Cruising and the Poker Hall of Fame

It’s wonderful to be able to combine your work with your passion. I’ve always been lucky in this regard. I fell in love with poker at the age of 21 and played part time until I quit my job to become a professional poker player at the age of 27. I loved every minute of being a poker pro and then got into the poker cruise business at the age of 39 when some friends and I bought Card Player magazine. At 47, I realized that I liked the cruise business better than the publishing business, so I sold Card Player to Barry Shulman, but kept Card Player Cruises. For the past 24 years, I’ve been lucky to host poker players on fantastic cruises all over the world along with my best friend and business partner Jan Fisher.

In the past 10 years, Card Player Cruises has gone from four or five poker cruises a year to seven or eight. I was able to fulfill a bucket list item in August and September when I cruised for 31 consecutive days to many exotic countries. The series of cruises started in Copenhagen and then we spent a week in beautiful Norway. We cruised through fjords and saw beautiful scenery every day. The next week, we cruised to Tallinn, Estonia; Helsinki, Finland; and had an overnight stop in St. Petersburg, Russia. Getting to play poker in between stops with a great group of people was a bonus! After returning to Copenhagen for an overnight stop, we began a 17-night poker cruise that ended in New York, with stops along the way in Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. We had an interesting mix of players that included everything from home-game recreational players to a regular in Ivey’s room. The thing I like best about running poker cruises is getting to know our customers. They aren’t just clients; they quickly become friends and we are lucky enough to have about 80 percent repeat business.

Card Player Cruises will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year and we have just finalized our 2017 schedule which can be found at www.cardplayercruises.com. If you haven’t been lucky enough to cruise with us yet, I hope you check us out and experience a pampered vacation that combines poker and travel. I will personally be your card room manager, cruise director, shopping advisor and social director!

The nominees for the 2016 Poker Hall of Fame have been announced. Congratulations to Chris Bjorin, Humberto Brenes, Todd Brunson, Eli Elezra, Bruno Fitoussi, Chris Moneymaker, Carlos Mortensen, Max Pescatori, Matt Savage and David “Devilfish” Ulliott. Every poker player I’ve spoken to seems to have his own standards of what should qualify someone for the Hall of Fame. Personally, I would like to see one nominee each year voted in based on poker playing ability and one nominee voted in based on what they have done for the poker industry. Although I can easily make a case for each one of this year’s nominees being voted in, I think Carlos Mortensen has the best poker resume (almost $12 million in tournament earnings, two WSOP bracelets, and is the leading money winner in WPT events) and Matt Savage has done the most for the poker world (co-founded the Tournament Directors Association, is the Executive Director for the WPT, has run tournaments all over the world, and has been an innovator in tournament ideas and formats.)

There are two people whom I believe have been overlooked in the nominations. I’m surprised that neither Jack Effel nor Mike Caro have been nominated yet. They each have given a lot to the poker world. Effel works all year round on planning and running the biggest poker tournament in the world, the World Series of Poker. He also is on the Board of Directors for the Tournament Directors Association. Caro has played poker professionally, written many poker books and columns for major poker magazines, was the general manager of a large California cardroom, was instrumental in getting the law changed in California to allow for other forms of poker than just draw poker, founded Mike Caro University of Poker and was a key consultant to the online poker industry. I definitely expect to see Jack Effel and Mike Caro on a future ballot.
Now, let’s play poker! ♠

Linda Johnson is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. She has a WSOP bracelet and is a host on the Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS) and the Senior Poker Tour (SPT). She hosts seminars and corporate events all over the country. You can contact her at [email protected].