The "VIC" grosvenor casino London

[machine]

Has anybody been here? i was wondering what the level of the 50p/£1 cash games was like?

If anybody has any reviews or comments id appreciate it.

thanks

machine

[Stelios]

Last time I was there was a year and a half ago. The only cash game that was going was a 3/3 PLH. They also had a list for 1/1 PLH. The 3/3 was pretty loose and most of the guys would buy in for 1,000 pounds and call you down with A high. It played like your typical 1/2 NLH game you would find here.

[Hairball]

I visited the Vic twice last October while vacationing in London. The lowest stakes NLHE game they were spreading was £1/2 and was self-dealt with a £5 (or was it £6) per half-hour time charge. The game was very much like the typical loose-passive $1/2 games you find in Atlantic City or Vegas.

I did run into a rules interpretation that took me by surprise. I was involved in a pot heads-up where I was check-raised. The raiser announced an amount that wasn't quite twice my bet. I counted down my stack and his raise amount had me covered. As I folded I casually mentioned that though his announced raise amount was insufficient, it didn't matter because the raise amount covered my stack. That's when the entire table told me I was wrong and that once the action was down to heads-up the requirement that a raise at least match the last bet amount no longer applied. One player went so far as tell me that my opponent could have raised just £1. Despite their insistence, not a single player ever made such a short raise.

[Paul Levy]

I'd say all games at the Vic are quite soft, but then it depends on what you compare them to. Their biggest game is normally £5-£5 pot limit, which plays very deep (like £2k average stack) but is still much softer than $2/$4 on stars. A few solid players, but they stand out like sore thumbs after 5 mins. Also, for a comparison, on my last Vegas trip I sat down at $5-$10 at Caesar's (comparable stakes to the games I play in London) and found it immensely more challenging than any game I've been involved in in London.

Beware the self dealt games, a lot of controversies ensue at those tables, there hardly goes a night without a lot of screaming and aggravation over whatever.
If you can afford sitting down with £600 and upwards and can manage the transition to a game where you just can't push out people preflop (and off flush draws post flop) the best value is the £3-£3 pot limit game (that one's got a dealer). You can sit down with as little as £100 (in London games are referred to by the size of their min buyins rather than the size of the blinds, so that's 'the £100 game') but I recommend against it, much better to pay a bit of cost of carry and see more flops so you can play for the whole stacks of the donks.

They sometimes manage to start a £1-£3 No LImit, but the crowd is usually younger and more savvy than at the Pot Limit tables.

Also bear in mind that they have a strict dress policy, you need to have a collar and semi-formal shoes.

[FISHOUTTAWATER]

I'm not sure how busy they are because they had some legal issues but on my last three trips I played exclusively at The Gutshot Club and the games were sweet. 2/5PLHE with deep stacks and a huge waiting list, people dying to get into a pot with a Yank. No reason to try and get fancy play ABC Poker and double your buy in before your second pint arrives. Do a quick google on the club, its in The East End a block away from the tube. Worth the trip and no dress code.