Quickest Way to Ruin a Vacation

[JoeU]

The family is going on a cruise in May. I found out there is poker on the ship (Carnival Miracle), which gives me an opportunity to recoup some of the cruise fare back (overeating being the other way to get my money's worth).

I also found out that the poker played on the ship is played on these:



Anyone have any experience with these? God I wish we were playing with real cards and real chips.

Joe

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
The family is going on a cruise in May. I found out there is poker on the ship (Carnival Miracle), which gives me an opportunity to recoup some of the cruise fare back (overeating being the other way to get my money's worth).

I also found out that the poker played on the ship is played on these:



Anyone have any experience with these? God I wish we were playing with real cards and real chips.

Joe

[/ QUOTE ]

There was quite a few discusions about these tables already, you can find those threads here. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Richter]

yep I was faced with the same situation when I went on a cruise last Christmas. I ended up not playing at all. I considered it but it didn't look too fun.

maybe they will go away if nobody plays them. so I won't.

[KidLifeCrisis]

The idea behind these is stupid, it destroys the fun that is poker IMO. I'm sure there's been plenty of discussion on these though, so I'll leave it at that.

[BigBuffet]

Just go the the blackjack pit. Have a dealer kick you in the balls, take your money and call it a day [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[MicroBob]

Is the rake less on those things?
Possible that it is. Not sure.

The rake on live-poker on cruise ships can be absolutely insane. And the dealers can be incredibly incompetent and slow.
If this speeds up the game and also has less rake you might be better off.
Of course, if nobody plays them because everyone is so turned-off by it then that other stuff doesn't really matter.

[Tuff_Fish]

[ QUOTE ]
Is the rake less on those things?
Possible that it is. Not sure.

The rake on live-poker on cruise ships can be absolutely insane. And the dealers can be incredibly incompetent and slow.
If this speeds up the game and also has less rake you might be better off.
Of course, if nobody plays them because everyone is so turned-off by it then that other stuff doesn't really matter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't know about rake, but the deal has to be way faster. You guys complaining sound like two old geezers in a cardroom complaining that things aren't just the way they always were.

I personally hope they catch on big time.

Tuff

[Howard Beale]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Is the rake less on those things?
Possible that it is. Not sure.

The rake on live-poker on cruise ships can be absolutely insane. And the dealers can be incredibly incompetent and slow.
If this speeds up the game and also has less rake you might be better off.
Of course, if nobody plays them because everyone is so turned-off by it then that other stuff doesn't really matter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't know about rake, but the deal has to be way faster. You guys complaining sound like two old geezers in a cardroom complaining that things aren't just the way they always were.

I personally hope they catch on big time.

Tuff

[/ QUOTE ]

The fear is that the games will no longer be good w/ these machines. There is a psychological factor involved. When there are big piles of chips on the table, when there are chips being thrown into the pot left and right, when the chips pile up in the middle of the table, THAT is when you've got a good game. THAT is when many people put their 'let's gamble' hat on. It's the reason that a 4chip/8chip game is much better than a 2chip/4chip game. I've noticed another thing: One of the things that tilts players is that, when they're losing and their chip stacks look puny, they feel inferior and that their status has been damaged. This often leads to re-buy after re-buy and more bad play to try to re-establish themselves in the group. You want to mess w/ that? Furthermore, players like the experience of handling the cards and chips. It's one of the reasons they come to play. A steril number indicating the size of the pot on a screen probably won't be satisfying to the recreational players. Further,furthermore there are who knows how many players that will start to blame their losing on 'the computer' and start thinking all sorts of conspiracy things. If these tables are action killers they will ruin poker. It remains to be seen.

Personally, I think they MIGHT work in the limited environment of a cruise ship or a very small casino that wants to have some 'poker' for very low stakes. I don't think the people you want to play against are going to play them for high stakes.

[MicroBob]

they have these at the dog-track in Arkansas just across the river from Memphis and I asked about them in this forum.

Couple of people have gone there to play. I think they normally onbly have 2/4 limit but they have actually spread higher.

I agree that it seems unlikely right now that high-stakes players aren't going to sit at these things.
but I'm not sure you're going to get much high-stakes on a regular cruise-ship anyway that isn't a poker-specific cruise.

But playing high-stakes online wasn't as common not too long ago either so who knows. Maybe in time they'll catch on more.
Some of the advantages they have in common with online-poker include more hds per hr and no dealer to tip.

[Howard Beale]

[ QUOTE ]

But playing high-stakes online wasn't as common not too long ago either so who knows.

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to dabble w/ online play. I did ok at lower stakes but gave it up as a waste of time because the avg. pot at 3-6 was $20. That's some lousy game. So there are people who 8 table, get rakeback, and bonus whore. A player like that can grind out some money. I didn't feel like sitting in front of my computer all day doing that. At a machine like that in a b&m, if the pots are $20, it's not going to catch on.