Texas Hold 'Em on RCI Freedom of the Seas

[BeachyBrowns]

Hey everyone,

My wife and I are avid poker players, and we are about to set sail (on Sun 9/19/10) on the Freedom of the Seas. I've been poring over the forum for info on the structure and rake on FotS, but I have only been able to find outdated information. Can anyone tell me from recent experience what the rake is? Is it still uncapped? I will probably play anyway, but I hate the thought of donating that much money to the house.

Anyone else going on this cruise, come say hey!

[BeachyBrowns]

Hey everyone,

My wife and I are avid poker players, and we are about to set sail (on Sun 9/19/10) on the Freedom of the Seas. I've been poring over the forum for info on the structure and rake on FotS, but I have only been able to find outdated information. Can anyone tell me from recent experience what the rake is? Is it still uncapped? I will probably play anyway, but I hate the thought of donating that much money to the house.

Anyone else going on this cruise, come say hey!

 

It's a little late coming, but I'm replying to my own post.

Poker on FotS was a fish-fest, but the rake was ri-donk-ulous. 10% up to $15. You could see the money evaporating off the table. There was only one table, which surprised me for a ship that large, but it became apparent why: it was really hard to get a game going, even with that many people, because the casino was so inflexible with the structure and the rake. After 7 pm, it was 2/5 NL, $500 max buy, with that crazy rake. It made it really hard for some people to win money, which is what keeps them coming back. I understand that some people keep coming back a couple of times if they lose, but not over and over again. We asked them to keep it at 1/2, but they didn't budge. The casino would have made more money if they had made the game more attractive and kept the game alive longer. I would wager that I was one of maybe 2 people that made money playing poker on the ship. Not many people are going to outrun the rake.

[ComeSailAwayWitMe]

I just sailed in January on the Norwegian Pearl. What a dump of a casino first off. Who the hell puts a ship casino way downstairs hidden? I like crusie ships where the casino is directly right off the main deck atrium. But anyway, we only had a $1/$2 no limit structure. Every night we had the same ten to twelve people show up. We all bought in for around $100 to $150. The rake was 10% to $25 max. kinda crazy but oh well. The poor players took a bath day in, day out. One russian guy was literally the ATM. Better players perservered and came out ahead. Play wisely - play hard!

[krazy_dave]

Real late reply. Never played on a cruise, taking my first in December. I've played in underground clubs with an uncapped rake and made money. Just only play for the nuts and get the money in good