Belfast Cavendish Club Raided

itsyourround

As if bad beats weren't enough to cope with during a poker game guess what stumbled into my local poker room, the cavendish, in belfast, last saturday night. 35-40 of the psni's finest complete with megaphone and video cameras, riot gear and armed to the teeth, lifted everything that wasnt nailed down. Tournament was £220 20k guaranteed monthly special, over £35k in pot easy, took everything, we were all hoarded up like sheep, over 80 players and forced to show i.d and not allowed to leave premises for over 2 hours. Obviously that was the end of the game. Made the front page of the mirror 2day and has stories in numerous papers, absolutely disgraceful.

The club has always been above and beyond anywhere else, great friendly atmosphere, no alcohol served or allowed on premises, best poker you'll find, great range of tournaments, being open for quite a few years now and never had any problem with the police. Could be the end of poker in northern ireland for the forseeable future, very sad to say the least. Obviously belfast was crime free on the night in question, considering they were able to devote over 40 police officers and over 8 armoured vehicles for 5 hours :rolleyes:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=677523
http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/1/cavendish-club-raided.htm

roryc

what a joke...

Culchie

roryc wrote:

what a joke...

You wouldn't be trying to cheat and get to 1000 posts quicker than you should, would you?

roryc

no

roryc

why would I do that?

Dub13

There is a thread on this Here on Antes Up.

roryc

1000!!!!!!!!


I am King!

All Hail Rory!

Imposter

FS lads this is a serious matter will you at least keep quiet if you are not interested in discussing the subject of the thread.

I wonder what your reactions would be if it was the Fitz?

Dub13

Well done Rory.....are you aware of the custom on the Poker forum for members reaching the 1000 post....?

For anybody not aware you have to post a photo of yourself dressed as ginger spice.

itsyourround

Glad you're all taking it so serious! This is the only decent club in the north, if it closes it will be awful news for the poker community, imagine for one minute if there was only one decent club in dublin and it was subjected to the same treatment, how would you feel? Having to resign yourself to the thought of only ever playin while holding a frigging mouse.

roryc

oh right its serious day... bye now.

Hitman Actual

itsyourround wrote:

Glad you're all taking it so serious! This is the only decent club in the north, if it closes it will be awful news for the poker community, imagine for one minute if there was only one decent club in dublin and it was subjected to the same treatment, how would you feel? Having to resign yourself to the thought of only ever playin while holding a frigging mouse.

Shocking news, and most people on here are taking it very seriously, I guarantee. At the moment it's highly unlikely for something similar to happen in the south, but the fact of the matter is that casinos here operate in a similar grey area, so who knows what might happen in the future.

fixer

itsyourround wrote:

Glad you're all taking it so serious!

what exactly would you like us to do about it?

Culchie

Mia Culpa. sorry...Rory had posted twice "What a joke"

I think it is lousy as well, because with the 'All Ireland' approach being taken by the two governments at the moment, I can't see them having one rule for one juristiction, and one for the other.

RoundTower

This is terrible news, hope it re-opens soon. I had always assumed it was a licensed and regulated business, like casinos in England.

Does this mean all the Northern gamblers will be in the Fitz every weekend not just at the end of month?

amp

Heh, my first gig as a dealer was in the Cavandish. Sean looked after us too. Hope he doesn't get sent down

Marq

RoundTower wrote:

Does this mean all the Northern gamblers will be in the Fitz every weekend not just at the end of month?

The large silver lining on a rather bleak cloud.

shoutman

It would be an absolute disgrace for anyone to be imprisoned over running a card club. Last time I checked we weren't living in 1920's chicago. What harm are reputable card clubs doing to anyone? People have to realise that these arent run by mobsters. And i'm sure there is many a policeman who regularly plays in them.

Lafortezza

What's the legal side of running a card club in the North?
I had assumed it was something along the lines of the way it works in the Republic, private members club with nominal membership fee, and then you play some poker.

Technically could this happen in the Fitz/SE/Merrion?


And stop spamming the Poker forum with mindless shíte please, it's busy enough these days.

kpnuts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/radio/nolan/

cavendish club owner sean murphy on BBC NI radio show this morning... he's the first guest on the show, just after news, weather and traffic reports etc

Shortstack

We have a report up from Mick McCloskey here.

Doc Farrell

The Cavnedish Club have put up an online petition and are asking players to sign it. I don't know what good it'll do but I guess we oughta.

just go to thecavendishclub.com and its on the first page.

who exactly is behind these attacks on private card clubs in the UK/N.I? There must be a specific person in the government/police with a specific agenda.

kincsem

Doc Farrell wrote:

Who exactly is behind these attacks on private card clubs in the UK/N.I? There must be a specific person in the government/police with a specific agenda.

You get a percentage of the population that thinks everyone should sit at home with their arms folded because drinking, dancing, gambling are sinful.

The widely held belief that everyone who gambles is/will be a compulsive gambler and must be protected from themselves is a head-wrecker. Is it just me or does everyone hear about uncle Jimmy/Ned/Mick who lost it all (no figures ever supplied)?

I guess this will blow over after a few weeks. Public pressure will get them to backpedal on this.

It seems a bit pointless when half the country is logged on to internet poker sites.

Doc Farrell

Hi Sean,

what i'm wondering is who specifically in Northern Ireland told their cops to go in armed, in riot gear and to start confiscating money instead of using a more civilised approach, as they did with the Gutshot in the UK.

I have a feeling a powerful person in the NI police force with either strong (fundamentalist) anti-poker or strong anti Sean Murphy convictions decided on the tactics to be used on the night. It will be interesting to see how the court case unfolds.

btw i listened to the radio presenter and instead of using his intelligence to discuss the subject simply decided to develop an antagonistic/confrontational approach to a man who was still clearly shocked by the heavy handed nonsense. why are these jumped up media mouth pieces always such pompous knob jockies?

the days of quality incisive yet courteous professionalism developed by interviewers like Brian Farrell seem to be long gone, replaced by sordid shock jock confrontationalism. That may seem harsh but I hate to hear a clearly intelligent dj dumb down in order to caffeinate his story with a little sensationalism at the expense of his guests.

kincsem

I'm afraid "Lock, stock and two smoking barrells" glamourised the sport of poker, and gave the impression we are all armed to the teeth.

The public want their news spiced up a little, preferably with the facts removed.

Give us more "personalities" on TV ......... dancing, ice-skating, living in a house, living on an island, or in a jungle, losing weight, singing, cooking, changing their rooms, redesigning their gardens ..........

anything except ........

going outside and actively participating in something, anything.

Everybody needs a break,
Climb a mountain or jump in a lake.
Some head off to exotic places,
Others go to the Galway Races.
Mattie goes to the South of France,
Jim to the dogs, Peter to the dance.
A cousin of mine goes potholing,
A cousin of heres loves Joe Dolan.
Summer comes around each year,
We go there and they come here.
Some jet off to ... Frijiliana,
But I always go to Lisdoonvarna.


I feel a lot better now.

Doc Farrell

lol, we have a songwriter in our midsts!

from now on you have to post only in rhyming couplets!
very funny post.

hold on a minute! isn't that Christy Moore!

can't believe i only just got that!

Pokerevents

I think Sean may have a problem as he had gaming tables in the club. With regards to the actual tournaments He runs no sensible judge could outlaw this. I thought Sean came across well on the bbc radio interview. However he did state that the club take a percentage of the prizepool rather than a added advertised fee on top of the buy-in. I think this is the most factor towards getting it actually written in to the constitution that tournament poker is completely legal. Take another example like the national 5-a-sides soccer tournament. This yearly event charges a fee for each team with the winning team receiving a prize. Golf, bowling and many pastimes have similar structures. Why should tournament poker be viewed any different. One thing that will come out of this is the goverment will have to clearly address the situation, and publicy announce their stance.
I wish Sean all the best.

Doc Farrell

pasted from thecavendishclub.com front page:

Hi Folks,

Firstly many thanks for the messages of support we have received in person, by phone and by text during our trials and tribulations since the weekend.

As you know we were in court on the 31st of January to challenge the seizure of moneys removed from the Cavendish during our monthly special poker tournament.

After a long and hard battle with the Resident Magistrate Desmond Perry we were unable to convey to him that poker was a game of skill.

As the Resident Magistrate has deemed that poker is not a game of skill it is therefore illegal in Northern Ireland under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries act.

However this is not the end as we are considering an appeal, as I'm sure you will agree Texas Hold'em is one of the most skilful games around.

The up sheet of this decision is that all commercial poker in Northern Ireland is illegal.

On a positive note Mr Perry ordered that the money seized witch is the entrance fees paid by the players into the tournament is to be returned.

Our lawyers will endeavour to have the money returned from the police as soon as possible. When this is done we will post a notice on our website to let you know how we propose to return the money to the players in the tournament.

As poker in Northern Ireland is booming and we will not take this decision lying down I think our next step is to challenge the law, I hope that the other clubs in Northern Ireland together with the players will stand with us in our crusade to make the authorities see sense.

Poker tournaments are here to stay. Even in Northern Ireland the tide cannot be held back!

I will be on Radio Ulster between 8:00am and 9:00am on Wednesday 1st February, if any of you would like to express your views on air please call in.


Radio Ulster: 94.5 FM and 1341 Medium Wave, Satelite 868, Cable/Freeview Channel 89


Again many thanks for your messages of support. If you wish to register your support for the Cavendish to reopen soon please sign our online petition.

Sean Murphy.