The Club is totally ripped out now and looks like a giant empty warehouse. Nick has chalked the floorplan out on the floor showing where the various rooms will be. As we make progress with the fit-out Lee has been taking photos every day so we have a record of each stage of development. This will be nice to look back on when it is complete. I have an appointment with the local newspaper, Nottingham Evening Post, tomorrow at 12pm, they want to run an article and take some pictures. We are getting a lot of request from the media, everyone seems very interested in what we are doing which is nice.
DTD is definatley for the serious poker player, live and online. Of course, recreational and beginner players will also be welcome, but the Club and Online will be geared towards genuine poker players. DTD is different to a casino, who want to attract the masses so they get more volume through their blackjack and roulette. Online sites such as William Hill and 888.com also benefit from attracting volume, providing additional income to their online sportbetting and online casino operations. DTD is just poker, so we are not going for the volume approach, it makes more sense for us to have less customers but provide a more personal service.
When people say to me " DTD is going to be a massive success, it will be packed", this is actually not what I want. I prefer to personally know every member and I want every member to feel like they are part of DTD, not like they are visiting a "megabowl" or "rileys snooker". Of course, if you spend a fortune on a club, get a 24hr drinking licence, serve nice food and provide great poker.............i'm sure it could be packed if marketed to the mass audience, but will it be the best environment for us? I would rather we had less customers but the right ones, and DTD is not like visiting a casino on a Friday or Saturday night. Of course, when we hold major festivals, of which we plan to have at least 3, DTD will be busy, but we will put extra resources in place for these events, so that the experience does not deteriorate for our members.
When I went to Amstserdamn it confirmed to me that I am doing the right thing, excluding roulette and blackjack etc from the club. The place was heaving with poker and casino players, and they "fitted" the poker tables around the gaming tables and machines. At DTD everyone will be poker players, members of the club, we will all know eachother, we will have plenty of space, we can play online while having a beer, we can discuss poker hands without the noise from the casino tables, we won't get our tournamant structures changed for TV, and we can play poker in high quality and comfortable surroundings. Every single tournament will either have money added or the prize pool guarenteed, and we'll provide whateverr cash games our members want. Keeping DTD exclusive to genuine poker players makes financial sense aswell, we can control our overheads and wages costs and have time to plan correctly for major festivals.
So many people have opinions on what you should do, "you should do this or do that". You might remember the infamous Harry Enfield charactor who always said "NO! you don't do it like that, you do it like this" (or words to that effect). DTD has been a bit like that, I have received so many pearls of wisdom. I always listen to genuine well meant advice, especially when it is from someome who I know has DTD's best interests at heart, this is how I have learnt loads of stuff over the years. Here are some quotes of some of the advice I won't be taking for self proclaimed experts:
1. "XXXX the Gaming Board, you don't need a license, they haven't closed my club, they have no power, just a bunch of pencil pushers" (a poker club owner)
2. "You can't charge a membership fee for the CLub, the casinos are free" (winning poker player who is broke due to Roulette)
3. "Why have you not sponsored me? You know me better that XXXX, I feel really let down" (poker player who I know ripped off his sponsor)
4. "You've employed a load of free loaders in DTD, they just want you for your money" (poker player who has owed me £5k for 2 years)
5. "I know you don't want to, but are mad not having casino games in the club" (75% of people)
6. "The online poker business is finished now amercians can't play" (UK person who rakes £5k per month)
7. "Why should I move sites? I'm on 40% rake back, best deal as I'm one of their biggest players" (online player who gets 40% of 50% Net Rake, therfore 20% of gross rake back)
8. "You a good friend of mine, so I'm going to to you a favour and let DTD invest in XXXX rather than lets the banks make money out of me" ( poker businessman who has had bank loan turned down)
9. "You should have had the DTD club in London, its easier for everyone to get to" (London poker player)
and the best till last......................
10. "You should sponsor XXXX, every site is after him, but I can talk to him and get him really cheap" (XXXX's mate)
Goodnight all. Rob
