London's newest casino opened on the 1st December atop one of the biggest new retail developments in the world, Westfield Stratford City, just opposite from the new 2012 Olympic Park featuring the Olympic Stadium and other facilities. If you have been to the Westfield Shepherds Bush then you will have a good idea of what to expect though here it has been taken up a level into a cathedral for rampant modern commercial capitalism. The main building is a long curve on 3 main levels. As well as that there is an extensive outdoor shopping area comprising several streets with huge numbers of eating venues and shops both gigantic and small. Even Liam Gallagher's 'Pretty Green' label has a whole store. Samsung have an electronics store so advanced it feels almost futuristic. I mentally rack up about ten places for a dinner shortlist before I give up counting. I am particularly taken by the Eastern Market food hall area indoors that has a selection of very artisan styled kiosks and eating areas. The whole thing sums up modern capitalist shopping very neatly, it is not about selling you goods, it is about selling you an entire lifestyle experience, even if only a very shallow one. I haven't found a shopping experience to be quite so overwhelming since stumbling through the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.
The Casino is accessed either from the outside by a lift or by escalator from the top floor of the mall, next to the Vue Cinema. It doesn't feel that much bigger than say the Empire or the Vic but it is a slightly more Vegas style operation than has previously been seen in this country. The casino is one large open plan space covering 65,000 square feet. It takes advantage of the new relaxed laws on slot machines to have a vast number of the shiniest Vegas monsters. I'm thankful that amongst the ones I began to loath during my three weeks in Vegas this Summer they left out the most annoying one, an insanely huge four seater Wizard of Oz machine that put me on insta-tilt every time I walked within ten metres of one. There are 40 croupier run gaming tables and dozens more electronic gaming tables. Of course should you actually use any of the above then you are clearly a mug, and judging by the vast numbers here throughout the evening they are around in abundance.
There is a large bar area in the centre of the casino floor and a separated area called the Sky Bar. The balcony from here offers an impressive view of the Olympic development. There was live music running for a good chunk of the evening. It is very next level in terms of technology, to deposit my bag and coat in the cloakroom they took my picture and an electronic scan of my index finger. I ate in the restaurant, a nice enough space, offering a range of Chinese dishes and a selection of grill based offerings. I ate a grilled sea bass fillet on a bed of spinach with chunky chips followed by cheesecake for a mere £15. A good quality meal for the price. Some of the staff seemed to be still be finding their feet which was a recurring theme throughout the evening.
The poker room is right at the back of the casino and has 15 tables. It is a very nice space with plenty of room. The staffing situation is not settled yet as the Duty Manager seemed stretched all evening leading to a number of frustrated customers. At peak there were 14 names on the cash game waiting list which was annoying when you consider that 6 tables were sat empty. Dealers were struggling to get their breaks and you could feel a little bit of frustration coming from the more experienced ones as to the different issues that were coming up. A lot of the dealers are brand new in the job and you need to keep an eye on some of them.
I played in the 7:30pm Friday tournament, a £75 freeze out of which £25 operates as a bounty leading to some interesting equity spots. The structure is not hideous but if you want more bang for your buck there is a deep stack on Sundays. 24 people buy in and I depart in about 12th spot having failed to get paid whenever I hit anything and end up shoving my short stack with A 3 into the uber nits in the blinds with A Ko and A Qo. There was one decent player there who I know plays the £5/10 cash game at the Palms but other than that the table was a mixture of TAGs and fish. I would expect some of the cheaper weekly tournaments to be massive value.
After busting out and waiting an age to get seated I settle in for an all night cash session from 10:30pm. The only game being spread was £1/1 with a maximum £250 sit down, the Duty Manager suggested they can run higher games but it depends on 'who is in the room'. He failed to offer to start a waiting list for a bigger game when I enquired about one which doesn't feel like great service. My table is okay, there are some very nitty players, one complete fish and several calling stations. I find my game hemmed in for much of the evening by a Russian who wasn't laying down top pair or middle pair for anyone. I clearly end up with a tight image as in one particularly sick hand I overbet raise the river with a straight, as I sense weakness but suspect a flush is out, and end up getting two players to fold out a flush; one even shows the 2nd nut flush face up. Boom. After finally nailing the Russian I am running £200 up on the session. It all goes downhill from there. I slowly bleed away as I get dealt A K after A K and fail to hit the flop every time after getting multiple callers. A number of odd players cause me some initial confusion until I get a handle on them and I end up paying off one of them with the bottom end of a straight. One very useful player turns up along with a guy with a monster stack from another table and my manoeuvring room continues to shrink. After another table break around the dreaded 4am two Eastern Europeans move over who just station me to death. After the one guy calls my 3 bets with 5 4o and 9 7o preflop and flops the world both times I am beginning to think I should have just bit the bullet with a taxi to Paddington 90 minutes earlier.
The final hand was particularly brutal. A live straddle was in play and the Fishman called. I raised pocket Aces to £12 and the Fishman calls. The flop comes A 3 4 rainbow. He checks, I bet half pot and he puts in a smallish checkraise. I know he is not doing this with a lone Ace or with air. This means he has either flopped a set of 3s or 4s, a straight, or some kind of dirty two pair combination. I consider getting it all in here as that would give me the best equity against the straight but don't won't to lose him if he decides to hero fold 3 4 to my tight image so flat the bet. He bets half pot on a brick on the turn and I raise him all in. He calls. The river is another brick. I show the top set and he turns over the 5 2 off-suite for the flopped straight. It must be nice to play so badly and to run so hot. I am feeling pretty jinxed in live poker games since the second week in Vegas and it shows no signs of letting up any time soon. Thankfully I have started the month strongly online and was able to cover the hit without it being quite as tilting as it could have been.
So if you want to take a trip I recommend having a look at the shops. The poker room has plus and minus points with many of the minuses likely to be resolved as things settle down. Drinks were a major negative for me, there were no free drinks offered at the poker tables and a small bottle of coke set me back £1.65. Bottles of beer seemed to be around the £3.90 region. There are only one set of toilets in the entire casino and they are tiltingly the furthest point away possible from the poker room. This is either very poor planning or a genius strategy to busto people like Beyne or Willie Tann. There is definitely value in the cash games but the games are playing small right now, with most of the fish being short stackers who are unwilling to rebuy. If they run any good poker series or special tournaments I might go back but otherwise I think I will be sticking to the more Paddington friendly Vic for the immediate future.
