Which ship has the best poker?

[shakes the clown]

Hi, I'm looking to take a cruise in December, most likely on Royal Carribean. My girifriend and I were leaning towards Freedom of the Seas.

 

But, we are both avid texas hold em players, tournys moreso than cash games. Does anyone know how the poker is on that ship and if they offer daily tournys?

 

If not, can you recommend some other ships for this purpose?

[grod19]

if you are looking for good games with skilled players good luck. Most of the cruises I have been on are filled with gamblers that just throw money around for no real reason. That can be very profittable or painful if the donkey has a good day fishing on the river.

 

I think it is fairly similar across the entire cruise ship fleet

[shakes the clown]

Yeah I can see where that would get really annoying. That's why I'd rather play a tourny cause at least there if you get screwed over you only lose your buy in.

 

 

What's this stuff I've been reading about the games being dealt on a machine as opposed to with dealers? Do you even get real cards or is it like playing video poker?

[grod19]

some ships use a system called poker pro, essentially all the work normally done by a dealer is done on the computer system. there are no chips or real cards just a bunch of people sitting around a table with a screen in front of them. All your action (bets folds etc) are done through this machine. Personally I HATE IT

[johneeo]

Hi, I'm looking to take a cruise in December, most likely on Royal Carribean. My girifriend and I were leaning towards Freedom of the Seas.

 

But, we are both avid texas hold em players, tournys moreso than cash games. Does anyone know how the poker is on that ship and if they offer daily tournys?

 

If not, can you recommend some other ships for this purpose?

 

In 2009 I was on the Explorer of the Seas. They had one Texas Hold em table. In general, the players were good. Of course, there were always a couple of them that had no idea what they were doing. They come in, lose, see ya.

 

They had tournaments every day, but literally, no one signed up, so there were zero tournaments on my cruise.

[cb at sea]

It's true...on cruises there are many more folks (than in most land-based casinos) who have NO idea what they're doing or why they're doing it. Basically, if you gamble on a ship, do it purely for the entertainment value. it's nothing like playing in Vegas or other "gambling" places!

[johnny tallentire]

Try oasis of the seas theyre doing a cruise in january totally dedicated to poker there will be thousands onboard with many tournaments being played i dont know the exact amount but i think its around £3000 english pounds for entry and cruise or you can get in on sattelites on www.ladbrokes.co.uk

[johnny tallentire]

check the website click on poker then click the win the holiday of a lifetime,and gl let me know anyone if your going ill be there :D

[goldwinger88]

The Pokerpro machines on most ships also has a big house cut per hand.

[BeachyBrowns]

Just got back from a 7-night Western Caribbean on the Freedom of the Seas. I played a ton of poker, as did about 10 other people (the regulars). There was very little interest in poker outside those few, so it was hard to get the game started. The casino staff was quite unhelpful in that regard.

Furthermore, the structure of the game does not lend itself to profitable experiences for the players (profitable for the house, yes). The game was 1/2 NL before 7 pm and 2/5 NL after. There was only a 1/2 game on sea days. Rake is an exorbitant but sadly common 10% up to $15. When you're playing 2/5 NL, pots can get pretty big, and you can almost see the money evaporating into thin air as the rake takes its toll. We estimated something like $200-$250 per hour, when you're playing 45-50 hands per hour.

I played on Carnival Sensation in February, and the rake there was 10% up to $7, which does make a noticeable difference. Couple that with the fact that the game was always 1/2 and never 2/5, and you get a lot more people interested in playing. We never had a problem getting a game going there. I think the reason for that is that people want to play with $50 or $100, not with $500 at a time; $100 can last you a while at a 1/2 game, but at a 2/5 game, you need more than $50 or $100 to absorb the fluctuations that come along with playing NL.

 

If anyone else has cruise ship poker experiences to share, I love to read about them.

[dren]

i have play'd on a few ships holland america had real dealers rccl real dealers and the q2 had the machine if you are willing to play tight you can really do well. The q2 with 1/2 no limit it amazed me how bad the players were they would buy these card and play like it was video poker never folding. That cruise i won enough to pay for the whole cruise. The Holland america there were about 12 good players on the whole boat the hardest thing was getting on the table wait could be up to an hour. That cruise the best thing was to get there early we had a late dinner so i would sit down at 3:30 play to eight you could not beleive how many people would play bad rush poker before they went to dinner loss 30 or 40 dollars and leave . I hit three days over 250 each day. But the night was a different story idiot drunks slow games and not being able to get anyone off a hands will lead to alot of bad beats idiots telling you how good they are enjoy the boat during that time.

[CubbyBear25]

You guys have done a great job of limiting my expectations for playing poker on the Adventure of the Seas next month. UGH!!!

[Elliot R]

I played most nights aboard the Solstice last Xmas. They used Pokerpro machines, set to high greed rakes. But that was a minor problem. With no live dealer to regulate behaviour, a few fights broke out over bad ettiquette, such as coaching, and speaking in other languages during the game. I felt it was really stupid of Celebrity to run a poker room that way. After all, dealers are fairly inexpensive.Can anyone tell me about poker on the Poesia? Its my next cruise.

[shakes the clown]

You guys have done a great job of limiting my expectations for playing poker on the Adventure of the Seas next month. UGH!!!

 

 

I just returned from a cruise on Adventure on the Seas and the poker ended up being great! First of all, they had LIVE DEALERS!!!!! The first night there I entered a $60 sit and go, we had 7 players and it was a joke. 1000 starting chips and the blinds went up every 10 minutes. Throw in a slow dealer and basically you had about 10 hands to double up or else you were basically done. Not coincidentally, that was the last sit and go anyone entered for the rest of the week.

 

The next day I played in the Royal Poker Tournament which is a $75 buy in with rebuys and an add on. The winner advanced to a final table where the prize was a free cruise next year on the Allure. A whopping 4 people signed up for the first one and i won it without using any rebuys or add ons. The rest of the week no one signed up. I became buddies with eveyrone in teh casino and on the last day they made a huge tongue in cheek presentation declaring me the RPT champ of the cruise and giving me a trophy and shirt as well as a cash prize of $300. $3000 was needed for the cruiise prize to be eligible.

 

But, the best part of the cruise was the cash games. It took me 2 days to get one going. Notice I didn't say the casino, I said me becaue I was the one who went out recruiting and rounding up players. We finally got a 1/2 game going and by the end of our first night of playing we had a waiting list and an audience of people watching. every night for the rest of the cruise we would get a game going at 9pm and go till they made us stop at 1:30-2am.

 

We had about 10-15 regulars and everyone knew each other by the end. It was very friendly and I made several good friends at the table who I plan to stay in contact with. It took a day or two to figure out who could play and who couldn't. First day I tried to buy some pots which was a big mistake because there are several donkeys who refuse to fold no matter what they have. First night I lost close to $100. Second night I was up $200 and then gave it all back on 2 hands to teh same guy. 3rd night I ended up winning about $100. And the 4th nigth I won $300. If the cruise had gone on a few more days I have no doubt I could've won enough to pay for my cruise.

 

Basically I learned that there was little point to raising pre flop unless you had a monster because you weren't gonna chase anyone anyway. Lots of limping and praying which ended up working out fine because even when you made the nuts there was still gonna be some donkey at the table who would call you down. once I figured this out it was easy pickings.

 

THe mood at the table was great all week, everyone got along and had fun. I ended up becoming good friends with a guy who played in the WSOP and he gave me lots of good pointers for live poker.

 

The only down side was that the game became SO friendly that by the end I lost a lot of value because I didn't want to take money from some of the people I really liked. I ended up checking down the nuts a few times because I didn't want to stick it to someone.

 

At one point one of my buddies went all in for about $150 pre-flop and another of our friends folded AK because he didn't want to take the guy's money.

 

But there were enough donkeys popping in and out that everyone was able to make money.

[shakes the clown]

forgot to mention the rake was 10% with a $10 cap.

 

And there were plenty of people making mistakes such as folding out of turn and there were also a ton of string bets that were disallowed. I lost $50 on a hand because some drunk idiot called my $50 and tried to string bet a $50 raise. He had a pair of 8s and I had a set of kings. he actually got mad at the dealer for this because he reasoned that I migth've folded to his raise lol. I told him I would've gotten rug burn from the felt trying to get my money in quick enough :)

[xerenthar]

10% up to 15? jesus.

[shakes the clown]

10% up to 15? jesus.

 

That's for the 2/5 game, its capped at $10 for the 1/2. And it only applies post flop.

[xerenthar]

10% up to 10 for 1/2 is still kind of awful. i'll report in what conquest's was.

[shakes the clown]

10% up to 10 for 1/2 is still kind of awful. i'll report in what conquest's was.

 

 

yeah, it is what it is. Captive audience and all. I still managed to do quite well at the table despite the rake.

 

The thing that will kill you more than the rake is all the calling stations on the table. Once you figure out that you really can't buy any pots its pretty easy to do well. Took me a couple sessions to fully grasp that.

[xerenthar]

yeah, that's something i need to remember - i love stealing pots. i also need to remember that it's +EV if as described here and on 2+2... some of these rivers make me go on life tilt :/

[shakes the clown]

yeah, that's something i need to remember - i love stealing pots. i also need to remember that it's +EV if as described here and on 2+2... some of these rivers make me go on life tilt :/

 

 

the fact that you know about 2+2 means you should do great on the ship. Here are a couple pointers I learned from my cruise...

 

-lots of calling stations so don't even think of trying to buy pots. You will get called down with anyone sporting bottom pair.

 

-unless you have a monster starting hand, its almost pointless to raise preflop if you are doing so to chase players from the hand. In a 1/2 game even if you raise to $10 you will still get several callers. I went with the limp and pray strategy which leads me to my next point. Case in point, I lost one hand with pocket aces because I raised 5x bb preflop and had a caller. Flop came out 8-3-3 so I bet it, figuring that no one with a 3 would've called my pre flop raise. Ended up losing to a guy who called my raise with 10-3. But it was suited, which became a running joke all week amongst the players at the table who knew what they were doing.

 

-unlike a real game, once you make the nuts or near nuts you can be guaranteed to have at least one caller no matter how much you bet.

 

 

My first night in the casino I lost about $100, each night after that I improved and brought in $300 on the last night and could've easily been alot more but I checked down several hands with friends of mine who I didn't want to take money from. Also lost out on $50 when some drunk idiot tried to string bet a $50 raise with a pair of 8s while I had a set of Kings.

 

 

Just be prepared to change up how you normally play is the best advice I can give you. The last night one of my friends lamented that she would've won a hand if she played her 9-5 and I told her that for $2 you might as well play 9-5 every time. To make a point, I played it the next time I got it and won a big pot with a straight. I played it 3 more times that night and won every time.

 

On the other hand, I lost every single hand all week where I had AK.

[CubbyBear25]

Shakes, thank you so much for providing the info you did. I had NO hope/expectation of playing with live dealers, and actual chips, which I would definitely prefer to PokerPro machines. I guess I'll be going around to recruit people to play cash games since I will be traveling alone and will definitely find myself playing poker until they kick us out.

[grod19]

Snakes - I am going to give you a free piece of advice, the minute you sit down at the poker table you have no friends. I dont care if your mother, gf, a midget, a starving child etc sits at the table with you, you are after their money. After you take it all and the game breaks up buy them a beer but during the game, they are just holding your money temporarily.

 

As for the game, I was on the explorer dec 10-19. I played about 3-4 nights and my finding were mixed. Some players were calling stations, some wanted to be your best friend, and some were flat out afraid of the game. There were all types in that game. As with any game you needed to figure out what your opponent was doing and react accordingly. I agree I was playing a lot of hands because so many people were limping/calling but it didn't change my strategy much post flop. I was able to muscle certain people out, give others enough rope to hang themselves, and confuse others. The only real speed bump I hit was when my boat ran into quads and even then I lost the minimum.

 

I didn't find the 1-2 game onboard to be any different then other 1-2 games I have played in AC/vegas, the rookies are easy to spot, there are some experienced players as well.

[Dowell_dl]

What's this stuff I've been reading about the games being dealt on a machine as opposed to with dealers? Do you even get real cards or is it like playing video poker?

 

 

PokerPro makes a table called Pokertek (or vice versa) = equals no dealer no cards but is a quality machine. The benefit is more hands per hour and no tip per hand. Some casinos in the US with small poker rooms have used/tried this system. For more info just google it. I actually like them but i do miss riffling chips.

Edited January 7, 2011 by Dowell_dl

[Bakdoc]

Cruised Oasis March 2010 and coming up 3/19/11 -- played every night on computer tables with a bunch of loose wealthy South Americans -- not great players -- think neighborhood game --rake is brutal 10% up to $15 -- really insurmountable unless game has fish who do not care about money -- luckily, that is often the case on a cruise! Like any game, bad players are unbluffable and you will suffer horrific beats but patience will be rewarded-- play strong hands strongly, forget fancy plays, and take advantage of the " any ace" syndrome.