Cruise Part 2 -- Game Show and Poker

The cruise featured, as one of its nightly entertainment programs, a show called the "Love and Marriage Show" -- basically a takeoff on The Newlywed Game. Three couples were to take the stage -- the longest-married couple, the shortest-married couple, and one other couple who "earned" their way to the stage. To get there, the women had to plead with their hero, Tarzan. The men had to do their best Tarzan imitation. One guy before me did an excellent Tarzan yell while beating his chest. I had to think fast. When it was my turn, I jumped up on the padded seat next to me and yelled and thumped my chest as wildly as I could. It worked.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I will tell you that I correctly guessed what color AND size bra my wife would want if she were to send me to the store for one. I even impressed myself. I got my biggest laugh, however, when answering the question of what I touched first after waking up in the morning. Yeah -- I said what you were thinking!

We didn't know it at first, but the show was taped and broadcast over the Royal television channel frequently the next couple of days. So many people came up to us to tell us they enjoyed the show. A few people at the Caribbean Stud table kept joking about how they would never shake my hand in the morning. It was all a fun time and even got us a few little gifts for participating.

Speaking of Caribbean Stud ...

I had never played the game before, but it seemed simple enough. I just played basic strategy and had a good time. Interestingly, I won each time I played and wound up a few hundred dollars ahead.

The highlight of the trip for me was the $1/2 NL Hold Em play. There was only one poker table in the casino. I passed on the nightly tournament since the structure was so terrible ($90 buy-in for 1,000 chips, $60 rebuys and an add on, rapidly increasing blinds). However, the rake for cash games was amazing. It was -- get this -- 10% up to a maximumof $15/hand! Yowza!!

My first session saw me getting few hands to play. However, in a short time I saw some amazing hands, including one straight flush and a guy with rockets who caught a flop of K-K-A! Damn.

I left and returned a short time later to find that they were only letting people buy in for $100 (the usual buy-in was $100-500). I was getting few cards when they announced that the table would close after a few more hands. Damn. WARNING: DONKEY STORY COMING. I was dealt Ac-Ts and raised. I was called by two players. The flop produced three clubs. Villain 1 raised $30. Villain 2 called the raise. I said f**k it and called. The turn was a a blank. Villain 1 again raised $30. Villain 2 went all in. I had spied the nice pot just begging for a suckout. I went all in and was called by Villain 1. The river: Qc!!!! Yep -- I chased a flush donkey-style and scooped a $300+ pot. Hee haw!!

I played a few more sessions and ended up doing quite well. There were some really bad players at the table to go along with a few good ones. The play was all friendly, however, as everyone was enjoying the cruise. The only bad thing was that several of the dealers were poorly trained. The players had to direct/correct the action way too many times.

Between Hold Em and Caribbean Stud, I was able to pay for the costs of the cruise for myself and my wife. Not too shabby.