(Cruise) Ship It! PokerPro Experience and More.

Posted by icemonkey9 on May 28, 2009 in 50nl, 6max, General, winner | 1 comment

On Sunday morning my wife and I set sail on the beautiful Fun Cruise Ship "Elation" on Carnival Cruises out of San Diego. The cruise was 4 nights and was absolutely awesome. We got a helluva deal because we got a "crappy" room that didn't have a window, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the room was conveniently located in the middle of the ship, and totally dark when the lights were out. Because of this dark environment, I never slept better! I also didn't get a claustrophobic feeling because the room was treated with a "fake window" so you still got the sense it wasn't like being stuck in a box.

I know, I know - get to the poker content already! Well, on this cruise ship they have a PokerPro Texas Hold'em poker table which I wrote about originally when we took this same cruise (different destination) in September. Overall it beat not having any poker table, but the poker being played was nothing short of horrible. This time around, I actually ran into people who had played poker before and they got their own side game going in the library using the casino chips and we played a 1-1 blind NL game with no rake. It was a friendly game and a lot of fun and I came away +$20 so that was cool.

The next day I ended up being super bored since my wife was layout out in the sun, so I sat down at the PokerPro table and waited about ... 45 minutes to see my first hand over Jx+. I realized that every time I sat at this table I was quiet, patient and extremely bored. In the typical homegame I'm usually the guy that's the "party animal" who talks a lot which actually gets me "friendly action" consistently when I have a big hand. So I decided to change my approach, to start kidding around and having fun, and man that certainly paid off. First, I started having fun. Then, when I did have a hand, the table felt like puddy in grasp. I played for about 1.5 hours and left up about +$100. Not bad considering the $7/hand rape (I mean RAKE). My favorite hand was the time (I had folded preflop) when there was $115 in the pot, someone when in for their last $20, and the villain with $6 behind folds "because it was just too much" at which point I practically shit myself at hearing such "sound poker" theory.

The next night my wife decided that a great way to wrap up our trip was to play poker together (after some serious partying at the jazz lounge's funk-soul live band concert). So of course, we sit down with 4 of the drunkest bastards I've ever played poker with and all were either in the military or were in active service. This means they were either bragging, fighting or drinking unfortunately. I had a bad feeling but my wife wanted to play (this is a VERY rare thing!) so we played.

For both my wife and I we folded a lot because we both noticed nobody folded ever. We're talking $25 preflop open raises at the $1-$2 table being called by at least 2 people. Craziness right? So I get dealt AQo and make a raise on the button and get two callers, pot is $20. Check-check to me, and I bet $15 and it's called by the small blind on a A-T-5 rainbow flop. Turn is a 9 of hearts for two-toned board and it's checked and I bet $30 and he flats. The river is a Q of hearts and the small blind open shoves for his remaining $40. WTF, seriously. Sickest card right? I hit top two pair at the river, but did this drunk idiot really catch runner-runner flush? He's shown down with mid pair. I have to call. I call. He shows 85 of hearts. Unreal.

I promptly steam. My eyes burn. I imagine him spontaneously combusting into flame. I do my best to sound probing and not pissy in asking him "I bet $15 on that flop and you called with bottom pair, how come?" and he says "Oh not sure, I'm kinda drunk. I guess that was stupid looking at it now." I nod, smile, and remember what Annie Duke said about playing with someone like this - just make them feel happy and comfortable in the game. Eventually, you'll get their money.

Fortunately I stuck around and promptly both my wife and I went on sick runs against our opponents. Long story short she shortstacked into the game for $50 and left with $145 and I not only won my stack back but left with about $40 more. All in all poker profited our little duo around $240 on the trip and ended up paying for all our excursion trips, tips, fees, shopping, drinks and more and we even had a little cash leftover.

Man I love poker