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Poker Cruise Report by Bob Brackett
Cruiselines were late to catch-on to the television-fueled Texas Hold'em boom, but in an industry where every "extra" influences the bottom line they're rushing to add poker to their onboard activities.
The Dawn Princess, which was sailing to Mexico out of San Francisco but now cruises the same ports out of LA, added a single $3-$6 game in late 2006. The dealers were from Eastern Europe, and learned the game from a manual, but it didn't squelch the enthusiasm of players who found Texas Hold'em a welcome diversion during the long hours at sea.
Card Player Magazine books cabins and public space and promotes several Poker Cruises a year through its magazine found in card rooms, casinos and other locations frequented by poker players.
World Poker Solutions, an internet company (www.worldpokersolutions.com) owned and operated by Jesse Petrakis of Napa, ran its initial Poker Cruise to Mexico Oct. 7-14 and attracted several dozen Hold'em players from Western states including California, Washington, Oregon and Montana, plus several from Canada.
$1-$2 No Limit Hold'em was the game of choice on that cruise, although daily low buy-in tournaments ($65 to $125) and several $3-$6 games rounded-out the offerings on the seven-day poker fest. "We broke about even on the event," Petrakis offered "and we made a lot of friends who will help us spread the word for future cruises." Another 15 cabins of poker players were shut out of the initial cruise because they missed Petrakis' deadline for releasing held cabins to the cruise line. It's a mistake he indicated would not be repeated in the future. "There are ways around it," he said "I just didn't know until we got this first cruise under our belt."
Petrakis is planning a second World Poker Solutions cruise to Alaska for August of 2008 and will make booking information available on the company website as soon as dates and arrangements are finalized.
Even dealers are contacting the website to see if there's room for them on future events. "Jason" from Los Angeles was the only dealer recruited from his website application. The rest of the initial contingent of five dealers and two hostesses were associates Petrakis knew from his own cardroom days in Montana, Washington and California. "The tips were good, but my bar tab was more than $800," quipped Mike Libel, a twenty- something dealer from the state of Washington who also said "I'll be back!"
- Bob Brackett
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