'My cards-night for fifteen years was a kitchen table in Belgravia. The card-room here has the manners of that table and the service of a small Mayfair restaurant. Civil, attentive, never oily.'
Rufus P. · Member · Holland Park · since 2026
The Card Room
Four tables, six hosts.
The Card Room is the back-of-house room at Saspherton — deeper into the building than the bar, away from the Chiltern Street facade.
Four tables, six to nine guests each.
Four mahogany tables sit beneath brass library lamps in a long room with deep-forest panelling. Each table seats from six to nine guests, depending on the evening's format. The leather chairs are oxblood; the table-felt is a custom Marylebone-loomed wool blend that runs darker green than the panelling around it. Candles in silver-plate holders sit at each end of the table; the lamps above are dimmed to evening, never to dusk.
The room remembers the conversation of the evening before it remembers the play; the play is welcome, but it is not the whole of the company.
SASPHERTON HOUSE NOTE
The custom wool felt is loomed by a small Marylebone weaver; replacement bolts are kept in a steel chest beneath the floor of the lower stair. The brass lamps are pre-1939 originals from the Wallace-period auction rooms, retro-fitted with low-Kelvin LEDs in 2025 for the building's electrical certification.
Trained in Brussels.
The card hosts are trained at the European Card-Hosts Academy in Brussels — a four-month programme of twelve weeks of formal table instruction plus four weeks of evening hosting under supervision. The training covers etiquette at the table, the formal rules of no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha, wine-service basics for the table-side service rotation, and allergen handling for the table's small kitchen orders.
The card hosts know when to speak and when not to. I have been to clubs where the dealer chats over the action; not here.
REUBEN M. · MEMBER · PRIMROSE HILL
Helena Marchwood, our Card Room Director, completed the programme between 2018 and 2021 and was previously the head dealer at a private members' club in Knightsbridge. She is the salon's Designated Premises Supervisor and is named on Westminster Premises Licence WK/2026/03847.
What we play.
The Card Room's principal table-play formats are no-limit hold'em (the default at the Tuesday Card Evening and at the Hertford Deepstack), pot-limit Omaha (which runs alongside hold'em when demand exists), and a small fixed-limit programme. The Marylebone Quarterly Sitting includes one rotating fixed-limit Stud table per quarter; The Hedera Hour's format is set by the host of the evening, members' choice.
The Card Room is reservable for private card events of six guests or more. The kitchen serves the salon's standing menu, plus a small late-night programme of small plates that runs until 23:30 (00:30 on Friday and Saturday). The bar continues to last call.
Saspherton Klub evenings are members-only social card play. They are not gaming activities licensable under the Gambling Act 2005 — no money stakes are placed in exchange for participation, and prizes are exclusively in kind. The salon does not hold a Gambling Commission operating licence and does not offer any form of money-stake gaming. If you have any concerns about your gambling, please visit begambleaware.org or contact GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Voices from the Card Room.
'I was suspicious of the "no-money-stakes" framing — would the play feel deflated? It does not. The prizes are decent and the table is sober. The seriousness lives in the company, not in the chips.'
Susanna W. · Guest · Notting Hill · March 2026
'The card hosts know when to speak and when not to. I have been to clubs where the dealer chats over the action; not here. The Marylebone Quarterly Sitting in March was the cleanest game I've been at in London.'
Reuben M. · Member · Primrose Hill · since 2026
Four rhythms of card play.
Tuesday Card Evening
Tuesdays · 19:30 · max 36 guests
A weekly members' card-play evening. Welcome drink and plateau-share between two are included in the table fee. Card hosts present throughout. Prizes in kind.
Table fee £35
More about Tuesday Card Evening →The Hertford Deepstack
Last Friday monthly · 20:00 · max 48 guests
The monthly long-form sitting. Two-course set menu included. Beatrice pours wine flights for the deepstack tables; Helena directs play. First prize a magnum of English sparkling.
Table fee £85
More about The Hertford Deepstack →Marylebone Quarterly Sitting
Second Saturday quarterly · 15:00 · max 54 guests
Six tables of nine, mixed formats including a rotating fixed-limit Stud table. Three-course set menu plus a sommelier flight of three glasses. First prize a Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons weekend.
Table fee £160
More about the Marylebone Quarterly Sitting →The Hedera Hour
First Friday of even months · 20:30 · invitation-only
Twenty-four members across three tables. The host of the evening sets the format. The winner of each table is awarded a hand-engraved silver-plate token bearing the hedera and the date. Covered by the £1,800 annual Klub subscription.
Members' subscription £1,800/year
More about The Hedera Hour →Reserve a table in the Card Room.
For private card events of six or more, please indicate ‘Card Room’ in the reservation form's room-preference field.