Alaska - a Wonderful Place for a Poker Cruise

Card Player Cruises customers experienced great weather, incredible scenery, and tremendous poker action during their recent poker cruise to the great state of Alaska.

The cruise began in Seattle, Washington, where we made ourselves at home for a week aboard the Norwegian Sky.

The location of the poker room was perfect; it had huge picture windows, enabling players to gaze at glaciers and waterfalls while enjoying the poker games. The doors of the cardroom led directly outside to the promenade, so when whales were spotted, there was usually an immediate exodus of players hoping to get a glimpse of the playful mammals.

Following the safety drill and the welcome-aboard party, a slew of poker games began. Throughout the cruise, the games played most often were $1-$2, $2-$4, $4-$8, $10-$20, $15-$30, and $20-$40 hold'em, $4-$8 and $10-$20 Omaha eight-or-better, and low-limit seven-card stud.

Day No. 2 of the cruise found us sailing up the Inside Passage. Also known as the Alaska Marine Highway, it is a natural sheltered sea route extending for more than 1,000 miles from Vancouver northwest to Skagway. The border of islands ensures smooth, glassy waters.

Day No. 3 brought us to the capital city of Juneau, home of the Mendenhall Glacier. Some of the excursions allowed cruisers to enjoy helicopter rides to a point on the glacier, seaplane trips to the Taku Wilderness Lodge, city tours, rides on the Mount Roberts Tram, and, my personal favorite, a salmon bake.

The following day, we were treated to two stops: Skagway in the daytime and Haines in the evening. Inasmuch as I am the ultimate tourist who loves to see the sights, I chose to take a float trip on the Taiya River. Along the way, we saw some eagle's nests, and learned that the average weight of an eagle's nest is 1,000 pounds and that eagles return to the same nests year after year, with some of them reaching more than 2 tons in weight.

We spent most of a Thursday cruising the Sawyer Glacier. Located in the Tracy Arm Fjord, it is framed by 7,000-foot-high snowcapped mountains. The water contains icebergs, and we spotted lots of sea lions and a few otters sunbathing on the ice. An ongoing narration included such facts as that there are 100,000 glaciers in Alaska that cover approximately 29,000 square miles (about 5 percent of Alaska).

Friday morning we docked in Ketchikan, a quaint little fishing village with lots of interesting shops in the downtown area. Ketchikan is home to the largest collection of totem poles in the world, and is recognized as one of the top 100 arts communities in America. Before leaving, we saw about 20 bald eagles flying around the ship.

On Saturday we closed the poker room at 5:30 p.m. to enjoy a farewell party. There was lots of dancing, and awards were presented for the funniest things people said or did during the week. We docked in Vancouver, British Columbia, after the party, and many passengers enjoyed the sights at Buchart Gardens or the fun of the pub tour.

As is the case on most Card Player Cruises trips, there were three free poker seminars. First, I taught the novices the basics of how to play hold'em. I enjoy teaching new players, as they are so enthusiastic. The lessons resulted in a $1-$2 hold'em game with very special rules unique to that game only: there was no check-raising, no one was allowed to play who was not a beginner, and players were permitted to ask questions after a hand. The game went almost continuously throughout the cruise, and some of the players even advanced to the $2-$4 game.

Jan Fisher, Lou Krieger, Tom McEvoy, Barry Tannenbaum, and I conducted the second seminar. Each of us gave our best poker tips and then answered questions from the players. Mark Tenner led the third seminar, which was about successful strategies for playing Omaha eight-or-better. All of the seminars were well-attended.

Four tournaments were held during the week. The first was a limit hold'em event, which was taken down by Todd Bergman, who pocketed $2,760 for his effort. Matt Treasure topped the Omaha eight-or-better field, and his fine performance won him $1,350. Robert Roter won the no-limit hold'em tourney, and he took home $1,720. Due to popular demand, we added a second limit hold'em event, and Johnny Walker was the victor, capturing the first prize of $1,920.

I always enjoy the Alaska cruise; some of the highlights of this trip from my point of view were spending time in the Jacuzzi as we docked in Vancouver, dancing a few hours in the disco, meeting lots of new cruisers, enjoying the salmon bake in Juneau, watching the sea lions at Sawyer Glacier, teaching the beginners game, and dining with friends at the six different restaurants on the ship.

There are still four poker cruises remaining in 2002 - the Grand Mediterranean (Aug. 9-24), the Western Caribbean (Sept. 29-Oct. 6), the Poker World Cup at Sea, featuring seven tournaments, and the Mexican Riviera (Dec. 1-8) - and Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, Bali, and Singapore from Dec. 30, 2002, through Jan. 23, 2003. For more information on any of these cruises, see the website, www.cardplayercruises.com, or call the office at (888) 999-4880. Happy sailing! Now, let's play poker!