Poker Tournaments Portsmouth
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This past weekend saw Redtooth Poker head to Portsmouth’s Grosvenor Casino for the second leg of it’s Redtooth Poker Tour (RPT). 116 players travelled down from all over the country to compete to win a trip to Las Vegas as part of the ‘VEGAS100’.
Here is my critical, yet honest review of the event. If you’re interested in reading about how I fared in the tournament, you can read about that in my blog.
Atmosphere
With it’s own Redtooth branded chips, Redtooth Dealers and Redtooth Host, the atmosphere at Redtooth Poker Events is second-to-none and last weekend was no different.
The atmosphere was warm, friendly and fun with Redtooth flying the flag for grassroots poker proudly and giving many players their first experience of playing poker in a casino through their affiliation with Grosvenor Casinos.
As well as new players, the RPT re-unites many players who have now become friends through Redtooth Poker and you could really feel that sense of community as you entered the card room.
Structure
For a £50 (+£3 booking fee) RPT Portsmouth offered a 15,000 starting stack, 30-minute clock and starting blind levels of 100/100. This differed slightly to the original structure with the 25/50 level being removed and players playing two consecutive 100/100 blind levels. This appeared to be for a matter of simplicity as the 25 and 50 chips would be removed after the first level of play. From a logistical standpoint, this makes complete sense. However, from a player standpoint, Redtooth need to be aware how a structural change affects play, for example, there is a big difference between a 300 big blind starting stack and a 150 big blind starting stack.
Next, I’d like to talk about the payout structure. This, for me, is where Redtooth need to up their game a little. For each of their live events that carry an entry fee, such the RPT or their ‘Big One,’ the payout structure is already pre-determined before the day of the tournament.
As you can see in the picture above of last weekend’s payout, they guaranteed a VEGAS100 Package for 1st (£1,200 approx. value) with £2,500 being split among the other 9 places. Firstly, that’s not even 10% of the field being paid and secondly, that’s £3,700 of the £5,800 collected from the 116 players being paid out. You can see where I’m going here…
The issue here for me is transparency. Whether it’s a poker tournament or out shopping, people like to know what they’re getting for their money. Redtooth has it’s own overheads and expenses just like any other poker company, however these do need to be expressed to the players when advertising a poker tournament, as is standard in the poker industry. By my calculations, the buy-in for RPT Portsmouth was in fact £32 + £18 (+£3 booking fee). For reference, that’s 56% rake (excluding booking fee) with £32 going in to the £3,700 prize pool and £18 going towards the running costs. But that’s not quite the full story. It would be unfair of me to leave you with those figures without telling you that all RPT events come with a buffet lunch which is put on by the casino that’ll I’ll generously value at £5 a head. So in fact you could say that the tournament was £32 + £13 (rake) + £5 (buffet) with a £3 booking fee. Still a high rake, but reasonable when comparing against previous events they’ve held plus staffing and event costs.
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Venue
Situated in the centre of Portsmouth, above the hustle and bustle of Gunwharf Quays Shopping Centre, lies Portsmouth’s Grosvenor Casino. Its a spacious, inviting casino with a good-sized card room tucked away at the rear. It’s placement in the heart of Portsmouth made it perfect for grabbing a coffee on the tournament break or even a little bit of shopping if you so wished. Definitely one of the more appealing locations for a casino!
Staff
THIS is where Redtooth Poker shine! Upon arrival at the casino, I was greeted with a warm smile and a handshake from Pete, one of the Redtooth Hosts. Now it may not seem like much, but to have someone greet you by name when you play 2, maybe 3 of their events a year, makes you feel immediately welcome – an absolute necessity if this if your first venture in to the live poker scene.
Then there were the Dealers! Redtooth Poker have taken a big step forward this year with their live events:they’re training and employing Redtooth Poker players to deal at their events. The Dealers were professional, good-humoured and fun – everything Redtooth try to embody and promote through their live events.
All in all, RPT Portsmouth was an absolute blast. Although I’ve been critical at times, I feel that Redtooth’s live events are improving year upon year and I look forward to seeing them grow. Where I have been critical, I’ve done so for the purpose of improving future events and the overall player experience. As an Event Business, I do feel that Redtooth need to tweak their approach towards their poker events just a little to ensure that they stay up to date with industry standards. They can do this through being more transparent with players about the buy-in, rake and prize pools of their events and giving themselves more flexibility on the day of the events themselves. Thanks for reading this review! If you enjoyed reading, why not give it a share on social media and check out my other reviews.