Despite recent newspaper reports declaring that the poker club Dusk Till Dawn may have to shut its doors within weeks, founder and owner Rob Yong has said that the club will continue to operate and there's no chance of it closing any time soon.  He also said that there are parties interested in buying out the club, so it's unlikely it would ever close even if he had to eventually leave the venture.

Here's the official press release:

OFFICIAL DTD PRESS RELEASE

Dear DTD Employees and Members,

Following on from some recent speculation, rumour and misquotes, I would like to make it absolutely crystal clear that there is no chance of us closing in the near future, or trading unlicensed to avoid paying higher taxes.
In reality, closing the doors would probably never happen, as a number of companies have registered an interest to acquire us, should we ever feel that the "struggle" gets too much!

When we chose to take the legal route by applying for a full casino license, we budgeted for all of the additional costs of operating legally, such as licensing fees, extra security measures and the employment of a dedicated compliance officer. Unfortunately, because we chose this path, we have recently become "caught in the crossfire" between the authorities and the casino industry. Consequently, we now face major tax increases in the form of;

1. VAT - this is now based on our total gaming area, so our 46 poker tables are treated exactly the same as having 46 roulette tables – now that is a super casino! Therefore, VAT is not reclaimable on almost all of our running costs, including any capital expenditure spent on the building.

2. Business Rates - these have literally gone through the roof and we are now paying the same rates as a 22,000sqft fully equipped casino. It has been indicated that this re-evaluation was prompted by another casino objecting to the level of rates that we were previously paying.

3.Gaming Duty - the appropriately nicknamed "Poker Tax" is now payable on all tournament registration fees and cash game charges, unlike a full casino, poker is 90% of our income and this new tax is applied to all of our poker revenues - whether we make a profit or not.

Despite these setbacks, it will still be "business as usual" at DTD; however, Nick and I will be considering the options as we move ahead. We also intend to consult our members and employees for their views at a future date. Thankfully we are in a good financial position, whereby there is no pressure to make any hasty decisions, but the reality is that we must address these significantly increased costs. Furthermore, we must also factor in the probability of more tax increases in the future, as the authorities continue to target the UK casino sector.

Cheers, Rob

PS. Last week's DTD Grand Slam overlays will have no effect on our future plans - at least the cash goes directly back into the poker community! I am certain that we will be more successful in the future. This was our first attempt and many venues would be pleased with a 194 field for a £1000k buy-in, especially taking into account the WSOP changed their dates and the market leading £1000 GUKPT took place just a week earlier.

This weekend sees the start of Season 3 of the APAT National series, with the UK Amateur Poker Championships taking place at the Grosvenor Casino in Walsall.

I'll be playing in this, and hopefully I can have a decent run.  Obviously Season 1 started out well for me, and I did OK in a few of the other events - but without a cash.  Then in Season 2, I managed a few Day 2s including a 10th place finish in the Irish National in Dublin (one off the final table unfortunately). In most of these events, I think I've played pretty good poker.  But that's not always enough (in fact, it rarely ever is).  You need to get the luck at the right time to help you through.

Of course, I always want to do well when I play poker - but the APAT events are more than just poker tournaments. I've made quite a few good friends through APAT, and as social occasions they are great fun.  They often end with a silly 'sit-n-go' game orchestrated by Rich 'TightEnd' Prew (the CEO of blondepoker and one of the management team at APAT).  There are rules to these games, but no one is sure what they are…

This weekend is going to be full of poker.  There are a few of us going over to DTD on Friday evening, and then onto Walsall on the Saturday.  Should be a good weekend - and a nice cash would be the icing on the cake.

It's still gambling though isn't it…

On a different, but related subject, I often find myself trying to explain to non-poker players why poker is different to the house games such as roulette or blackjack.  Also it's difficult to explain the effects of variance and that you can play 'perfect' poker and still end up down after a session due to a bad run of luck.  Anyway, James Atkin (a young professional poker player from Lincoln) has written a very succinct and accurate post on his blog entitled Taking the Gamble Out of Poker, that sums up a lot of what I find myself repeating.

It's worth a read.

SkyPoker have brought something new into the world of poker.  It's interactive TV - and despite the critics, it's working and it's making them money.  It's also bringing a lot of people into poker - and that can only be a good thing. 

The main show on SkyPoker is The Open, a multi-table tournament that's on most nights and people can play along at home whilst 'experts' in the studio comment on hands and studio guests also take part in the tournament.  I appeared on the show last year, and it was good fun.  The Open itself is a bit of a 'luckfest' - the blinds go up so quickly that you need a lot of luck to do well, and it's a format that suits the looser players (whereas my play is a lot tighter and favours a slower blind structure).

Anyway, SkyPoker have introduced different shows, with differing success.  One that has been introduced recently is Stacked Up.

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APAT are running another 'National' event in August, this time with the added twist of a Team Challenge element to it as well as the individual prizes (included the added value of a GUKPT seat & package for the winner, worth a few grand in itself).

For a bit of fun, BlueSQ who are the sponsors of APAT this season (it was PokerStars last season when I was lucky enough to win the English APAT event and a seat to the EPT in Copenhagen), have put a book on the individual players and the teams competing.

For some strange reason, I'm currently one of the second favourites at 66/1 - which isn't particularly good value.  There is some good value on some other players though, some who are sitting at 125/1.  An each-way bet is for anyone reaching the final table and pays 1/8 of the odds.

The odds are here.

I'm captain of the blondepoker team.  We're currently 3rd favourites and this might be a good bet, depending on how seriously we take the poker rather than enjoying ourselves in Blackpool! 

Since my first weekend at DTD that I wrote about a month back, I've been going every Friday evening to play on the cash tables.

I've been on a good run, and since the drop on the first night, I've managed to finish every session since then with at least twice as much as I sat down with.

Must say, I'm really enjoying playing live.  The banter is good and there are players who are easily parted with their money (as well as others who are an altogether tougher proposition).

Yesterday, I arrived at DTD at about 8:30, and their £75 freezeout tournament was in full swing, with about 80 runners.  I glance around to see who I know, and see Bev Pace (Women’s World Open champion, and long-suffering wife of comedian and poker fanatic Norman Pace) and say hello.  Also on her table is John Kalmar, or Skalie to his mates.  A good friend of the Pace's, but more well-known in poker for his 5th place finish in the main event of the WSOP last year, and a pay-day of $1,255,069.  I wonder if he was concerned about the £75 buy-in for last night's tournament…?  

I got myself a drink and changed a £100 into poker chips ready for the table that was about to be opened for a 50p/£1 cash game.

The table was good fun, with a few faces that are now becoming familar, as well as some new ones.  The banter at the table was excellent, and what was more important was that I was steadily growing my stack at the same time as having a laugh.

A young lad was sat immediately to my right.  It was immediately obvious that he was Bev and Norm's son.  Charlie's 18, and he was having a ball at his first visit to DTD.  He managed to recover from an early loss to be be in slight profit, but was more concerned about enjoying himself and getting his next drink! 

Not too much later, Bev sat at the table and joined in.  Having clashed with Bev across the table before I was well aware of the standard of her play, and would need to be on the ball if we clashed.  In the early hours of Saturday morning, Norm, their other son Liam, and Skalie reached the final table of the tournament and then when they were finished, they joined the 50p/£1 cash tables as well.  Liam joined our table, and with Kila (Mrs Kalmar) also at the table it had a 'home-game' feel about it.

I played till about 5am, and left with a decent profit, tired but looking forward to next week.  What a great way to spend an evening.

Whilst 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. 

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Dave Ulliott is one of the most successful British poker players of all time.  After spending his late teens and early twenties involved in crime, including two spells in prison, he moved away from that life and it was poker where he found his wealth and fame.

He won a WSOP bracelet in 1997 (one of the few Brits to have done that), and his appearances on the first series of Late Night Poker in 1999 (that he went on to win) were one of the reasons for the huge poker boom that has grown to the extent it has in the UK.  It was the first TV programme to use cameras to show the hole cards of the players, letting the viewer see what was previously hidden from them. 

He's well known for his nick-name, "Devilfish".   Which sounds pretty cool.  The story goes that it was given to him by Stephen Yeung at a game in Birmingham.  Dave himself tells the story like this:

"The Devilfish was given to me by a Chinese guy in Birmingham by the name of Stevie. This guy likened me to the Devilfish because I'm very aggressive and I give 'em the needle after I take the money off them. The Devilfish is the fish that only a few chefs can prepare - if they don't take the poison out right it'll kill you."

This is where I have to point something out.  I think Stevie might have made a mistake.

The name 'Devilfish' is actually incorrect.  The fish I guess he was meant to be named after is actually the puffer fish or blow fish, called fugu in Japanese. 

A devil fish is actually a genus of ray that is part of the family of eagle rays.  It's also the name given to some species of octopus in America.  I've searched all over the web to find other instances of fugu being referred to as a 'devil fish'.  I couldn't find any.

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