Poker on Princess Cruises
Good news. Princess has added low limit poker to their casino line up. $2/$4, $3/$6 and $4/$8 are availible in theory. When the casino was busy there were usually two games of $2/$4 going on, but rarely anything else. This probably had a lot to do with the crowd on the ship. I don’t know what these people were doing, but they weren’t at the art auction and they weren’t at the beach and they definately weren’t gambling. A March, summer or holiday cruise I bet the place is hopping.
First day at sea, I sat down at the “how to play poker table” and took lessons. These lessons weren’t what to do, it was how the betting worked, how the button moved, etc. Basic stuff, but since it was my first time to play live for real money, I was happy to have the opportunity to sit down with some chips and have the house explain the rules.
There wasn’t much time to play poker. With only two days at sea, most of the daylight hours, the casino was shutdown and during those days I was expected to tan. Brook needs a tanning partner other than me if I am going to get much playing time in, or she is going to have to learn to play.
That said, after my lessons I played for about 90 minutes, down about $40 at one point, finished up $2 exactly and won 3 hands total, iirc. It was awesome to end the first session live up. I was incredibly nervous, my hands were constantly shaking, but other than that I played well. This was the first day at sea, and the rest of my day was booked with other goings on with the wife.
My next session was after an early departure from one of the stops had the casino open before dinner. After about two and a half hours I was down $55 and I believe I won one pot. After I was down about $25, I requested a table change and was denied after about an hour. They wanted to keep two tables going and I really feel at that point I should have gotten up and walked out. There were three or for large stacks at the table that had been playing all morning, and were deviding up the winnings between themselves, I was out of my league, and the table was averaging short handed at 6 or 7, which I have no experience playing. The table did finally break, but by then, I only have about 20 minutes to play. I was depressed after loosing, but in the grand scheme of things, $55 is nothing on a cruise and it was a great learning experience. This was the last cash game I played.
On the final day at sea, there was a limit tournament, $50+$10, 40 max players. Top four places paid, 40%, 25%, 15%, 10%. My goal was not to be first out. I knew I was in good shape, when on the first hand I held AQs and the second hand QQ, winning both pots in a very loose game. The hard part about this tournament, in my vast tournament experience, was the speed at which the limits increased. Starting with $400 in chips, the blinds were $10/$15 and they went up every 20 minutes. There was a lot more luck needed to stay in the game than skill. I was the big stack at the table after my first two big wins. I continued to play tight, and I don’t think I lost a hand in a showdown until the last two hands I played. Still, if I had not gotten a solid hand on a regular basis, or if I got sucked in with second best hand, I would have been out a lot earlier.
So I made it to the final table, and I was the chip leader or very close when I sat down. My first playable hand, and my first big mistake of the turnament was 88. The blinds are now 150/300, and everyone has really tightened up. I raise with 88, hoping to steal, and I got called by one. Heads up before the flop. The high card on the flop is a 10, and I bet, my opponent raise me and I raise her all in. There is now about 6k in the pot, and when I loose the hand to a pair of 10s, I am down to about $1200, and she is the new chip leader and goes on to finish second for $500. The very next hand is 99, I call to see the flop of high cards and fold. Down to $900, I am in the big blind for $300 and fold. Now the blinds go up $250/$500 and I am in the small blind for $250. It gets folded around to me and I raise all in, and the guy next too me only have me covered by a $25 so he calls too. We both have rags and he wins with a pair of sevens over my pair of outs.
I am out 8th out of 40 and absolutely thrilled with everything but not folding the 88s on the flop. The tournament was very fun, and I will definately be giving them a try online.