“Your first visit, answered”

Both, and the kitchen comes first. The dining room serves dinner from 5:30 pm, and the casino room behind it opens at seven with six tables and no machines. You can do either one or both, and most guests do both.

We recommend it, especially from Thursday to Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome when there is room, and the host will do her best, but the long room fills early on tournament nights. A booking also lets us note any allergies.

Eighteen. The whole building is for adults, including the dining room and the verandah. We check ID at the door for anyone who looks under twenty-five, and we make no exceptions for families or special occasions.

Any time from 5:30 pm. Most guests arrive between six and seven, which gives the kitchen a gentle start and leaves time before the long room opens. If you have a booking, please arrive within fifteen minutes of it.

Yes, up to 46, which is as many as the long room seats. For anything above about eight guests it's easier to ring Rachel on +61 2 6552 7391 than to type a long message. Private evenings on Monday and Tuesday have a page of their own.

Never. There's no minimum number of hands, no pressure to join in and no quiet disapproval if you only watch. Plenty of guests spend an evening with a pot of tea and the Friday final, and we're glad to have them.

No. The croupier hands you chips when you sit down and takes them back when you leave. Nothing is bought, sold or exchanged for them, and there are no entry fees and no prizes.

Please don't. The house supplies cards and chips and changes the decks often. A personal set slows the table down and invites arguments. If you love your own chips, they're welcome on the verandah.

No. There's no smoking or vaping anywhere inside the building. Smokers use the verandah, where there is a bench, a bin and a heater in the cooler months.

That's very common. The host will seat you at a table or at the servery end of the long room, whichever you prefer. Many of our regulars first came alone and now come with the same group every Friday.

Of the dining room, the food and your friends, yes. At the tables we ask you to keep cards out of the frame and to check with the host before photographing other guests.

Ring the house and tell Rachel. We hold a dinner table for fifteen minutes and a tournament seat until the list is drawn at a quarter to eight, so a short delay is fine. After that we'll do our best to find you a place, though we can't promise.

Yes, all the major cards, at the table or at the host's stand. In the long room nothing is paid for or taken, so there's nothing to settle there at the end of the night.

No. The soundtrack in the house is chips, cards and conversation, with a radio turned low in the kitchen. Guests tell us they enjoy being able to hear one another, and so do the croupiers.

The cloakroom is the first door on the right inside the front door. Hang your coat yourself and take a ticket; the host checks the cloakroom at closing, so nothing is left behind.

Dinner takes about an hour and a half, and most guests spend another two hours in the long room. Some stay for the last deal at 10:30 pm, and a few for the tea afterwards. Nobody keeps count.

The croupier tells you. Each table has its own croupier, who announces whose turn it is and nods at the player concerned. If you miss it, they repeat it, and nobody minds in the first hour.

The croupier explains it, everyone smiles, and play carries on. Everyone remembers their own first mistakes. Only repeated or deliberate rule-breaking is passed on to Colin Bailey.

Yes. Cards are shuffled at the table in full view, the wheel is checked every week and decks are changed regularly. Because the chips have no value, nobody has anything to gain from bending a rule.

They go back into the racks, counted by the croupier at each table. Chips never leave the room, and you aren't asked to hand anything in other than your seat.

Yes. The servery is at the far end of the long room, and a member of the team will bring tea or lemonade to your seat if you would rather not leave the table.

There are two armchairs at the end of the long room, near the servery, where the lamps are lower. They are first come, first served, but Rachel will keep them for anyone who asks politely.

Gladly. Tell Rachel when you book and Lucy will make a small cake or a pavlova to order. There are no songs or surprises unless you ask for them, and the croupiers are good at keeping a secret.

A kind word to the team is plenty. The best thanks is coming back and telling a friend. If you would like to do more, write a line in the guest book by the front door.