Despite its impending court case London’s trail-blazing cardroom The Gutshot has opened a new 165-seat tournament room, cementing its place as one of Europe’s largest poker clubs.

The new room, which is adjacent to the original site on Clerkenwell Road in London, opened last month in a show of confidence as the club prepares to go to Crown Court to face charges of breaching the 1968 Gaming Act.

Packing ’em in

Gutshot manager Jim Banks confidently stated: ‘We want to fight our corner in the court case. We want to win and we’ve got a good case to go forward with. I think we’ve now got the biggest card club in Europe. We can sit a total of about 240 players on dealer tables and we’ll fill it up over the summer.’

The Gutshot, which has recruited 18,000 members since it opened its doors two years, has established itself on the international circuit to the extent that current world champ Joe Hachem made a surprise visit to the club last month.

Hachem was joined by his Main Event-winning predecessors Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker, and this comes on the back of both Phil Hellmuth and Phil Laak paying a visit while they were over from the States. If you want to show your support, make sure you sign up next time you’re in the capital.