Identity & contact
Core guest details
This may include your name, preferred name, contact number, email address, postal address, and, where supplied, your social media handle or messaging account details for reservations or enquiries.
Privacy & data protection
Privacy Policy for The Velvet Felt
This Privacy Policy explains how The Velvet Felt at Themar Bleparlour in Australia collects, uses, protects, and discloses your personal information when you visit our card room, dine at our grill, attend offline poker events, or interact with our website.
1. Privacy policy overview
Overview
This Privacy Policy sets out how The Velvet Felt at Themar Bleparlour ("The Velvet Felt", "we", "us", or "our") manages personal information in connection with our offline poker lounge, poker tables, Texas Hold'em tournaments, Pot-Limit Omaha nights, dining experiences, and related services across Australia.
We are committed to handling your personal information with care, discretion, and transparency. This policy covers information collected in our venue, over the phone, via email, through booking or enquiry forms on this website, and through our online marketing channels.
Scope of this policy
- Covers personal information relating to poker table bookings, Texas Hold'em tournaments, Pot-Limit Omaha events, high roller lounge reservations, and dining experiences.
- Applies to information you share with us in person, online, or via third-party booking and marketing platforms we use.
- Explains your rights under Australian privacy law and how to contact us about any privacy enquiry or complaint.
Key principles
- We only collect information that we reasonably need for our restaurant, bar, and social card room operations.
- We use your information primarily to manage bookings, host offline poker events, refine our guest experience, and, where you agree, share selected marketing updates.
- We implement technical and organisational safeguards designed to keep your information secure and confidential.
2. Data we collect
Personal information we may collect
We collect personal information that is reasonably necessary to deliver a seamless offline poker and dining experience, to manage your bookings, and to operate our venue safely and responsibly.
Bookings & events
Reservations & tournament data
This may include poker table bookings, preferred poker formats (such as Texas Hold'em tournaments or Pot-Limit Omaha), scheduled seating times, party size, special event notes, high roller lounge requests, and tournament chip buy-in preferences (measured in entry fee, chips, or points only).
Dining & experience
Preferences & requests
We may record your dining preferences, dietary requirements, favourite menu items, beverage choices, seating preferences (for example, table near the card room or in the main grill), and any accessibility requirements you share with us.
Venue standards
Age & venue compliance
As an 18+ social card room and licensed hospitality venue, we may confirm your age or identity details where required by law or venue policy. Where identification is viewed, we only record details necessary to meet licensing and compliance obligations.
Digital interactions
Website & device data
When you use this website, we may automatically receive information such as your IP address, device type, browser type, general location (such as city or region), pages visited, time on page, and interactions with booking or enquiry forms.
Marketing choices
Subscriptions & preferences
If you opt in to receive tournament updates, seasonal menus, or special high roller events, we may collect your communication preferences, subscription status, and record when you open or interact with our messages.
3. How we use your information
Purposes for handling personal information
We use your personal information strictly in connection with running our offline poker lounge, grill restaurant, and social card room operations, and to refine the guest experience we offer.
- Reservation and event management: to confirm and manage bookings for poker tables, Texas Hold'em tournaments, Pot-Limit Omaha sessions, dining reservations, private card rooms, and high roller lounge experiences.
- Operational communications: to contact you about waitlists, schedule changes, blind structure adjustments, chip stack allocations, or venue access information relevant to your visit.
- Customer experience and service quality: to tailor our hospitality, dining, and social poker offerings to your preferences, including menu recommendations, card room seating, and friendly dealer guidance.
- Tournament and leaderboard administration: to administer chip stacks, blind structure registrations, tournament buy-ins (measured in chips, points, or entry fee), leaderboard points, and chip leader acknowledgements, without any real-money or cash payouts.
- Venue safety and compliance: to meet hospitality, licensing, and responsible social play obligations, including verifying you meet our 18+ age requirement and managing incident or exclusion records where required.
- Marketing with your consent: to send you optional communications about upcoming offline poker events, new blind structures, seasonal menus, tasting dinners, social poker nights, or exclusive high roller evenings when you have chosen to receive these updates. You can opt out at any time.
- Analytics and improvements: to analyse how guests use our website and services so that we can refine navigation, booking flows, tournament information pages, and overall card room and restaurant offerings.
- Legal and administrative purposes: to address enquiries, handle complaints, enforce our Terms and Conditions, and comply with applicable Australian laws and regulatory requirements.
4. Protecting your information
How we safeguard your personal data
We apply a combination of technical, physical, and organisational measures designed to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
Security controls
- Use of secure systems and encryption technologies, where appropriate, to help protect booking information, tournament registrations, and communication records.
- Access controls so that only authorised staff and trusted service providers can access personal information required for their role.
- Regular review of our security practices in line with evolving hospitality and venue technology standards.
Retention & minimisation
- We only keep personal information for as long as it is reasonably required for our operations, legal obligations, or to resolve disputes.
- Where possible, we de-identify or aggregate data used for long-term analytics about offline poker attendance trends, chip stack preferences, or menu popularity.
- When information is no longer needed, we aim to securely destroy or de-identify it in line with reasonable industry practice.
5. Sharing personal data
When we share your information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share personal information with selected third parties where reasonably necessary to operate our venue, host offline poker events, and provide our services in compliance with Australian privacy law.
- Service providers: trusted providers that assist with reservations, ticketing or entry management, tournament registration platforms, website hosting, email delivery, SMS notifications, and venue management systems.
- Operational partners: where we collaborate with chefs, event partners, entertainment teams, or corporate hosts in delivering private card room events, we may share only the information necessary to manage your experience.
- Professional advisers: legal, accounting, or compliance advisers where reasonably required to manage risk, resolve disputes, or meet regulatory obligations.
- Regulators and law enforcement: where we are legally compelled or permitted under Australian law to share information with regulators, licensing bodies, or law enforcement agencies.
- Business changes: in the unlikely event of a restructure, merger, or change in venue management, personal information may be transferred as part of that process, subject to confidentiality and ongoing privacy protections.
Where we engage third parties to handle personal information, we aim to ensure they are bound by appropriate privacy and confidentiality obligations and that information is used only for agreed purposes related to our card room, tournaments, and hospitality services.
6. Cookies & web analytics
How we use cookies and analytics
Like most modern websites, we may use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience, understand how guests engage with our poker and dining content, and refine our digital presence.
Types of cookies
- Essential cookies: required to enable core site functionality such as secure navigation, booking or enquiry forms, and basic performance of our card room and menu pages.
- Performance and analytics cookies: used to understand how visitors move through the site, which Texas Hold'em tournament or menu pages are most viewed, and where we can improve clarity and usability.
- Preference cookies: used to remember certain choices, such as preferred language, cookie consent selections, or whether you have dismissed banners or notices.
Managing your preferences
- You can manage cookies through your browser settings, including blocking or deleting cookies. Please note that some website features may not function correctly without essential cookies.
- We may also use third-party analytics tools that set their own cookies. These tools generally collect aggregated data about site usage rather than identifying you personally.
- For more detail on cookies used on this site, including consent options, please review our Cookie Policy.
7. Third party links & social media
Links, platforms, and social channels
Our website and communications may contain links to third-party websites, booking platforms, or social media channels associated with The Velvet Felt.
These third-party sites and platforms operate independently of us and are responsible for their own privacy practices. When you click through to an external site or interact with social media pages (such as by liking, commenting, or sending a direct message), your information will be handled under that third party's privacy policy.
We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites or platforms you use in connection with The Velvet Felt, particularly where you share personal information for reservations, promotions, or social engagement.
8. Your rights & choices
Access, correction, and control
Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and associated Australian privacy principles, you have a range of rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you.
Your privacy rights
- Access: you may request access to personal information we hold about you, including booking history, tournament registrations, and communication records, subject to permitted legal exceptions.
- Correction: you may request that we correct or update inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information about you.
- Deletion: you may request that we delete certain personal information where it is no longer required for our operations or legal obligations, and where deletion is consistent with applicable law.
- Restriction and objection: you may request that we limit certain uses of your information, including for optional marketing communications.
Marketing choices
- You can opt out of marketing emails or SMS messages about offline poker events, high roller evenings, and dining experiences by using the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in the message.
- You may also contact us directly to update your communication preferences or to be removed from a particular mailing list.
- Operational messages about specific bookings, chip stack registrations, or tournament seating are considered essential service communications and will normally continue while your booking is active.
To exercise any of your privacy rights, please refer to the Contact Us About Privacy section below.
9. Policy updates & notifications
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may review and update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our offline poker and hospitality services, venue technology, or legal requirements in Australia.
- Any updated version of this policy will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.
- For significant changes that materially affect how we handle your personal information, we may take additional steps to bring the changes to your attention, such as notices on the website, in-venue signage, or direct communications where appropriate.
Your continued interaction with The Velvet Felt, including attending our card room, participating in Texas Hold'em tournaments or Pot-Limit Omaha nights, or dining with us after changes take effect, will be taken as acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.
10. Contact us about privacy
How to raise a privacy enquiry or complaint
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, would like to request access to or correction of your personal information, or wish to make a privacy complaint, we invite you to contact our designated privacy contact for The Velvet Felt.
Submit a privacy enquiry
View terms & conditions
When contacting us, please provide as much detail as you can about your interaction with The Velvet Felt (for example, approximate visit date, offline poker tournament or dining reservation, and contact details used) so that we can respond efficiently and discreetly.