Well, this is different. Dusk Till Dawn is a specialist poker club, in a leisure complex about 2 or 3 miles outside of central Nottingham. It was set up a few years ago by a team of poker nuts who wanted to provide the sort of facility that they themselves wanted to play in, and by all accounts have delivered in spades, as it were.
Poker players are something of a breed apart. Overwhelmingly male – and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise might want to look at the cocktail waitresses in DTD, in tight T-shirts and tiny shorts – and generally, shall we say, quite demanding. It seems DTD ticks a lot of the boxes however, with high quality dealers, fantastic facilities and a final table set up for comfort and the TV cameras.
Everything is geared towards the poker fan, and consequently many of the bigger poker tours pass through this place, as well as the major events that they lay on themselves plus, of course, masses of events every day (except Monday and Tuesday – they’re closed). We visited on a rainy Thursday night, and there were two large tourneys on plus cash games starting pretty quickly after the 6.30pm opening time, I presume they go on all night but I took the huff after my Aces got cracked, and went home.
They offer other gaming too, with some rather old slots in the building and regular blackjack and roulette on offer – clearly aimed at bored players during breaks and after being knocked out. There’s also a rather pleasant bar area and plenty of sport on the many TVs, although I wouldn’t recommend it for a night out without any poker involved.
If you are a poker fan, however, you’ve simply got to go to DTD. Their reputation in the UK is top notch, and it’s now the only (legal) specialist poker club in the country. The atmosphere is electrifying, and the players are a real mix of genuine professionals and mugs who go along to take a look (like me). On the bigger occasions you’re sure to see some of the better known professional players, so load up, splash out on one of the bigger weekly comps and try your luck.
