Until a few years ago, the only place one could get a live game of poker in the UK was in a casino (unless you were connected well enough to know of a private game) and most of these didn't even have poker rooms. Just before the poker boom started, one of the big UK casino chains turned its back on poker and closed most of its cardrooms. One of the rooms to be closed was at a casino in Russell Square, London, leaving its regular players disenfranchised and looking for somewhere else to play. Disgruntled, they set up the Gutshot poker club, so the players could meet a few times a week in the upstairs room of a nearby pub to play their favourite game. The membership of this private club grew so much that the founders of the club decided to lease their own premises, open a bar and restaurant and run a 24-hour poker room with cash games and daily tournaments to suit all bankrolls. However, the legality of the club has always been questioned as UK gaming law states that poker games can only be run for profit in licensed venues, i.e. casinos. Three years later they have ended up in court and are fighting for their survival. Their defence is based on the premise that poker is a game of skill not luck, so it should be exempt from outdated gaming laws that seek to regulate other games of chance. Whether their defence will be successful or not remains to be seen, but they started a chain reaction and there are now numerous other poker clubs operating across the country, basing their right to exist on the same principle.
The future of most of these clubs lies in the balance, but one shrewd operator has gone through the correct legal channels in order to open up premises where poker can legally be played. This new venture is the Nottingham based Dusk 'Til Dawn club, being set up by local entrepreneur Rob Yong. Rob is a well know player on the UK poker circuit but he feels that offering poker in casinos alongside traditional house games like roulette and blackjack is detrimental to the poker economy and a danger to some players.
Unlike all the other poker clubs popping up in the UK, his club will be licensed as a casino but there will be no house games on offer. He is also opening an online poker room called dtdpoker.com.
Yong has assembled a crack team of pro players to help run and promote the club and website. These include Simon Trumper, one of the best known faces on the UK circuit and a final tablist in the $10,000 Omaha event at the 2005 WSOP; Simon Nowab and Paul Jackson, both runners up in the World Heads Up Championships over the past two years; Michael Greco, once famous for playing Beppe in the UK Soap Opera EastEnders, but now a pro player and Kevin O'Connell, one of the more established names on the UK circuit for over 20 years. There is apparently no truth in the rumour that Kevin, who loves Scotch whisky, was brought in primarily to seal a sponsorship deal with Johnny Walker Black Label. Another recent addition to the team is Dave 'El Blondie' Colcough, a previous European number one and one of the finest Omaha players ever to come out of the UK. The rumours are that the 500-seater club, which is due to open in spring 2007, will be playing host to some very big events and that established tours will be making pit stops there as a matter of course.
--------