American going to England - Need Poker Advice
 

I'm going to be going on a trip to London over Thanksgiving weekend with my Dad. He doesn't play any poker, but he knows that I play quite a bit and offered to let me play at least one day if we get the chance. Our whole itinerary is still TBD, but I was wondering where some good poker rooms are in the London area? Are there any differences I should be aware of? I noticed from a quick search that some rooms may require jackets and my dad seems to think you need a membership to the casinos. Is this all true? Any advice would be great.

Also, I usually play 8/16 or 15/30 here in America. What limits in the UK translate to similar skill levels to those?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Re: American going to England - Need Poker Advice
 

If you're only in London for a few days why waste one of them playing poker when you can do that back home? Forget poker - the experience in a London cardroom will almost certainly be inferior.

Some ideas: St Pauls cathedral ... you can now go up right to the top (3 levels of stair climbing, not for the elderly), the British Museum, Jack-the-Ripper walking tour of the East End, Victora & Albert museum, river trip to Kew Gardens/Hampton court or, in the opposite direction, Greenwich and the Royal Observatory, Covent garden, Camden market, Charing cross road bookshops.

Re: American going to England - Need Poker Advice
 

Actually, I am curious about this as well. Work sends me to Amsterdam twice a year, but only the government sanctioned casinos have poker. There are 2 tables in all of Amsterdam! So, I'm looking at going to one of the surrounding countries and would prefer a cardroom that has english speaking dealers/floorpersons.

Re: American going to England - Need Poker Advice
 

You're going to play poker in Amsterdam with all the other...stuff...that there is to do there?

Re: American going to England - Need Poker Advice
 

I've played at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino and the gutshot card club in London. To play at the Grosvenor Victoria (like all casinos) you'll need to apply for membership 24 hours in advance (can apply via web or fax and then play on your first visit). The poker room at the vic is supposedly among the biggest in London but it's quite small by US standards; around 10 tables when I was there.

Games are primarily pot limit with omaha hi and holdem being the most popular. Limit holdem games were rare. Some low limit games (e.g. £1/£2 pot limit holdem) are self dealt. It seems that if a player is on a break another player can place a protector over his/her chips and play in the seat until the original player returns.

The gutshot card club apparently has a different license; I turned up and played the same day. It seems the games are very small at the gutshot; I was there on a weekday evening and they had one cash game (£1/£2 pot limit holdem) and maybe 25 tables (self-dealt) dedicated to a low buyin (around £10) tourney.

Dress standards at the gutshot were very casual and the vic was smart casual. The standard of play was not considerably better or worse than in the US.