I think its appropriate that I should make a post after we have finally opened. I am absolutely shattered as are all the
dtd staff who have worked so hard over the last 5 days, it has been exhausting starting at 6pm and not leaving till 8am for 5 days. I'm sure we'll get quicker at closing up!
We have all learnt more in the last 5 days than the last 3 years and I expect
dtd's policies and procedures to be tweaked over the coming weeks and months. I have been taking a close interest in everything going on and not afraid to change things, for example, on the first night the cash game rake was way above our expected amount/hr, so I decided to bring the rake down the next evening so it was in line with paying session fees at the Vic Club (adjusting for the London weighting). There were many other adjustments made over the last 5 days, many of them not visible to the customers. We have a huge snagging list to deal with, down to basic things we missed such as a sign to the smoking area - however, we will get better.
Overall, the opening week was a resounding success IMO. However, because it was invite only, it was easier to deal with any issues as I personally knew at least 90% of the customers. The real test will be opening our doors to the public this Thursday, who I am sure will be more critical of us. However, I know that the huge majority were very impressed with the Club and I do not have a clue how many people will visit us this week.
It was unfortunate that we had to bar 3 people over the first 4 days of opening, I certainly did not enjoy doing this, I gave everyone a fair chance no matter what the history was. I have read the thread regarding barring Ken from Gala Nottingham, it is
not true that he was escorted from the premises, but it is true he was subsequently barred. When people are barred, it is for life, there is no temporary barring at
dtd. Also, I think we are probably much stricter than most establishments, so if someone gets barred, they may not have done anything too serious. If we think
dtd will be a better place for our staff and our customers without a person visiting us, this is enough reason to barr someone from
dtd, I want to keep the atmosphere right and
dtd be a venue that I want to visit myself and that the members feel is their own club.
I had 100's of suggestions from players (as well as bad beat stories) over the last 4 days, I must have spoken to 300+ people myself for feedback. I know people are very enthusiastic about the club, but we are not going to get very ambitious over the next 6-12 months, we are going to take it slow and get more experience and more efficient. There is no rush to have huge comps and do deals with third parties to host their events, we will just focus on our club and the world outside those walls will not concern us. There will also be no rush to open more days, 4 days is enough for the foreseable future, me and my team want to enjoy this job, not be stressed out all the time, this is
not a business, its a pastime, and it will be managed accordingly. I certianly do not want to be an important person in the poker business world and I just want to enjoy hosting people who visit our club, I don't want to a hobby turning into a milestone around my neck again.
A lot of people were very upbeat about
dtd "beating the casinos", in fact, they actually really won, they delayed the opening as long as possible and tried to cripple me financially, that was their real target, I think they never thought they could prevent us from opening in the long term. Players can now choose where to play, some will prefer the free teas and coffees in the casinos' card rooms, subsidised by the table games, some will prefer to play in a venue such as
dtd. I have always said that
dtd and the Casino card rooms can co-exist, and I believe this to still be the case. We are not necessarily chasing the same customers and there are little similarities in our two products.
There is no doubt in my mind we have the best venue for poker in Europe and the European professional players that came over to see us also confirmed this opinion. A few people asked if they could play Backgammon at
dtd, they offered to pay a session fee, I said "no, we are a poker club only club and will stay that way". Some astute business people spent time telling me of the merits of putting roulette, blackjack and slots into
dtd, since our 1968 Licence has converted into a full 2005 Casino Licence with no restictions, they got the same answer, "no, we are a poker only club and will stay that way".
In summary, I am over the moon with the first 4 days of opening, and my staff have been brilliant as have nearly all of the customers. A job well done.
Cheers Rob