Poker on Reflection?

Sailing on Reflection in a couple of days and wondered if anyone knows what the poker options are in the casino? On previous carnival crusies, it was all electronic poker tables, and all cash games. But then I saw this review:

That looks like a real dealer table, and the sign seems to suggest actual tournaments rather than just cash games. The description of the ship on Celebrity's site suggests that they have electronic poker tables too.

Anyone have any experience with how the poker games go on Reflection?

Last year they had tournaments as well as cash games in the evening. There was a dealer for both - not an electronic table.

I'll be on the ship with you. I read an old daily and it looks like a $2/$5 NLH cash game is held daily every evening starting around 10pm.

There is usually a tournament with a 7 night cruise as the prize, but the structure of the tournament is not great - like a super turbo, low starting chips, and blinds move up quickly. Usually a lot of re-buys at $100 entrance fee/rebuy. Tournament runs daily, with winner of each day playing on the last day for the cruise.

I'll see you at the table, but setting tight limits in the casino on this cruise. Just spent a couple days at the Borgata in Atlantic City, and have two more nights booked the day after we get back from this cruise. We just booked a New Year's cruise on RC's Independence... and finding airfare a bit expensive over the holiday season - have to cut back somewhere !

on the Silhouette last year they had a live dealer and the 1-2 game was very active at night.

Thanks, guys.

Doc, see you at the felt.

So I just got off the reflection and this was the sng that they had multiple times. Terrible structure. Only 12.5 bigs to start. Game is basically about getting lucky. Not enough room to actually play the game. The $2/$5 cash game had a really high rake : 20% for any pot $20 or more.

I played a little. I got drawn to play in the officers tournament and took 2nd. But the structure of that one was even worse. Starting with only 1500 chips.

About the nly thing I have good to say about poker on the ship was the live dealer was nice. However when I pointed out a marked card in the deck (K of spades was bent) the dealer didn't change decks, just tried to bend it back straight.

This was not a game for poker players. It was a game for gamblers and not what I was looking for.

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The SNG tournament structure is pretty terrible on all cruise lines. On ships with the PokerMate or PokerPro tables, they typically do a 8-man or 9-man SNG tournament with 1500 starting chips and blind level increases every 5 minutes. Combined with the time it takes people to figure out what they're doing every hand, problems with the machine, etc. and you basically just need to play these tournaments like an online "Hyper" or "Super Turbo", and find a good spot and apply maximum pressure and get it all in.

There is a strategy for these, but there's a lot of variance and "gambling".

For the cash game, on Reflection specifically, it's a dealer dealt live game. It is 2/5 NLHE. The table is right in the front of the table pit as you walk into the casino so draws spectators and gets good action.

While the rake is usury at 10% of the pot, capped at $20, versus most land based poker rooms which is 10% of the pot capped at $4 - $6, on the flip side I understand the higher cost (crew accommodations, limited opening hours) etc. so I do understand the higher rake structure. I still think I prefer a live dealer dealt 2/5 game with a $20 cap, to say Princess Cruises whom has a $6 max rake, on the 1/2 game on the PokerPro machines.

While a $20 max rake can be difficult to overcome, it IS still possible. I found that the poor quality of some of the players and the pots that would be "gifted" to decent players still compensated for the really high rake.

I know this is a really old thread, but I want to provide an update on live poker on Reflection. Was just on the April 2018 transatlantic sailing. Still a $2-$5 NL live-dealer game, and the rake was 10% up to USD $15.

Do they have an Ultimate Texas Holdem table? We'll be on Equinox in August and this is my favorite table game on Carnival. Thanks!

What is "SNG" ?

What is "SNG" ?

SNG=Sit and Go

A one table tournament with various payout structures.

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