“Where we play”: the casino room
Four tables in a panelled room with tall windows, with play in person on chips of no value, in the old board room of the timber office.
“A room that was built for long meetings”
The casino room was built for meetings. When the timber company's directors assembled in the board room, they sat for hours, and the room was designed accordingly: tall windows for light, thick walls for quiet and a plaster ceiling that absorbs sound. All of this serves a card table remarkably well.
I mention it because many guests expect the room to be loud, and they are surprised by how calm it is. A roulette wheel can be heard turning from the far corner, and the clink of chips is the loudest thing in the room. Conversation takes place at the volume of a library, and nobody has ever needed to shout.
One practical point concerns the doors themselves. They are heavy, they are original and they close very quietly, which is why I ask guests not to prop them open. A room that was built for private meetings keeps its quiet only if the doors are shut, and the dealers can hear nothing beyond the hum of the heater when they are.
You enter through the double doors at the back of the dining room. I am generally standing nearby, and I shall show you to a table or, if all are in use, put your name on the list and bring you tea until a seat falls free. There is no charge to enter, and no obligation to play.
The room is open from half past six on the evenings that the lounge is open, and it closes with the house at half past ten. The last hand is dealt at ten. All guests must be 18 or over, and nothing in the room is played for money.
A few guests have asked whether the room is suitable for those who would rather watch than play. It is. There are six chairs along the window wall for exactly that purpose, with a small table for a pot of tea, and nobody is ever asked to take a seat at a table. Watching is a perfectly respectable way to spend an evening.
“Four tables, three games”
There is a single roulette wheel, set at the end of the room beneath a pendant lamp. It is a full-sized wheel with thirty-seven pockets, and Rachel Harvey spins it with a smooth, deliberate action. She calls each number clearly, and she has a habit of pausing for a fraction of a second as the ball slows, which some guests find agreeable and some find maddening.
The blackjack table seats five. The aim is to hold cards totalling closer to twenty-one than the dealer's, without going over. A printed card on the table sets out when to take another card and when to stand, and the dealer will gladly talk a beginner through the first few hands. Nobody is rushed, and the pace follows the slowest player.
The two poker tables seat six each. Texas Hold'em and Omaha are dealt on most evenings, and Seven Card Stud or Five Card Draw are offered when the table asks. Friday evening is given to the tournament, which is described on its own page and is played, like everything else, for no more than a name on the board.
Chips are issued at the door of the room and counted back at the end of the evening. They are house property, they have no cash value and they may not be taken out of the room, exchanged for goods or sold. The house has no pokies and no gaming machines, and there is nothing in the room that flashes, chimes or plays a tune.
A last word on the furniture. The panelling is messmate, cut from the forest to the north, and it has been oiled but never varnished. The chairs are modern but plain, chosen for the hours that a player might spend in them. The baize is green, as it ought to be.
If you would like to know more about the games themselves before you arrive, the tournament guide describes the Friday competition step by step, and the dealers will explain any game at any time. I would suggest that a beginner choose blackjack, which can be learned in a quarter of an hour, and let the rest follow in its own time.
- Roulette
- One wheel with thirty-seven pockets and a croupier
- Blackjack
- One table of five, with a printed guide to hand
- Poker
- Two tables of six, dealt in four forms
Inside the board room
