Poker in/near Reading

[goldgoat]

Hello all,

I live in Reading and wondered if anyone can advise the best, nearest places to play - i know Reading has casinos but don't know if they have poker or what the quality/frequency of games is? Not too familiar with playing 'live' games yet so where woul dbe a good place to start?

Cheers,
Goldgoat

[londonpokergirl]

the Sporting club in reading has poker, and also the Reading Rugby club has a poker game but not sure what days the poker are on

Have to admit that not been to play in Reading, we're in Slough and have our home game every friday night, but if we play live, then we go to Luton, the Vic or Rendevous Brighton

Hope its helped
Mel

[goldgoat]

Thanks very much, Mel.

Looking at the blonde website, there isn't any mention of Reading in the cardroom listings, which i suppose suggests either it isn't very good or doesn't operate very frequently. I phoned them and they seemed a bit clueless, so if they don't know what they have on, i sure as hell won't!!

I guess Southampton could be a good place to start as that's not too bad from Reading, and then venture into London when i've a bit of confidence. Sounds like you rate the Vic as your preferred London venue - any particular reason for that?

Sorry for all the questions- but it's all new to me so far after mostly playing online!

Cheers,
Mark

[londonpokergirl]

No probs Mark,  the Reading poker scene has only really popped up in the last couple of months.

The Sporting Club is a Stanley casino and has about 40 runners max, but when I went in to have a look
very badly run and no real idea of running a card room.  Rugby club haven't visited it yet

Grosvenor Southampton is a good card room, been there a few times for festivals, they had a great male masseur for the festival  

My choice of cardroom is actually the Rendevous Brighton,  everybodys really friendly, great atmosphere on any night you go down there, and you get plenty of chips with a good clock .    you'd like it down there

Gutshot in central london is right off the A40 but takes us normally about an hour plus to get there, and from my last visit there blind structure and chips were really bad and no play. IMHO if you're looking for good play then have a wander down to Brighton,   they have a superb restaurant aswell overlooking the harbour.

Also if you fancy coming to our home game before you hit a main casino we use the same rules as a casino and you'll learn quite a bit going from internet to live play.  It then makes it less daunting for you.  We also have a great crowd up to 18 people each friday for either 5 rebuy or 25 freezeout  and Jen who is doing reporting for Blondepoker is a regular to our game.  Its a very relaxed chatty atmosphere

[riverdave]

The game run at Reading Rugby Club on a Monday Night by Alan Rutter is a very good place for a beginner to start. The comp starts at 8pm and is a 20 rebuy getting on average 40-50+ runners every week starting chips of 1k and 25/50 blinds with a double addon available after 2 37.5 minute levels. In the freezeout period it's a 20 minute clock, and whilst not brilliant, its similar to your usual casino offering. First prize usually around the 1500 mark and pays last 9. It's a friendly and much more relaxed atmosphere than a casino but the correct rules are also in place to ensure fair play.

There are also usually 2 pot limit holdem cash games run as players start to drop out which are dealer dealt as is the final of the comp. Changing week to week the same is also offered on some other nights of the week particularly Thursdays depending on use of the clubhouse.

I attend fairly regularly and can thoroughly recommend it. Like Mel i have also been to the Stanleys in Caversham just the once and found it similar to her experience hence not been back!

[goldgoat]

Thanks Londonpokergirl and Riverdave for your comments and invitation! I'll hope to get along to Slough and also to the Rugby club at Reading as well.

Despite it being a very limited interest thread this one, i.e. me!, i'll just let everyone know that i was down at the Rivermead Casino at Reading last night and they are having qualifying games for the Poker Grand Prix to be played at Star City on 7th and 8th September. Tuesday nights are a 10 qualifier for the Thursday night 100 qualifier. Spoke to 'Mike' who seems to be in charge of the poker there and is trying to get it going although response has been slow so far. He also has a Wednesday night cash game running as well.

They seem to be committed to poker as they have taken out a bank of slot machines since i was last there to accommodate the 3 poker tables they now have, so will be interesting to se what develops. I'll be along there on Tuesday to try my hand at the 10 qualifier.

[tikay]

Good luck Goat, & let us know how you fare on Tuersday.

[goldgoat]

Cheers Tikay - badly probably but i live in hope. Will let you know how it goes. It was good to see someone in the casino with enthusiasm for it so i hope it gets up and running. Only 6 people registered for it so far (inlcuding me) so i might have a fair chance!!!!