2008

Archive for the year 2008

Day 7: November 1, Saturday

Posted on November 2, 2008 by Ching under Flickr, Poker, Travel.

November 1 was a “fun day at sea” and our final day on the ship. We would be docking in Houston and disembarking the next day. Days at sea meant working all day in the poker room, but it wasn’t too crowded on this day.

I had anticipated a much bigger turn out for the $440 main event. However, several people who had won single-table SNG satellites opted to take cash instead of tournament entries. Brent dealt the final table of the main event, which ended in a four-way chop.

Main Event Winners with Brent

Several people wanted to play poker, but didn’t want to buy in to the $440 tournament so we opened up some SNGs. I dealt one such SNG that Nubia took down.

Here’s a photo of me, Nubia, and WPTAPL big-wig Shane…

Nubia with her winning hand…

Several SNGs were held that day. The winners included, Jane…

Mark…

Debby…

I’m sure there were a few others who were photographed using Frank’s digital camera. I only have mine and Kylie’s pictures.

Anyway, we also had a $1-$2 no limit Texas hold’em cash game going that was dealt by Dan. These folks were the diehards. We were supposed to pack up and tag the table toppers, but we kept one on the table past 10 pm so they could continue playing.

We eventually had to take and pack that last table topper, too. However, that didn’t stop the cash game. Some of them kept on playing, anyway.

With everything done except for the never-ending cash game, the rest of us just hung out and looked at slideshows of the photos that Kylie and I took throughout the week.

Some of the photos hadn’t gotten rotated so they had to tilt their heads to look at them. I found it funny and took a picture. Leave it up to me to take a picture of people looking at pictures. LOL. =P

It’s had to believe that we were at the end of the cruise already. Time flew by so quickly. It seemed like only a week ago Brian and I were making plans. Now, here we were on our final day.

Having only had five hours of sleep on a good night, the trip was pretty exhausting. If you asked me on Monday if I would do it again, I’d probably not only say no but hell no. By Tuesday, though, my attitude had completely changed. Things got easier as you gained more experience. I’d gotten more comfortable and confident and, as a result, began to have more fun.

Even though we all worked very hard, we had a lot of fun also. So if you asked me to day if I would do it again, my answer would definitely be yes. I’m still not a big fan of cruising. I hate the embarkation, disembarkation, boat drills, buffet lines, and the hordes of passengers. Cruising is definitely not as relaxing as going to a resort. However, if a deal like this presented itself again a year or so from now I’d jump on it in a heartbeat.

At least we know to stay away from the spa (where over half of our sail and sign charges happened) or be less gullible next time. =P

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Halloween 2008 Photos

Posted on November 1, 2008 by Ching under Flickr, Poker, Travel.

WPTAPL Group Photo

Cruise vacationers definitely take their Halloween very seriously. Check out these fabulous costumes!

There are too many great photos to post. I’m sure I missed posting a bunch of them. Click here for the 14 pages of photos taken on October 31!

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Awesome Halloween Decorations Aboard the Ship

Posted on November 1, 2008 by Ching under Flickr, Travel.

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Fat Tuesday Takes Its Toll

Posted on November 1, 2008 by Ching under Flickr, Travel.

Everyone besides Brian and I (because were on the crazy Adventure Park excursion) ended up at Fat Tuesday on Halloween afternoon. I’m kind of glad we weren’t there because out of everyone, only Shawn and Kylie and Brent made it to dinner that night. I guess they all drank themselves into oblivion (except Brent). LOL.

So at dinner it was just Shawn, Kylie, Brent, Brian, and I. It was a shame because that was the night of the cute Halloween-decorated desserts. That, and I danced the Las Ketchup song with the wait staff. I hadn’t danced with them at all during the trip, so that night I told Brian that I would do it no matter what song was played.

Here’s a video of me doing the Las Ketchup dance. Thanks, Kylie! =P

Okay, so they didn’t really miss much. Everyone made it back to the poker room for that night’s gaming and festivities. Although, some of us were a little cranky from being hung over and headaches and such. =P

I was buzzing from a sugar high after eating all those scrumptious desserts. I must have driven a lot of people crazy.

Anyway, the poker room looked very colorful that night.