Five tables, seating up to nine players each, in a room in Koramangala, built for people who intend to still be here when the city has gone quiet.
01 · The light
Bright rooms are easy to photograph and difficult to sit in. Ours is lit low and warm, pooled over each table and dimmed everywhere else, so the felt is the brightest thing in your field of view and the hours stop announcing themselves.
You will not notice the lighting. That took a while.
02 · The sound
The walls and ceiling are treated so the room holds a hum rather than an echo. Two hundred people have never been in here at once and never will be. What that buys you is the ability to talk without being overheard, and to think without being interrupted.
03 · The seating
A poker chair is a piece of professional equipment that most rooms buy on price. Ours were chosen for the sixth hour: supported at the lower back, high enough to see the whole table, and heavy enough not to travel every time you lean in.
04 · The tables
Tournament-specification tables. Precision-crafted chips and branded plaques that stack cleanly, count quickly and feel like something. Rails you can rest on for an evening.
Equipment does not make a game good. Bad equipment absolutely makes it worse.
05 · The kitchen
There is no reason a good night should end because it became difficult to eat. Full kitchen, coffee and soft drinks around the clock, and table service that arrives without breaking the hand.
