

Rob,

If the case goes against you and the casino groups win, will you continue to run the online cardroom?

I hope so!

[robyong]

I have till the end of the week to supply evidence..........I tried sorting through this thread for all the support etc to give to the magistrates but it could be a bit confusing........please could you take the time to go to the link below and have YOUR say at DTD's hearing on the 24th September, positive or negaitive

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=26310.msg533358#msg533358

I could me the smallest of things that win this case, or lose it to the casinos........

Cheers Rob

[Jon MW]

I have till the end of the week to supply evidence..........I tried sorting through this thread for all the support etc to give to the magistrates but it could be a bit confusing........please could you take the time to go to the link below and have YOUR say at DTD's hearing on the 24th September, positive or negaitive

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=26310.msg533358#msg533358

I could me the smallest of things that win this case, or lose it to the casinos........

Cheers Rob

Is there going to be a similar thread on other poker fora?

[owen1923]

Rob,

I dont know you, and before reading this thread I had never come accross you before, and many of the leisure players are probably in the same boat as me. But I feel that all poker players what ever their standard, should now be supporting you.

The thread you have started, asking for our support or objections should be posted on all other uk forums, I have tried putting a post on another forum drawing peoples attention to the thread on this site, but it was removed by the mods, probably because it was an invitation to their members to visit a competitors site.

I wish you well with your endeavours Rob, and hope that the legal system does not let you down.

And hope to be playing in DTD sometime soon.

[dik9]

I have posted a please support thread on my forum, but everytime I link to blonde from mine, the members complain that as they are not members they cannot read or post, would it be possible for the admin to allow people to view the support thread and decide if they wish to join blonde to post their support?

[TightEnd]

This should be fixed tonight..it was a bi-product of the last forum upgrade to eliminate spam-bots....so dik9, the answer is yes.

[dik9]

Ty Sir Tighty

[dik9]

If you get your say in the court, surely asking any of their experts to explain HORSE or the rules of HORSE being as though it is the flagship event of the WSOP, and ask how many of their staff actually deal it, including LCI who are hosting the WSOPE, just for amusement purposes and to prove a point.

[CRIPPIN]

Ok Rob, great idea with the other thread, now you are thinking outside the box! It's what I was alluding to with my previous suggestion (about offering to having a  casino games restriction put on your licence) and without trying to be cocky I think that you are getting there.

Now, I've never been one to try and make friends with my opinions but i have another comment to make. If after reading this you think that I should butt out then please say so and I will take no offence so that said here goes:

I have seen the tone of previous threads and got the undertone of a couple of yours with regard to support from the poker community and certain parts of it and i truly believe that you, and many of your blinkered supporters, are asking a little too much. Now, up to this point I have probably got people hissing at me but I'll explain.

There is an established live poker community in the UK at the moment and it works very well. There are personalities and organisations making a living out of this, including those that you sponsor. I feel that it is rather harsh to expect others to boycott the established live poker stuff just because thay have an affinity to a new venture that may or may not take off.

I really do wish you the best of luck with this and I would love to come to your club for a night of poker. I can also see no reason why you should not be granted a licence, it will be a travesty of justice if that happens but unfortunately our legal system is living many centuries in the past. BUT, I don't think that we should all give up live poker just because of a legal injustice.

So best of luck to you, try to get the 'fluffy' stuff out of your mind and look from the outside in..you will get some inspiration to get the bastards. I look forward to a successful outcome.

[Woodsey]

Ok Rob, great idea with the other thread, now you are thinking outside the box! It's what I was alluding to with my previous suggestion (about offering to having a  casino games restriction put on your licence) and without trying to be cocky I think that you are getting there.

Now, I've never been one to try and make friends with my opinions but i have another comment to make. If after reading this you think that I should butt out then please say so and I will take no offence so that said here goes:

I have seen the tone of previous threads and got the undertone of a couple of yours with regard to support from the poker community and certain parts of it and i truly believe that you, and many of your blinkered supporters, are asking a little too much. Now, up to this point I have probably got people hissing at me but I'll explain.

There is an established live poker community in the UK at the moment and it works very well. There are personalities and organisations making a living out of this, including those that you sponsor. I feel that it is rather harsh to expect others to boycott the established live poker stuff just because thay have an affinity to a new venture that may or may not take off.

I really do wish you the best of luck with this and I would love to come to your club for a night of poker. I can also see no reason why you should not be granted a licence, it will be a travesty of justice if that happens but unfortunately our legal system is living many centuries in the past. BUT, I don't think that we should all give up live poker just because of a legal injustice.
So best of luck to you, try to get the 'fluffy' stuff out of your mind and look from the outside in..you will get some inspiration to get the bastards. I look forward to a successful outcome.

No-one is suggesting we should? its all about choice. But we all know that real poker players will go to DTD given the choice assuming it gets its licence because the casinos by and large are not the best option, although there are exceptions of course.

[Wardonkey]

No-one from DTD has ever advocated boycotting any of the established venues.

Rob has even stated that he would play at Grosvenor if he was not barred.

[CRIPPIN]

ok, knew it would go this way but:

Yep I agree no one from DTD has suggested that we boycott other stuff, but other contributers have.

And, my point about sponsers is very valid.

So, get behind the guy but don't get too involved.

[robyong]

ok, knew it would go this way but:

Yep I agree no one from DTD has suggested that we boycott other stuff, but other contributers have.

And, my point about sponsers is very valid.

So, get behind the guy but don't get too involved.

I certainly don't want anyone to boycott the casinos on my behalf, I would love to be able to play the GUPT's which by all accounts are great!

You refer to my "blinkered supporters". I would disagree with that, many of us (if not most) have been moaning on and on for years about the casinos having the monoploy on legal poker in the UK and how they treat us, I am putting my money where my mouth is and trying to do something about it and not for personally financial gain. I think people who choose to support me are spot on, 100% correct, and have their eyes wide open to the current situation, they are definatley not wearing "blinkers". If another person was doing what I am, I would give them my 100% support (and maybe I wish it was someone else lol).

The casinos made this into a fight, I wanted to have peace and love. Good luck to them.

[AdamM]

It was me who floated the idea of writng a few letters and cutting up a few membership cards. Rob certainly never encouraged it.

I felt a combination of my frustration at what I consider to be a poorly run card room at the gala and my annoyance that rather than try and keep my custom by offering the best service, Gala felt they had to try and keep my custom by shutting out the competition, meant I no longer felt I could be a member.

Not everyone agreed, which is fine, but I believe in a fair competition for my £££ and in the absence of one, I picked a side.

[robyong]

Well its been a hectic week (and plenty of last minute things for a change lol ) preparing our evidence for for the deadline of 14th August.

This is what happens now:

14th August - we send all DTD evidence for case to Gala, Stanley and LCI lawyers (ie. the objectors)

28th August - 2 weeks later - casinos send back their evidence against us

17th September - Magistrates see all evidence for the first time

24th - 27th September - the hearing takes place with all 4 parties putting forward their arguments (well 3 versus 1 lol)

Thanks you to all the people who have kindly posted on the thread   http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=26310.195   , although there a few comments on there that may upset the casinos, thats life, they have made the choice to try and stop a "poker only" club operating poker outside of a casino, so i won't sehd any tears lol

Our evidence is very strong in my view, here are some examples of what we will submit on the 14th August:

1. Letter from the Chariman of the UK Gambling Commission
(I am told this is the first time ever that the UK Gambling Commission has shown written support for any application)

2. Letters for the WPT and EPT explaining how the capacity at DTD makes major poker comps possible in the UK
(plus 5 other poker bodies inc APAT)

3. Another various 25 letters from the poker media (online and offline) supporting the demand for the club

4. Over 500 poker players responses in support of DTD (200 on the Blondepoker thread)

5. Over 5000 members who have already joined the club through http://www.dtdpoker.com/live/

6. Letters for TV companies wanting to use the club due to its, eg. Sunset & Vine

7. Key individuals' witness statements

Overall, I'm very happy with what we have done, the core DTD team have worked very hard in putting this together but I'm sure the objectors will have a field day in pulling it to bits, that's there, but hey, its just the truth that I am putting forward.

IMO there is without any shadow of a doubt sufficient additional demand for this venue and I am willing to fight hammer and tooth to make sure a common sense decision is made, even if it will be 3 of them against one of me.

I have diarised  to watch a few licencing cases up and down the country, I want to see how the legal teams of these casinos operate in the court room. I am aware of the barristers they will be using against us (slick, polished and very good at manipulation), but I think seeing these experts in action is a good idea before I have to get on the stand in front of them.

Roll on the day when we can all start talking a poker club that is actually open, instead of having to spend so much of our time justifying why we should be allowed to open........

thanks again for all your support, every post on the hearing thread helps me

Cheers Rob