London Poker Guide
Overview: The London Poker Scene
Think of London and you think of many places for a tourist to visit: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye, the Tower of London, The Thames River, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, The Globe, Harrods, wonderful theater, and extraordinary museums. Let me humbly suggest that you may wish to add one more item to that long list of things to do in this great British city: PLAY POKER!
Though generally not known for it, London has quite a robust poker scene, with eight regular public poker rooms scattered throughout the city’s old and new casino sites. They are each accessible by the excellent underground train system. I visited and played in six of them — and was duly impressed. This is the first article in a three-part series in which I’ll do my best to let you know what you can expect to find in each, so you can figure out which room best suits your poker playing desires.
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Poker rooms have changed since I first played in London 17 years ago. In those days, the casinos were viewed as private clubs. Players had to join at least 24 hours before they were allowed to play. And there were relatively strict dress codes. Today, with the exception of the upscale Palm Beach Casino, players can “join” upon entrance. And there are no serious dress codes (though shorts and tank tops are generally frowned upon).
There are two broad categories of poker rooms in London: the major “must visit” poker rooms that generally run 24 hours a day; and the minor rooms that only run in the evening. The former consist of: Aspers, Empire, Hippodrome, and The Poker Room at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino. The other places include: The Palm Beach in Mayfield, Grosvenor Leicester Square, The Genting Mint at Cromwell, and The Golden Horseshoe in Baywater. There are also some private gambling clubs that may spread poker from time to time, as well as pubs that have free tournaments, but I won’t be looking at any of those places in these columns.
Let’s start with London’s largest poker room, the Aspers.
Aspers Casino
With 36 poker tables, Aspers is recognized as the largest of the London poker rooms (followed closely by The Poker Room, formerly known as “The Vic”). It is located right near the Stratford underground stop. The Aspers poker room is inside of a modern casino that is itself located in an urban mall — surrounded by high-end stores, restaurants, and the like. The poker room, though nothing fancy, is perfectly adequate in all respects.
There are new tables that are very well lighted, with fairly new cards and chips. The chairs are just a step above banquet seating; and the televisions are generally visible but not overly large or numerous. There are very few player perquisites. Tap water is available. There is a poker menu that is half price for regular members. (There is a players reward program that players ascend based on their level of play and frequency of play. Poker players typically are on the lowest rung, though daily players may move up to higher categories.)
Aspers spreads three levels of no limit hold’em, with £1/2 being the most frequent. It’s what was being spread while I visited the room. There’s a £50 minimum and a £500 maximum buy-in, though they also allow players to buy in for 50% of the largest stack. They also regularly spread a smaller game — £1/1 no limit, as well as £2/5 no limit and £5/5 pot limit Omaha. £1/2 was the only game going during the four or so hours that I played on a Tuesday afternoon. The rake is fairly standard for London poker rooms. £1/2 games (and larger games) are raked at 5% up to a maximum of £10. The £1/2 game is raked at 10% up to a maximum of £5. No flop; no drop.
The room also regularly spreads tournaments. There are two daily tournaments, at 2pm and 8pm as well as larger monthly events associated with their online sponsors, 888poker. Check their website for time and buy-in, as these change regularly. One of their most recent monthly events had a £250 buy-in with £100,000 guarantee, that they “blew out of the water”.
Overall, Aspers is an excellent room, generally well run, if a little short on comps and niceties.
Aspers Casino Address: 312 Montifichet Road, The Loft, Stratford, London, UK; 4402085365630
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London Poker Guide Game
This is the second in a three-part series about poker in London. In my last article I wrote about the London poker scene in general, and then some specific information about the largest room, Aspers. This article will look at two of the other large rooms: The Hippodrome and The Empire.
Hippodrome Casino (PokerStars Live Poker Room)
The Hippodrome is an historic building in the heart of Leicester Square, at the intersection of Charing Cross Road and Cranbourn Street. Though the iconic building is brilliantly lit up with a huge neon sign, it would be easy to miss the poker room. It’s up on the 4th floor (with an overflow room on the third floor). The room itself is relatively modest, with just 13 tables, packed closely together on what would otherwise be considered a balcony in this grand old building, with a cavernous ceiling that is five stories high. If you have foreign currency you need to change it on the first floor. As is the case with all casinos that I visited in London, though the exchange rate is generally not as good as non-casinos like banks and money exchange kiosks located throughout the city, you will be able to change your pounds back into your local currency for the same rate as you bought your pounds.
The room’s bread and butter game is £1/2 no limit, with a £400 maximum buy-in. It is raked at 5% up to a max of £10 — the standard in London. They also spread a £2/5 game that runs chiefly on weekends. £5/10 runs “occasionally”; and has a time charge of £8 every 30 minutes. There is no high hand or bad beat jackpot. The comps are fairly generous, with players earning £.60 an hour, and with free soft drinks, coffee, and tea. There’s a reasonably priced poker room menu — with sandwiches, Indian, and Asian food. There are no regular tournaments, though the room spreads one every few months.
I visited the room several times. Though it purports to run games 24/7, there were no games running at 10:30 on Monday morning; two £1/2 games going at 2pm on Monday, four £1/2 games going on Sunday evening, three £1/2 games going on Tuesday afternoon, and six £1/2 games going on Tuesday and Wednesday night. I gathered from seven or so conversations with regulars, that the action is best on weekends and at night, with a demographic that is younger than the other rooms I visited. That being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t also share my impression, and that of others I spoke to about the room, that some of the staff seem to have an unhelpful arrogance about them that is unwelcoming and off putting. Even so, the PokerStars Live Poker Room at the Hippodrome is a comfortable, if crowded place to play, with decent game selection in the evening and on weekends.
The Empire Poker Room
The Empire is a nine table poker room right in Leicester Square, just down the block from Hippodrome. It’s on the bottom floor of a full-service casino. They had a £1/2 game going early on the Sunday morning that I visited, and five games going at the other two times I was there, later in the day. I was told that they rarely “go dark” with games going a full 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They rake their game as they do in the other London rooms: small games at 10% up to a £5 maximum; larger games at 5% up to a £10 max. They also advertise a PLO game raked at 5% up to £7, but though I visited the room five times, including a weekday evening, I did not see the game spread. They also run a small tournament at 2PM.
The room has a bad beat jackpot, for which they take out an additional pound when the pot reaches £2. It takes quads beaten to get it. They have another promotion that is funded by the house: If a player wins with a suited 5-6 (known as “The Empire hand”) they get a ticket good for a rake-free playing session. The room also serves free soft drinks, coffee and tea.
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I played and I watched play for six or so hours spread over three different sessions. From that limited sample I observed that this was generally a tougher room than the other London poker rooms, with a higher concentration of better, more aggressive players. Even so, the room was a very nice place to play, with an attentive and engaged floor staff.
Replay Poker London
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