Rob Yong is one of the most recognisable figures in British poker - not primarily as a player, but as the entrepreneur who built Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) in Nottingham into Europe’s largest dedicated poker venue. A self-made businessman who left university after a single week, Yong spent years in recruitment and various business ventures before poker changed the course of his life.

The story of DTD’s founding has become something of a poker legend. Yong and his longtime friend and business partner Nick Whiten arrived one minute late to a local poker tournament and were turned away at the door. Rather than accept it, Yong decided to open his own room - one where that would never happen. Dusk Till Dawn opened in 2007 and has since hosted the World Poker Tour , WPT DeepStacks, partypoker LIVE festivals, and the WSOP Circuit, consistently drawing some of the largest fields in European live poker.

Business & Industry Impact

Beyond running DTD, Yong became a key partner and consultant for partypoker in 2014, helping shape the brand’s live tour strategy over a multi-year plan that repositioned partypoker LIVE as one of the major international circuits. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in the Industry category, a recognition of his contribution to growing the game in the UK and beyond.

Yong has never been shy about speaking his mind on the state of poker - player treatment, rake structures, and the responsibilities of operators are topics he has addressed publicly and repeatedly. That outspokenness, combined with a genuine passion for recreational players, has made him a respected and occasionally controversial voice in the community.

Tournament Record

Yong began playing live tournaments in 2004, initially at modest stakes in England. His first recorded cash was a sixth-place finish in a £500 PLO event at the European Poker Championships in London. He made steady progress over the following years, including a runner-up in a $1,000 NLHE event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio and a final table at EPT Dublin worth over $111,000.

His breakthrough as a tournament player came later in his career. A third-place finish at the Triton Poker Series Madrid in 2022 netted him over $180,000, and he finally claimed his first outright tournament victory at the Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party in Kyrenia later that same year, defeating WSOP Main Event Champion Espen Jorstad heads-up in a One Drop charity event to take $87,000. In 2025, he recorded his biggest single score - a fourth-place finish in an Onyx Super High Roller series event worth $856,000, pushing his career live earnings past the $3 million mark.

Cash Games & Live Streams

Yong’s natural home is the cash game table. He has been a regular in high-stakes live streams - featuring in Triton’s super high roller cash sessions alongside the likes of Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, and Bobby Baldwin - as well as Poker Night in America and partypoker’s Big Game series. One of his most talked-about moments came at MILLIONS North America, where he shipped a record-breaking $940,000 pot.

Watch: Rob Yong Interview

In this CardsChat podcast episode, Rob Yong sits down to talk about Dusk Till Dawn, his poker philosophy, partypoker LIVE, and what drives him as both a businessman and a player.