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United States of Poker

Texas Hold’em has infiltrated just about every aspect of human consciousness.

Now it’s made it aboard two of the biggest cruise lines in the world: Princess Cruise and Carnival Cruise. Every week at least one new two-to-seven-day cruise kicks off from one of these cruise lines somewhere in the world, and it’s a good bet that cruise has Hold ‘em aboard.

And then there’s scheduled cruises just for gambling: Card Player Cruises, affiliated with the magazine of the same name, which includes the PartyPoker Million cruise; Classic Gaming Cruises, run by Casino Publishing Group (which does Casino Player magazine); and the World Poker Showdown, in its second year, managed by Saloon Entertainment. It seems likely that some of the newer poker publications will get in on the casino cruise action while the getting is good.

Players aboard the Classic Gaming Cruises can earn a seat in the World Series of Poker and the Foxwoods World Poker Championship, according to the website.

The March 4 Eastern Caribbean cruise, the May 13 Bermuda & Bahamas cruise and the July 23 Alaskan cruise will award entries into the ‘06 World Poker Championship. The Oct. 7 cruise to Canada and Nov. 6 Mexican cruise will offer entries into the ‘07 Foxwoods event and the ‘07 WSOP, respectively.

“Business is booming,” says Jan Fisher of Card Player Cruises. “Most of our cruisessell out far in advance.”

As the demographics have skewed younger, poker players’ interests are changing, according to Fisher. “We have a lot more interest in no-limit tournaments and no-limit side games,” she says.

We still get mostly recreational players for our cruises, and our passengers are probably younger than the average cruise passenger, though we have many senior citizens in our group.”

Card Player Cruises is also part of the World Poker Tour. “Once a year we charter an entire boat and have 2,000 poker players sail for a week,” Fisher says, speaking of the PartyPoker Million cruise. “The highlight of the week is a WPT event. Last year’s event had more than $7 million in the prize pool. All of our cruises include tournaments, live games, seminars and beginner’s lessons.

We also have private parties for our passengers. Card Player Cruises also hosts an annual World Poker Players conference at a brick-andmortar cardroom.”

According to the Card Player Cruises and PartyPoker websites, this year’s PartyPoker Million V kicks off Mar. 12 and will offer a similar prize pool. Players can win a cruise package on PartyPoker through super satellites, multi-level “cruise-step” tournaments, $675+$40 Gateway tournaments with one cruise package for every 20 players, or a freeroll using 15,000 player’s club points. The twist with the big PartyPoker tournament is that it’s limit poker - the biggest limit tournament in the world.

Fortunately for no-limit fans, there are plenty of NL side events aboard the cruise.

Fisher doesn’t see poker cruises going anywhere in the future. “I think that cruising will continue to be a popular pastime for poker players,” she says. “After all, there is no more affordable vacation than a poker cruise, and you can play as much or as little poker as you want.”

“Business was good even before poker was on TV,” says Herb VanDyke, head of marketing for Saloon Entertainment, which runs the World Poker Showdown cruise. “We got all these people coming on the cruise - they saw it on TV, they’ve never played! They want to play. Greg Raymer’s on there, and he’s there to play, so if you want to play against the world champion…” “We have $1/$2 teaching tables,” he says.

“People that want to feel better pick up some tips. Our whole purpose is, we go after upper middleclass people where the buy-in isn’t as huge as the World Series. Our biggest buy-in is $2,500. Affordable, yet we play by TDA [Tournament Directors Association] rules and everything is run very similar and close to the World Series.”

VanDyke says the crowd aboard his World Poker Showdown is filled with new players. “70% of the people have never played live. Online or in a casino. I have a group of retired people coming - they’re entering every event.”

Poker cruises are able to run a little differently than land-based casinos. “We’re trying to keep our events fun,” says VanDyke. “We have a bounty in there occasionally. I’ll walk over to a table to give a guy a bonus - it’s a different kind of atmosphere because we’re not restricted to Las Vegas gambling regulations. It’s completely different. People have a lot of fun. We had one argument all last year. The guy was drunk, didn’t understand his hand - that’s it. I used to run poker in Russia, we’d have an argument every 20 minutes!”

According to VanDyke, it was online poker that first led to the poker explosion, then TV poker was second. “I think live and online interreact,” he says. “Before TV there was an expansion of poker. Because of online poker, it became a teaching platform and the casinos actually did better. It was the first step. A lot of people were intimidated - I know people who, when they first walked in and they see all those people with sunglasses - You’re going to play against all these sharks? That’s the first impression you get when you enter.”

The World Poker Showdown in 2004 had Chris Moneymaker as co-host, and this year it’s Greg Raymer. VanDyke says he didn’t plan on having two WSOP champions as hosts two years in a row - it just worked out that way. “They’re doing it almost like a favor,” he says. “Look, the [Five Diamond World Poker Classic] is the same time ours is, and where is Greg going? Not that he won’t make money on the cruise - he will, and the players know it.”

The throng of new players with lots of money to burn attracts poker players looking to make some money and meet their fans. “Last year, we had Layne Flack and Chip Jett onboard - they both won a tournament! In the main event, Moneymaker was at the final table. He went out third or something. And then the cash games. How many Vegas bookings do I have? One. We have over 60 people from Virginia. 20 from North Carolina. We get a lot from Florida. You can see the demographics.”

“The one good thing about a cruise - it’s the same people on the ship,” VanDyke says. “You get to understand their play and the types of players they are.”

VanDyke believes that paying out to a higher percentage of players is better. “We use a little bit of a flatter payout to make it fairer,” he says. “For years, they were paying the top 3, which was crazy. The way they’re doing these things, it’s time to change it. I’m certainly going to reduce what 1-2-3 pay, make it more even. All day long, you make it to the final table, you make a little bit back - it’s a joke.”

“I know one pro that played - the leading player in the circuit, he was first or second, I forget,” VanDyke says. “At the end of the year, he actually lost money. You have to come out first or second to make it worth it. You look at NASCAR, they have guys that become points leader that haven’t won an event. That’s where the future has to go. I’ve been fighting for it for a couple of years. I’m going to change it myself.”

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