Poker on a cruise ship - short Trip Report

[jjp]

Just got back from a Carnival Cruise out of Galveston, TX. I know some people had wondered what kind of poker games are available so I figured I'd share.

This was a standard cruise, not a poker cruise. One poker table in the casino. First night it was LHE $3-$6. (First night they lowered all the table games to $3 minimum). The rest of the time it was $5-$10. Poker table didn't get started until after 8:00pm, sometimes later, usually broke up between 2 and 3AM. The table was always full (at least until 2AM) and at peak times after 10pm had a wait list of 3-5 players.

I played 4 nights, about 2 hours each night. Most players were loose passive, I only saw one hand get folded all the way to the blinds. The same 15 or so players were there over the course of the week, so you got to get a good read on them. Only a couple of them were what I would call good. Some players were drunk and would call anything. One guy called a bet on the river with pocket 2's with two pair on the board.
Value betting was key, because everyone would call down.
Dealers were surprisingly good, and one woman from Russia was smokin' hot - and a decent dealer. The one problem I had was they had an obnoxious and drunk player (spilling drinks, deliberately betting out of turn and overbetting, repeatedly lighting up cigarettes at the table) who they wouldn't kick out off the table. Maybe because it was the first night. I was about to leave the table because it wasn't fun with him around when his buddies finally dragged him away.

Made a little over $200, not a lot, but in a short time at the tables not horrible, considering I never saw pocket K's or A's.