The Vic: A Bit of History and What It Actually Is
Grosvenor Casino The Victoria stands on 150-162 Edgware Road, London W2 2DT. Doors never really close here, the venue trades around the clock every day of the year. Inside the building is its poker hub, officially named “The Poker Room”, but almost everyone in the UK poker scene just calls it The Vic. The nickname stuck long ago and hints at how deep it runs in London poker history as one of the longest continuously operating dedicated rooms in the country.
Poker activity at the property sits under land-based licences issued by the Gambling Commission of Great Britain (licence IDs 614, 33465, and 34161). In practice that means everything on the premises operates within UK casino regulations before you even take a seat.
Crucially, poker is not a bolt-on to the slot or table area here. It is the main attraction. Cash games are spread 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most traffic centres on Texas Hold’em and Omaha, with other variants appearing, and the stakes stretch from more modest levels for casual players through to bigger games that use fixed half-hourly seat charges instead of a capped rake.
Cash Games, Rake, and What You’ll Actually Pay
The Victoria poker room works with a published rake schedule that breaks things down by stake. No-limit hold’em starts at £1-£1 and steps up through £1-£2, £1-£3 and £2-£5 into higher territory. How you are charged depends on which table you pick.
| Stake Level | Rake Structure | Cap or Charge |
|---|---|---|
| NLH £1-£1 | 10% of pot | £5 cap per pot |
| NLH £1-£2 | 5% of pot | £10 cap per pot |
| NLH £1-£3 | 5% of pot | Published on official page |
| NLH £2-£5 | Fixed half-hourly charge | Per seat, per half hour |
| Higher stakes | Fixed half-hourly charge | Per seat, per half hour |
These numbers are not frozen in time. A player discussion thread from July 2026, for instance, mentioned a change at the £1-£2 tables, shifting the cap from £10 to £12 per pot, with some promotional deductions offsetting things in certain situations. The latest word always sits on thevic.com, so checking the current rake chart before turning up is more sensible than finding out when you are already playing.
Every table runs in British Pound Sterling. There is no remote “deposit” option in the online sense. Instead, you buy in using cash or chips on site, either directly at the table or via the main cage, depending on how the room is handling transactions that day.
Getting In: Registration and the Entry Process
Anyone visiting The Vic for the first time has to complete a simple membership registration before they are allowed onto the gaming floor. It is straightforward and can be handled on arrival, but it is still a step you need to factor in.
- Get yourself to 150-162 Edgware Road, London W2 2DT. Edgware Road, Marble Arch, and Paddington stations are all close enough to walk.
- Go straight to the reception desk at the main entrance.
- Present valid photo ID so staff can confirm your age. The minimum here is 18, and that rule is applied at the door every time.
- Fill out the same-day membership form - basic personal details, address, ID verification and similar information.
- Once processed, you receive membership confirmation that allows you through to the gaming floor and the poker room area.
- Follow the internal signs directing you up to The Poker Room.
- At the poker desk, ask to be put on a waiting list or sit down immediately if a seat is free. 8 : Swap your cash for chips either at the table or at the main cage, according to the house procedure on that shift.
Because the casino trades 24/7, this routine is the same whether you turn up in the middle of the afternoon or wander in at 3am.
One general bit of practicality applies here just as much as anywhere else. If you are going to a new poker room for the first time, a quick phone call before you set out to confirm which games are actually running and how long the lists are can save time. On busy evenings, queues for certain stakes at The Vic do get lengthy.
Tournaments and the Wider Poker Calendar
Over the years The Vic has been a regular stop for major live series. That includes long-running connections with the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) and, in earlier eras, festival events tied to the European Poker Tour. Today, tournament line-ups and special events are promoted through the GrosvenorPokerLive platform alongside the venue’s own social output.
On social media, the X account @ThePokerRoomUK presents itself as the official online presence of The Victoria Poker Room. Updates there tend to cover upcoming series, last-minute changes, extra cash tables put into play, and other schedule notes that help you get a feel for how busy the room is before you make the journey.
If you want exact buy-ins, blind timings, starting stacks, or festival dates, the live schedule is hosted on thevic.com and is also reachable from the Grosvenor Casinos poker room finder at grosvenorcasinos.com/poker/our-poker-rooms. Structures and formats fluctuate from one event to the next, so there is no single standard schedule that applies to everything here.