Poker tournaments on Carnival Cruises

I saw on Legend, they had several $60 buy in tournaments on a recent cruise. Anyone know the structure of the Texas Hold em Poker Tournaments? How many people play in them?

I saw on Legend, they had several $60 buy in tournaments on a recent cruise. Anyone know the structure of the Texas Hold em Poker Tournaments? How many people play in them?

Carnival went to the Poker-Pro electronic tables so the tournaments are limited to 9 players. If they have more players they will open a second table if they have one. It was a fun tourney.

I saw on Legend, they had several $60 buy in tournaments on a recent cruise. Anyone know the structure of the Texas Hold em Poker Tournaments? How many people play in them?

On the Pride they had one table moved a little ways away from Casino...not a great deal away...but in a seperate room adjoining the casino - no smoking allowed :)

It costs $60 to buy in to the tournament and you need to go to the cashier windows to get a Poker Card...you have to have this to play on the table...the table is an electronic table with no dealer - the computer deals for you. It is different but you get use to it.

There are 9 or 10 seats available at the table and there was ALWAYS a waiting list for the three tournaments that week - all on sea days. So here is a tip...go to cashier very early when you get on board and put your name down for all three tournaments (or how ever many there are). That way you are assured to get in if you want too. Waiting a few days will do you no good. They do have a waiting list but it gets very long.

That said, you get $1200 (it might be $1500??) in poker chips (electronic) to start with and it is a 50/100 blind which escalates every time the button is passed completely around the table.

The winner gets $500 and second place gets $150...everyone else simply donates their money to casino :)

It was fun but sometimes, if you aren't an experienced poker player, you can get bounced pretty quick :)

I finished fourth once, third a second time and sixth the third time. The entire tournament really only lasts around 1 hour.

When the tournaments aren't on, the table is open to play anytime as long as you have someone to play against. Again, you HAVE to have a Poker Card to play...get them at cashier...put as much on as you like but the minimum is $20. You get a personal Poker account and can add or take away from your card as you see fit.

For instance, I put $300 on the card for the week (not counting tournaments) but would only "buy in" at the table with $50 each time. Once I was out...which did happen a few times :)...I simply put my card back into machine and re-bought from the monies I had already put on card.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the information. Sounds like they play more like SitnGos then a Multitable tournament.

Thanks for the information. Sounds like they play more like SitnGos then a Multitable tournament.

...That's correct. They are one table SNG's. On our last cruise, we actually had enough entries to play 4 SNG's one after the other all 3 sea days. There are no multis on board. All week at the tables, you'll find everything from guys with sunglasses and hoods on, to "tourists" in Hawaiian shirts drinking "foo-foo" drinks with umbrellas in them and everything in between. The electronic PokerPro tables take a little getting used to, but after a few hands, everything will become much easier. I definitely prefer a live dealer and chips but this is a good alternative. ...Hope this helps...

That said, you get $1200 (it might be $1500??) in poker chips (electronic) to start with and it is a 50/100 blind which escalates every time the button is passed completely around the table.

 

What a garbage structure.... sounds like a donk shovefest. I have a hard time even calling this a poker tournament. Raising blinds every orbit when you are only starting with 15 big blinds is soooo bad.... they are taking most of the skill out of the game. I was looking forward to actually playing a decent tournament.... this does not qualify in my opinion.

What a garbage structure.... sounds like a donk shovefest. I have a hard time even calling this a poker tournament. Raising blinds every orbit when you are only starting with 15 big blinds is soooo bad.... they are taking most of the skill out of the game. I was looking forward to actually playing a decent tournament.... this does not qualify in my opinion.

Oh that is dead on.....you can't just sit back if you start with crap cards. You have no choice but to shove many times in this structure. Also when playing in the regular game there is no reduced rake if only a couple players are playing. If I remember correctly they pulled 10% up to $6 on one of the ships (paradise) and up to $5.75 on the other ship (Splendor). I'm sure things can change since it has been a year since I cruised the paradise and 3 years since the splendor.

it would seem like they have different tourneys on different ships. also, we were not required to have the poker pro card to play this time. we just used our s&s card which was different from in the past. so i'm not sure if this is something they are going to now.

there is the big tournament they hold for the grand finale later in november.

we were on the Elation last month. I played in one tournament for it, the buy in was $150 winner take all. (sadly i took 2nd) up to 10 players at the poker pro table.

we had one tourney one sea day, then the last sea day there was another tourney scheduled but it required a minimum of 4 or 5 players to start and there were not enough players so it was cancelled and the table was just opened up to play.

i did not see any other tournaments being played. just a regular sit & go "cash" game not a tournament as you could buy back in at anytime as long as you had the $s.

Carnival went to the Poker-Pro electronic tables so the tournaments are limited to 9 players. If they have more players they will open a second table if they have one. It was a fun tourney.

since there is no dealer, the poker pro tables can have up to 10 players.

What a garbage structure.... sounds like a donk shovefest. I have a hard time even calling this a poker tournament. Raising blinds every orbit when you are only starting with 15 big blinds is soooo bad.... they are taking most of the skill out of the game. I was looking forward to actually playing a decent tournament.... this does not qualify in my opinion.

this was not our experience as our tournament had a clock and it was more structered.

i agree....i would not play in a tournament that does not have a clock and a structured blind schedule.