2000 - Portsmouth has 4-5 casinos, 1 casino has a once weekly poker game, Thats it!!!
2006 - Now 1 casino has 3-4 times a week poker game, and the local snooker club has started throwing a game.
2007 - Some pub leagues have started up in a few pubs in the area
2008 - 3 or 4 snooker clubs are running occasional games, the pub games are getting popular, the casinos are starting to run tournaments regularly - our local poker casino now runs small tournaments each night.
2009 - 2 dedicated poker clubs have opened locally running small nightly tournaments, the snooker clubs now run a league with regular mid-sized cash mtts, the pub leagues are very popular with a choice of games each night, all local casinos are running poker tournaments and some cash games.
It is an interesting revolution. Poker winnings are NOT taxed in England so you can now make a good living just playing poker. The card rooms are still new and nowhere near as professional (or busy) as in California but I am sure they will grow over the coming years. The owner of Duffs is a nice guy and looks like he is committed to making it work but its tough work. He has to get players in the door to play but they wont come unless there are already players or big guarantees. if you offer big guarantees players will start to come but you will lose money over the first 6-12mths until you have enough regulars. I am convinced long-term the clubs will be amazingly busy and successful.
The skill level is lower locally but nationally I am sure it is on a par with America and may eventually overtake them. Poker is just so available - a lot of young players are going to play over there. In America its still somewhat exclusive to those who live near a casino or card-room. I think first-time players are somewhat intimidated in America when they enter a poker room but not so much in England. Especially if they play pub poker.
Pub poker is interesting. Initially it seems boring as you cannot win any money, but then you realise you can have a night out for a fairly low cost, playing a game you love and enjoying a social night with friends who also love the game. The competitive element is still there (both driven by the pub "league" and you ego on any individual night as you want to be known as the best or at least a good poker player). Often the league game is followed by a small (cheap) single table cash game which if you win it means you have had a night out for no cost. What could be better!!
I did not play any larger events out there but hope to next time. I am lucky my brothers both enjoy playing poker with me so there is plenty of opportunity. They have APAT events costing $100-$200 and GUKPT events costing $300-$1000 and the the EPT and WSOP Europe events costing several thousand pounds. So the opportunity is there to play at many price points not to mention travelling through Europe.
In fact when I got back to California I felt quite flat. For a good week or so I played very little poker as I will explain in my next post.
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