Poker in Athlone

brianmc

It is not an unusual occurence that I am stuck working in Athlone for a week.

In fact, it has happened as recently as this week.

I got a phonecall this evening to ask if I was going playing poker tonight... Obviously I can't as has been the case every night for the last ten or eleven weeks.

But this time I was given a glimmer of hope. I was told of recent rumours of a casino in Athlone.

Basic research uncovered the following thread...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054971748

And a quick search on goole maps pinpointed the location of "St. Mary's Square".

I've just been down there though and there seems to be a lot of holes where buildings used to be. More specifically despite walking every little alley and sidestreet off the Square I couldn't locate a casino.

Does anybody know? Is it real? Has anyone got first hand experience of this casino?

Do "phanton" or "TheJman" still exist? Do they know the answer?

TheJman

in the middle of the square there is a gap with a steepish hill about 10 metres in lenght. Walk down the hill and turn left - it isnt very well signposted or really look like anything is there at all - think there was a traffic stopper blocking the entrance. casino is there - played once cash games plenty of money floating around, and loose play .

brianmc

Wow! Isn't boards great!

I'll go look again! Thanks!

brianmc

I found it.

I entered St. Mary's Square from the East side. Facing me there was a church. On my right a construction site. On my left an old office building and a much older and more imposing parochial house. Between the old office building and the parochial house was a large pair of black iron gates lying open. I went through the gates and down a small cobbled hill. On my left appeared another gateway to what appeared to be a semi negelected rear carpark. Appearances were not deceiving. It WAS a semi neglected rear carpark. On turning left into the carpark I could see a white door bathed in a soft white light from the window above. To the left of the door was a brass plaque reading "Big Slick Card Club Athlone". I had found it.

All I need now is the secret knock...

The door was locked and the buzzer wasn't answered.

califano

brianmc wrote:

All I need now is the secret knock...

The door was locked and the buzzer wasn't answered.

lol this probably the funniest thread ive ever read:D

The descriptions!:)

Dub13

Sounds a bit like the Blue Oyster bar to me,let us know how you get on.

phanton

probably arrived down there too early - won't get going until about 10.pm

rivered

big slick card club in athlone

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texas holdem cash games available thursday thru to monday between 10 pm and 8 am theres usually three games going on with plenty of action also there is a 1000 game on monday nights 10/25 blinds and tournaments are about to start shortly but i will post another thread up when this happens.
if any one is intrested in coming along here are the contact details
Big slick card club, st marys sq. , athlone (behind the RTE studios)
0851018981 anthony young
anthony_young65@yahoo.co.uk

brianmc

I went down twice yesterday evening to no avail but rivered's post explains it all. And today is Thursday...

Thanks rivered. I'll probably head down and take a look later.

brianmc

6 Hours of play and I've got a handsome profit of €16.

Membership -€10
Playing €10 comp bet on roulette +€30
Tips for coffee -€4
6 hours of poker €0 (exactly)

The club - if you can find it - is a a little err... small. There are two rooms - one with three poker tables (and you can't fit more) and one with blackjack and roulette. That said it's friendly, the tables are decent, the cards and chips are decent and there's a planning application notice on the door for some renovations.

The game was €50 minimum, pot limit (or all-in at any time) with €1-€2 blinds and live straddles. It was a bit looser than the average Fitz game. The dealers as far as I could gather, all seem to be ex-Merrion.

Annoyances
- The dealers were good but a couple of times they were unsure as to what the house rule was in unusual circumstances.

-The main table wasn't really like a main table. With a full table of ten people two more turned up so rather than having them wait for a game, the last three players to join our game were moved to the other game (and consequently quite a bit of cash was moved off the table too). When the second game didn't really get going everyone was moved back to our table and then they realised they had 11 players so broke it into two games again and so on... the messing went on for about two hours with some players being moved over and back two or three times and the "main" game going from 10 handed to 6 handed to 11 handed and so on.

- It's ok to speak chinese between hands apparently.

- When I went to cash out the waitress was having a smoke in the office. So much for the smoking ban.

Anyhow - It was a cash game and it was friendly, lively, fun and potentially profitable - and it was in Athlone.

And I'm a picky fecker at the best of times anyway...

Macspower

I believe Lee and Sam from the merrion are working there now.

was just told that tonight. I presume it's the same place anyway..

brianmc

Macspower wrote:

I believe Lee and Sam from the merrion are working there now.

was just told that tonight. I presume it's the same place anyway..

Yep. Same place.

robinlacey

rivered wrote:

big slick card club in athlone

---

texas holdem cash games available thursday thru to monday between 10 pm and 8 am theres usually three games going on with plenty of action also there is a 1000 game on monday nights 10/25 blinds

do you mean a 1000 buyin game with 10/25 euro blinds?
if so is 1000 the max buyin?

sendic

brianmc wrote:

Playing €10 comp bet on roulette +€30

you should turn pro

brianmc

robinlacey wrote:

do you mean a 1000 buyin game with 10/25 euro blinds?
if so is 1000 the max buyin?

Some of the guys at the table were telling me about this game. €10-€25 blinds and €1000 min buy in. Some of these same guys play this game. Get a bankroll and get in there!

Glennfogarthy1

Just to update this forum a bit considering it's over 8 years old FFS there is a really good no limit Texas tournament at the Prince of Wales every Wednesday night at 9pm. I played there last night and it got 50 players with a top price of over €500. The staring stack is 20k with a 5k add on for €5. The banter there was great and there was at least 8 new faces last night. I'm posting here as a poker fan wanting a decent game for the town and I think this game could be great if we can continue to get big numbers. So if your a local poker shark or fish like me then head down to the Prince on Wednesday nights and see do you get lucky. I was a little intimated going in not knowing what to expect but what I got was a really good game with a decent structure, friendly atmosphere lots of banter and food also. All in all it wasn't a bad night and I recommend that poker fans players in Athlone really support this game and make it something. Btw I'm not in any way associated with the game or have any financial interest in it (I wish) just want to get a good poker game going in the town and see no reason why the game at the Prince can not be that

Glennfogarthy1

I forgot to mention the buy in is €30.