Once a month we clear the room for a proper tournament, Thursdays we teach the game from the first hand, Fridays belong to vinyl and steak, and if you've got a crew, we'll deal a private poker night just for you.
Everything below happens in our poker room: real felt, real chips, a dealer who actually enjoys the job.
Our monthly poker tournament — hold'em, of course — is the one the regulars plan around. We deal from doors and play until there's one chair left; win it and your name joins the board by the bar. Some names up there have been dining out on it for years.
How poker night runs
Never played a hand of poker in your life? Thursday was invented for you. The dealer sits in and talks the whole table through every hand as it lands. There's no such thing as a stupid question at that table.
Half listening party, half grill night. Bring a record for the turntable, Chef fires a steak special, the bar pours a little slower, and the poker room stays open well past dessert.
Friday menu
Birthdays, work dos, the family that settles everything over cards: book the room and we supply the dealer, the chips and a proper feed from the kitchen. Your only job is bringing the people.
Enquire about a dateDifferent crowd, same shape. Whether it's tournament Saturday or a learner Thursday, an evening on our poker floor runs like this.
The room opens, seats get drawn and chips counted out. Grab a drink at the bar on the way in. You'll want it for the first bad beat.
The dealer calls it and the room goes quiet for about two hands. Then the talking starts, and it doesn't really stop until close.
No getting up for food. The kitchen sends plates straight to the tables. Order from your seat, eat one-handed, keep playing.
Tables merge as seats open up, the bar does its best trade, and somebody always swears the river card had it in for them. Usually the same somebody.
We call it, chips go back across the counter, and the handshakes happen at the door. Then we reset the room and do it all again.
Walked in not knowing a flush from a folding chair. The dealer ran our table all night and by ten o'clock I was explaining hands to the bloke next to me. Nobody made me feel daft once.
HPHannah P.
Oamaru
Twenty of us took the room for my 40th. Dinner up front, then our own dealer and three tables of poker for the rest of the night. Half my mates had never played, but by midnight they all thought they were experts. Easiest birthday I've ever organised, because I barely organised any of it.
DADave A.
Weston
I've played the monthly poker here for two years and I'm still not on that board. The steak keeps me coming back anyway.
TNTane N.
Palmerston
Every event on this page is strictly 18+. All our poker is social and played in person at the venue: real cards, real people, nothing online and nothing remote. Set yourself a limit before you sit down, treat the night as entertainment, and know when to stop. If the cards ever stop being fun, tell one of us. We'd rather help you find support than see you lose more than a good evening.
Bring ID if you're lucky enough to get asked. The dining room is all ages. Past the bar isn't, and we check.
Anything else, ring us; someone on shift picks up.
Poker seats go fast on tournament weekend, or skip the queue entirely and take the whole room for a night of your own.