Poker on a Cruise...
 

So...

I went on a cruise (Carnival Destiny) this past weekend and they had one of those Poker Pro machines on board. I am pretty sure I reviewed it when I first saw one on my first cruise (on the same ship, incidentally) four years ago.

I ended up playing 3 sessions of 1-1.5 hours each (all $1/$2 NL; $20-$200 buy in), and am happy to report that my winnings paid for the cruise. It was literally the single softest real money table I have ever played at in my entire life. In my 3 sessions, there was ONE player at ONE of them that I felt was good - not great by any means, but certainly good enough to beat the table easily in the long run while wearing his "I've got da nuts" tshirt. If you took like the 3rd or 4th worst player at the table (meaning there were far worse players) and put them at an online table a year ago, there would be 2 dozen people on the waiting list even if the rest of the table was full of pros. It was that bad.

People would stack off with 2nd pair on a 4 flush board. People would chase runners for gutshots. People would play a sick 100/0 (VPIP/PFR) style and often not even look at their cards until the flop. It was amazing.

Anyhoo, for you young guns with nothing but time on your hands out there, I'd highly recommend taking a long weekend cruise sometime and seeing how you do. If the games are always this soft, I suspect you could actually LIVE on a cruise ship for "free" if you were willing to play a basic ABC style a few hours per day.

Tempting.

The local "casino" at our horse race track is trying out one of these machines. I say "casino" because it's just slots. No table games. Originally it had to do with legislation but now I think it's just lack of space or something silly. Anyway, the article in the paper indicated it's a success and would likely be returning in the new year on a permanent basis. (trial is slated to end on Tuesday) I haven't been yet and likely won't get there but if I do manage to make it in the next two days I'll let you know what I think of it.

I had the same experience on my honeymoon cruise with softies. However, there weren't enough players for me to get enough hours in. What type of cruise was it?