Dealt games, and a poker circuit that outgrew its own building
The live tables are the reason the buildings exist. Grosvenor deals the standard British casino set — roulette, blackjack, poker — and its online arm has been described as hosting over 250 games spanning those classics through to modern slot styles and live-dealer tables. The part of this that is genuinely unusual is the poker. In March 2011 the chain announced a tournament called the Goliath, designed for up to 1,500 players, with an initial buy-in of £100 plus £20 and a guaranteed prize pool of £100,000, a quarter of the registration fee going to Marie Curie Cancer Care. By 2014 the Goliath drew 3,394 entrants and became the largest poker tournament ever held outside the United States. In April 2014 Grosvenor also announced a two-year partnership with Redtooth Poker, the pub poker organiser, folding its regional and national finals into the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour.
How a dealt game differs from a machine
If you have only played online, the floor runs on conventions that are not written on the table. These four are the ones people trip over, and none of them are brand-specific.
"No more bets" is a hard line
Once the dealer calls it, the bet is closed regardless of whether the ball has landed. Grosvenor installed software in November 2011 specifically to detect chips placed after that call.
The table is watched continuously
The 2011 system, built by Ipsotek, is tied to the CCTV cameras covering the table and looks for a specific cheat known as top-hatting — adding chips to a winning bet after the result is known.
Tournament poker is its own world
A buy-in tournament is not the same proposition as a cash table: your loss is bounded by the buy-in, the structure decides how long you last, and most entrants leave with nothing. That is the design, not a malfunction.
Stakes we cannot tell you
Minimum bets vary by venue, by table and by night. We have not observed any of them, so this site does not print them.
