“Every night has a winner, nobody takes money home”
A chip tournament here is a long, friendly evening with a shared dinner, a draw for seats and a name on the board at the end. This is how it goes, step by step.
From the front desk to the final table
Put your name down
Ring, write or ask at the front desk. There is no entry fee and no cost, only a name and a number of seats to fill. Names are taken in order and a waiting list opens once a tournament is full.
Eat first
Dinner is served from half past five and we plan the tournament around it. Tournament guests are seated together when we can manage it, so the evening feels like one long table before it becomes a competition.
Check in by seven
The host ticks your name and checks your ID. A card is handed over with your table and seat number, and Noel Saunders explains the order of play for anyone who has not been here before.
Draw for seats
Seats are drawn from a hat, so friends are rarely together and nobody starts with an advantage. The draw is repeated whenever tables are combined, which keeps the mix lively and fair.
Receive your chips
Every player is handed the same stack of plain chips. They have no cash value, cannot be traded outside the room and are counted back in at the end of the night.
Play the first level
Levels run for twenty minutes. Blinds and antes rise at the sound of a small brass bell, which Lisa Rossi rings, and the dealer calls the new level out so no one is caught by surprise.
Take the break
After the third level there is a fifteen-minute break for tea, scones and stretching legs. Chips stay on the table, and the room is cleaned while you are away.
Tables combine
As players drop out, short tables are folded into the others and seats are drawn again. The room gets smaller, quieter and tenser, and whoever has gone out often stays to watch.
The final table
When six players remain they move to the main table under the brass lamp. Everyone else gathers behind the rail, and the room goes silent between hands.
Name on the board
The last player with chips is champion of the night. Their name is chalked on the board by the felt room door and kept for the season. There is no money, no prize and no certificate, just the applause.
Between tournaments
The board stays up all season, with the winners listed in the order they won. Anyone may ask Noel Saunders about past evenings, and old names are copied into the house book before the board is rubbed clean.
Count the chips back
Chips go back to their trays, cards are collected and the felt is brushed. Everyone is invited back to the hall for a last cup of tea before the lamps go out.
Tournament questions, answered
Is there really no entry fee?
None. A tournament here costs nothing to enter, no buy-in, no deposit and no add-on. Dinner is paid for separately if you choose to eat, and the chips you receive hold no value in or out of the building.
What do I win?
The honour of having your name chalked on the board as champion of the night. We keep a small silver cup on the shelf in the felt room, but it stays there, and it is polished by Louise on Mondays. Nobody has ever asked to take it home, and if they did the answer would be a very polite no.
What if I have never played?
Come anyway. Thursday's Omaha table is small, and Wednesday's blackjack is kind to beginners. Noel Saunders sits beside new players for the first level and answers questions in a low voice without stopping the game.
Rules for tournament tables
- Everyone starts with the same chips and the same seat draw, so no player has an advantage.
- If you leave the table, tell the dealer; a player away for three hands is blinded out.
- Chips stay on the felt; ask the dealer for change rather than reaching across the table.
- Cards and chips never leave the room, and phones are left in pockets while hands are played.
- Disputes go to the floor manager, whose decision on any ruling is final for the night.
- Players who go out are welcome to stay and watch from behind the rail, quietly.
- No betting or side wagers between players, in chips or otherwise.
- Anyone who is unkind to a dealer or another player is asked to leave the tournament.