Whilst my gorgeous wife Michelle was away in Milan this weekend visiting a friend, I decided to take the opportunity to spend some time at Dusk Till Dawn, the new poker club in Nottingham (I've written about the idea behind DTD, but that was before it was finished and opened).  I've been a few times before, but as I was home alone, I decided I'd become nocturnal for the weekend and play a couple of decent sessions on the cash tables.

Dusk Till Dawn - The Club 

The Dusk Till Dawn poker club (DTD) was the brainchild of Rob Yong, and many poker players agree that it's the best poker room in Europe.  I don't have a great deal of experience playing live, so I'm not the best judge - but it's certainly a step up from any card room at any casino I've been to. 

Fortunately for me, DTD is in Rob's hometown of Nottingham, and so only half an hour from me.  Rob not only ploughed in millions of his own money into the club, he had to spend several years fighting the opposition to the club from several of the large casino chains.  You can read the story of how DTD came to be on Rob's thread on the blonde poker forum.  It's well worth a read.

But anyway, back to the card room itself. 

The Cardroom

The place is impressive.  You can tell straight away that not (m)any corners have been cut whilst kitting the place out.  It is a nice environment to spend an hour or two (or even 18 in my case over Friday and Saturday nights).

It's not just the tables, the quality of the cards and chips, the comfortable chairs or even the toilets that set it apart though. 

They've obviously spent a lot of time and thought on getting it right with the staff as well.  The dealers are excellent.  They're friendly, very competent at dealing (as you'd expect), and also consistent (again a result of the management's attention to detail, and the training the staff have had is noticeable).  Unlike card rooms at many casinos, every table whether it be a cash table or one in a tournament, is dealer-dealt.  At the end of the day you go to a card room to play poker, not to deal. 

Apparently Rob's a stickler for people sticking to the rules, and the rules are enforced firmly and fairly.  A pet peeve of mine is the use of mobile phones at the table.  This isn't allowed at DTD.  Neither is abusive behaviour, and I believe that a few people have already been escorted off the premises for abusing dealers or other players - and they won't be allowed back in.  This makes it a very nice place to be, and again it's not always the case in a card room - especially for newbies like me.

The food is excellent too - which is important when you're playing for 9 hours continuously…  The valet service is good, and the valets (all attractive and pleasant by the way) have PDAs on their arms to put through your order for food or drinks, which is a neat touch. 

The Poker

As well as daily tournaments (that start at 8pm on most days) there are always cash games on the go.  Like I mentioned earlier, I haven't played too much live poker, and when I have it's generally been tournaments.  Online I do play a fair few tournaments, but most of the time I play cash. 

I don't have a huge bankroll, and at many casinos the only cash games on offer are too rich for my meagre means, and I'm priced out of the game. 

At DTD they offer NLHE cash games starting at 50p/£1 blind levels with a minimum buy-in of £40 and a maximum of £100.  This is my sort of game.  For those with larger wallets, the game go up to a £5/5 dealer's choice game that gets quite lively.  In fact, there's also a VIP room at DTD, and I think the plan is for a high-roller's game to take place in there.  Bet they'll be some interesting games and pots in there.

I'll be sticking to my 50p/£1 game for the time being.

Cash games - Live Poker v Online

I've heard people talk about the difference between online and live poker before, and I've seen the difference in tournaments.  But I hadn't really appreciated the difference between online cash and live cash.  They're very different. 

Obviously, the biggest difference is that you see the other players.  I enjoy the banter at the table, trying to pick out tells your opponent is giving out and also trying to remain calm when you hit a monster hand or are making a bluff at a pot.

I'd say that on the whole, the standard of the live players at the level I was playing was lower than that of online players at the same buy-in level.  Of course, there are good players and bad, but overall the standard was lower.  People are far more willing to call away large amounts of their stack with a draw or something like middle pair - far more than online.  I try and play a fairly tight and aggressive game, but in these live games there are a lot of loose passive players.  This is excellent.  A loose aggressive player makes life difficult at the table, continuously keeping you under pressure and on your toes.  But many of the loose passive players I came up against I'd welcome to my table at any time. 

I adopted the line of trying to avoid getting into difficult situations with the better players, unless I knew I was well ahead in the hand.  It didn't always go according to plan though…

How it went…

Friday's session was one of those that didn't go according to plan.  Card dead and unable to pull any moves off successfully.  Then the night finished with the money going in whilst I was ahead, only for another player to hit his flush draw.  So although I'd enjoyed the evening, I was leaving a buy-in down.  Just one of those sessions.

Saturday started out the same way, and I was down half a buy-in after a few hours.  But then my luck turned, and I managed to win enough to see me in profit over the whole weekend.

I'll write about the some of the hands in detail in another post later on. 

As I drove home in the early hours of Sunday morning, I could reflect on an enjoyable weekend of poker buoyed by the winnings in my wallet.  DTD is definitely a cracking card room.  I can only wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a live game of poker in a safe and friendly environment.

As I was driving past the Ratcliffe power station, a Barn Owl flew along side the road near the car.  First one I've ever seen and I was surprised at how large it was.  It's a shame I had to concentrate on keeping the car on the road rather than watching the owl. 

Pretty tired now, and I know couldn't do the two poker sessions every weekend.  For one, Michelle wouldn't be happy, and I'm not sure I could handle the change in my sleeping pattern.  How do shift-workers manage that?  I guess the nights belong to the owls and the poker pros who don't have to get up to go to work early in the morning.

I'm looking forward to going back again soon though.