Lesson #2

It's a mild, late Saturday evening at about 7PM and I am just about to take myself out to play a little more live poker. Friday and Saturdays are the best days to do this because you simply get more fish and chancers at the tables. One of the first decisions I have to make, even before leaving the house on these occasions, is which establishment to attend.

There are six main places to play cash game poker in London. Places on the outskirts exist, like Bluff @ The Mint (at South Kensington), The Western Club (at Acton) and Big Bluff (at Palmers Green), amongst an assortment of others, but these are relatively out-of-the-way places that often don't have cash games running and which are not within easy access of the main hub of places that exist in the centre.

In the centre you have (1) The Fox which caters mainly to the tournament player. This place has recently run more meaningful MTTs of between a £100-£250 buy-ins but they also have a full schedule of small buy-in tournies as well. They run cash games but mainly only £1/£1. (2) The Empire is the king of the cash games in central London which runs £1/£2 games and, more recently, a £2/£5 game that kicks off on a Friday or Saturday night if there is interest. (3) The Hippodrome, on Charing Cross Road, is a bit hit and miss but if you catch it on the right night can be busy and can have some terrible players at the tables. (4) Golden Nugget sits nearby these four and has a comparatively smaller room where a small tourney is held followed by a few £1/£1 cash game tables.

The Vic, in Edgware Road is a well-established venue where you'll get more choice of stakes and where you'll always get a game from £1/£1 up to £5/£10 and well beyond. It's reliable, the most spacious and comfortable and very well-run but a short trip out to Marble Arch Tube is required. Aspers in Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford is the last of the six. A longer journey right out to the end of the Jubilee Line is required but it's a new, comfortable venue that might be worthwhile if you need a change of scene. They mainly run £1/£1 games.

Lesson #2 - There are no "soft" venues.
Of these places, and based on my own experience, none can be said to be particularly "softer" than any other. Posters on the 2+2 forums often delight in telling you how X is ridiculously soft but in my experience table strength can vary wildly depending on who happens to be sitting down at the time. I've been at equally super-tough and super-soft tables at all venues; you can happen to have a table of sharks just as likely as a table of many casuals and drunken revellers out on the town for a good night.

That, then, is Lesson #2 that I give to y'all. However, the only comment I will make is that The Fox, being exclusively a "poker club" (and not open to those who wonder in from the blackjack and roulette tables), does tend to have more people who know their stuff. But again, this is only my experience and there are still some poor players who go there as well.