Poker on Carnival

[jetwet1]

The poker pro tables deal no quicker than a good dealer, however there are no errors made and of course it doesn't need a break etc.

[bobbyfk]

I just looked at my statement. I didn't get charged the 3% and I loaded at both the slots and pokerpro.

weird..I loaded at the cage and didn't get charged 3%:confused::confused::confused:

[msdeb1107]

We sailed on the Carnival Glory in May and played poker all week. We were told two things about Hold'em...that the rake was so high on PokerPro because they had to send a percentage of the money to the manufacturers of PokerPro...and they said they no longer offered live dealers for Hold'em because there were frequently fights (verbal and physical) between players.

 

One word of warning: it is STRONGLY recommended that you use your Sail and Sign card to put money in your poker account. My husband and I loaded $100 each in cash into our poker accounts the first day, then used that money for our buy-ins. There was a lot of confusion between the cashiers and other casino staff as to how to fund the separate poker account. When we checked our Sail and Sign account balance at the end of our cruise they'd CHARGED us $100 each on our account, even though we'd loaded the money in cash. We met with the casino manager, got routed to several customer service agents, etc., for months and they never gave us our $200 back. :mad: The computers crashed a couple times, too, and a couple passengers lost funds. PAY ATTENTION to your chip balance and report anything suspicious IMMEDIATELY.

 

On the plus side, we were amongst the core "regulars" at the table and had a great time with the other players, many of whom we got to know pretty well over the course of the week. We were even invited to stay at a fellow passenger's home in Hawaii! All in all, we ended up paying for nearly all our cruise expenses at the Hold'em table (despite the $200 loss), and had a wonderful time in the process! Even if you are used to playing "live" poker, you get used to the machine quickly, and seeing a lot more hands makes the game more fun.

[LakeCharlescruiser]

10% with a $7 max is what it came out to on my cruises on Fantasy and Conquest. No free drinks, no free food, NADA. The table usually stayed pretty full except during meal times. As an experienced player I do well but I am very careful. Since there is only one table, it is not unusual to see 4 or 5 family members or close friends sitting down together. When this happens I usually leave the table.

[CBergman122g]

So are you guys saying there is NO longer a table to play poker at all?? Just the poker pro??

[msdeb1107]

That's correct, just a PokerPro table. We got off the Fantasy yesterday and other than the first day when they had a $30 buy-in tournament, we never saw a single person playing Hold'em. We were super disappointed. I sat at the table several times with a drink, hoping someone would come over and play, but no one ever did.

 

I think the main difference between the full table on the Glory and the empty table on the Fantasy was placement of the table. On the Glory, it was near the entrance of the casino. Every time you walked past on the Promenade, you could see the table/players. On the Fantasy, it was in the middle of the casino and you had to make a special trip through to see if anyone was seated. Actually, it seemed the whole casino was kind of dead on this cruise.

 

Oh, well...

[westcruzer]

When I went on the Carnival Splendor in May I played all week as we went to Canada due to the H1N1 issue that went on. The table was ALWAYS full in fact we had to make a list that at times had 20+ people on the list!! The bad thing was the casino did not want to do anything about managing the list. So there were a couple players that were there alot of the time so we just had those players volunteer to manage the list.

The buy in was max $200 and the limit was $1/$2 No Limit. The first night was the best. We had over $5000 on the table. YES no exaggeration. I had $1500 (total buy ins $400) in front of me and another guy had $2200. After that at any given time we had on average about $2400 on the table between the 9 players (includes when people got felted and rebought).

 

Then I went on a 3 day in July and the average money on the table between 9 players was around $500-$600. Totally different. But still had fun.....Didn't spend as much time there since it was a much shorter cruise.

[markmdavis]

[beccafries]

anybody know how it is on the Destiny...

[LaCal]

In addition, with no dealers, there are no tips being taken off the table.

 

I agree, the rake is too high for a proper poker game, but it is not out of line with the "rake" of everything else on a cruise ship (liquor, spa treatments, excursions, etc. etc.)

 

I Agree that the rake is high but Also Agree that if you Dont have to Tip the Dealer on winning hands, the rake percentage goes down a bit.:cool:

[darrween483]

I love to play poker, and i am cruising the Carnival Pride next week, so I'd like to have some advice on how to use the machine so I can actually concentrate on playing poker instead of the machine.

 

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[Doug910]

I love to play poker, and i am cruising the Carnival Pride next week, so I'd like to have some advice on how to use the machine so I can actually concentrate on playing poker instead of the machine.

 

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...The PokerPro tables are very easy to use once you get used to it. Here are some suggestions as they come to mind...

 

---Your two cards will appear at the bottom right of your personal screen. To look at your cards, cover the two cards as if you were looking at two real cards, making sure that your "cover" hand is not touching the screen. Use your Sail and Sign card to view your cards. Using the tip of the card, touch your two cards and they will flip up so you can view them. Lift the tip of your SnS card off the screen, and your two cards will flip closed.

 

--Any action you take (fold, check, call or raise) will be a two step process, so it will be very hard to make an error. After you decide what to do, you will need to "Confirm" your move. A large red "Confirm" button will appear on the screen and you must also tap this to complete your action.

 

--Every player in the hand will have a timer on their screen. I believe each player has up to 45 seconds to decide and confirm their action. Take longer that 45 seconds, your hand will be folded.

 

--The rake was 5% up to $7. This, I believe is a fair amount. Locally here in South Florida, most poker rooms have a 5% $5 max, but when you add in the fact that there is no dealer tip at the PokerPro tables, it appears to be the same exact rake.

 

...I've played poker on Carnival before these electronic tables back when Texas Hold 'em started to get hot. It was a disaster! Dealers didn't know what they were doing and the players were much worse. Never knowing when it was their turn, taking 10 minutes to make a decision, short changing the pot and the eternity it took to count the chips they were putting in the pot makes these PokerPro tables a blessing. Sure, I much rather have live dealers, but the quality of poker players on a cruise ship really make these tables much easier for the better players. ...Hope this helps...

[Joie]

Doug

 

I watched some this past March on our Liberty cruise, but not much. Looks like it would be fun if the right people sit down. We cruise again in a couple months and will give it a try for a night or two. How did you do your initial buy-in? Did you go to the casino cage and get a poker card and load $$$ on it or use your sign and sail? What is the best way to put $$$ in amd take them out?