Isle Casino Coventry. Rare Live Added Value

[Fluence]

If any one lives within an hours drive of Coventry and has not yet been to the Isle Casino (which is part of the new Coventry City football stadium, The Ricoh) may I suggest that you give it a try. M6 junc 3 is the easiest way to find it, you can actually see it from the motorway. It's fairly newish having opened not so long ago and although the poker room initially attracted large numbers they quickly fell away. Once it found it's, low level, the card room manager (Carl, who is young and keen) started making great efforts to promote it. They are one of the few casinos in the Midlands who give any added value at all. When I first went there I noticed that the cash game players were all being clocked in when they sat down! They were running a scheme whereby anyone who played 40 hours on the cash tables throughout the month was entered into a monthly free-roll with a £5,000 prize pool. The winner got £1,250. My own family situation means I only get to visit on a Friday evening so I was unable to qualify, but anyone going 2/3 nights a week was doing it easily. They were not taking any admin fees at first for the tournaments and now that they are, they are being given back to the players in the form of another great free-roll. This time with an estimated £10,000 jackpot. The current free-roll is a great success as it's being run on a league structure based on tournament success over a 12 week period. What I think is fair is that people like myself who only go 1 night a week can still qualify. You get one point for entering and if you make the final table you get extra points. 10th 2pts, 9th 3pts, 8th 4pts etc. The winner gets 15 & 2nd 10 points respectively. There is an overall league (no good for me) where the top 20 get automatic entry into the Grand final. Plus each night of the week has it's own individual league, with the top 10 getting into the Grand Final. So for me I'm only interested in the Friday night league. Anyone in the overall top 20 gets taken out of the individual nightly leagues and the remaining players get moved up, thereby guaranteeing 90 runners being able to qualify. With £10,000 at stake, since the league started no one does deals anymore at the final table. I made the final table last Friday and it got down to 6 players before anyone even asked what the prize money was! We were all more concerned with getting the points! Money usually works for me but it's strange how points, pride and bragging rights seem to make such a difference. There are only 2 weeks to go for qualification so from that point of view new players will not now be able to qualify, but I will definitely post when the next one is announced. So should you try the Isle? Well it has some very good points and some niggly bad points as well. Bad. Not enough dealers to run the tourneys without relying on players to deal some of the tables. Though they always provide a dealer for the final table. All cash tables have house dealers all the time though as they take a rake and this is where most of the money comes from. (Massive bad beat jackpot though, over £16,000 at present) Waitress service appalling. Though the players must take a large part of the blame for that. As the average age of the players in the card room is quite young they don't seem to know the etiquette where tipping waitresses is concerned. The tournament winner never leaves money for the girls whereas all other card rooms i play in they do. (Broadway, Walsall etc) It's no surprise then that they would rather stay out of the card room and get more tips in the main casino. The screens on the wall are not connected to the main tourney clock. They broke a while ago and have not been fixed, I particularly like to know how long is left on the blind level and chip averages etc. Dealers are mostly young and inexperienced though very pleasant & friendly. They need to take a bit more control of the cash games. The average age of the players is quite young and they all talk too much, often whispering what they passed or what they think someone might have. Friday evenings you get a few players who have had a bit too much to drink though the atmosphere is always fine, never any hint of trouble. I'm reliably informed that it does not happen on other nights, but on a Friday you get some who are new to the game but think for £20 I'll have a go. Good points. Numbers improving steadily. When I first started going about 6 months ago, 30 runners on a Friday was typical. It has gone up by a few each week ever since, and last week we had 87 starters. Other nights not so busy though. Standard of play lower than the Broadway (by some margin) is that a good or a bad thing? Some players don't like playing with idiots, I go a long way to find them. They all think they are Gus Hansons younger brother and though there are a handful of very good, tricky young players who are capable of making great moves, they just do them too often. Good points. On the whole although the average age of the players is young they are all friendly and it's easy to strike up a conversation at the table if that's your thing. It has the loosest low stakes cash game I've ever seen in a casino bar none. Blinds £1/2. Though on a Friday they have a 50p/£1 game for beginners as well. The first time I sat down in the £1/2 game I couldn't believe what i was seeing. On a 9 seat (all cash games 9 seat) table the first hand I was dealt I passed, but the other 8 players saw the flop un-rasied. I thought maybe that was a fluke so on the very next hand when someone raised in early position i thought to myself "that will sort the limpers out" he got 5 callers so 6 saw the flop! On a Friday they have as many as 4 or 5 cash games running at anyone time as there are so many players who want to play. No hourly rate which suits me, I can sit for ages and wait without having to pay anything but the blinds. They take a rake and an extra £1 from any pot over £10 for the bad beat jackpot. A good percentage of lady players in the comps and the cash games as they do try to encourage them and stamp on any male bad language etc. They did run a ladies only comp recently on a Wed. The casino itself is very impressive. It's over 100,000 sq feet, and would not look out of place in Vegas. Very high ceilings, light and bright, entertainment/ cabaret dancing girls etc. 2/3 bars restaurants etc The card room is big with plenty of room between the tables not some cramped afterthought. They could run a Virgin festival there or even an EPT if they had enough good dealers as the facilities are terrific. Check out the website and give it a try if your in the area. http://www.theislecoventry.com/casino-poker.aspx Tournament buy ins range from £10 - £50 with about a 50/50 split between re-buys and Double chance freeze outs. Schedule on the website.

[Valiant23]

Re: Isle Casino Coventry. Rare Live Added Value Nice write up Fluence. :ok I've never heard of this casino before, and the schedule looks affordable too. Unfortunately, for me to get there I'd have to go through Birmingham which (traffic wise) is a bit of a turn off. Thanks for sharing and if Pocket Lady and I decide to go we'll post up. :ok