In December, I took a family cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship. The casino was larger than I had seen on the one previous cruise I had been on (also Royal Caribbean). The table games were mostly heavily slanted against the players (6-5 blackjack on table below $25, only single odds on craps, etc.).

They had one $2-5 no limit hold 'em game which started around 8:30 pm on every night but the last (it started around 6 pm).

I played 7 of 8 nights and did pretty well. It was my first time playing $2-5, but it didn't play too much differently than a $1-3 game as far as I could see. For all but the last night, I played against the same 14 or so players each night plus an extra face or two. We had the very aggressive guy who busted on a quite a few nights, but made a killing when he didn't. We had one woman who is a dealer in AC, a member of the AT LARGE group, a rec.gambler member and a very good poker player. I made money most nights and ended up ahead by a decent margin when all was said and done. Mostly, I had a great time. Incredibly, I had my very first casino straight flush and made quad aces twice during the week. I showed my straight flush even though my opponent folded to me on the river. I made quite a bit (surprisingly) on my quad aces. I also lost with a full house to quad 3's, so, I guess you get the good and the bad.

They are still using generic Royal Caribbean chips:

So, I only bothered to pick up the one $1 chip. I was planning on picking up a 50 center as well, but ended up deciding otherwise.

Michael Siskin