We Did Very Little of This
Posted on November 3, 2008 by Ching under Flickr, Life, Travel.
We had very little sleep the entire week of the poker cruise. We were up until about 2 am almost every night and almost 4 am on night. It was really rough.
I think the fact that my body insists on waking at 7 am each day like clockwork was the biggest challenge. Although, I think that actually helped me out because I’m a breakfast kind of gal. I got to eat breakfast each morning and have my pineapple juice and mimosas and such.
With us working all afternoon, the only sit-down meal that was somewhat certain was dinner. Lunch was pretty much grab and go, if you got to eat lunch at all. At least I guaranteed myself at least two full meals. The down side of that is that these were two HUGE meals and now my wedding ring doesn’t fit as a result. =P
Despite having very little sleep, we had a blast. Sleep is for the dead, right? We were very, very tired when we arrived home late on Sunday night. Brian and I were both really glad that we took Monday, November 3, off to recoup.
Not much recouping happened, though, because he dragged me to see Max Payne that afternoon and then we were out and about. We actually checked out Highlands, the new KANDU and BCPT location, that night.
I really feel like I need a vacation from our recent vacation. I could use a REAL one, where I actually get to sleep in (if my body will allow it) and just chill like the lazy person that I truly am. Thankfully, November 11 is Veterans’ Day so I don’t have to work and then Thanksgiving (which means four-day weekend, woot woot) is just around the corner. I also have some vacation time that I have already scheduled for December so I will have some chill time coming. I just have to survive life between now and then. 😉
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Driving Home
Posted on November 2, 2008 by Ching under Moblog, Travel.
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Holy Mountain of Luggage
Posted on November 2, 2008 by Ching under Flickr, Travel.
I sure hope this is an entire family’s (a LARGE family’s) mountain of luggage.
Brian and I managed to get by with only one suitcase, and we even had costumes for Halloween to boot! I wouldn’t want to travel anywhere if I had to bring this much crap. =P LOL.
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The Sail and Sign Shuffle, Blue Towel Fiasco, and Excess Baggage
Posted on November 2, 2008 by Ching under Life, Poker, Travel.
The week flew by and it was time to pack before we knew it. On Saturday night, the cruise director announced that our luggage needed to be tagged and placed outside our stateroom between 10 pm and midnight. Brian and I were lucky that we got assigned to zone 7 so we would be one of the first zones called to disembark, after the self-assisted luggage passengers.
Honestly, I think we could have done the self-assist thing because we only had one suitcase (we’ve perfected the art of packing light)… But then, there was no point getting out before everyone else because we would have to wait for them anyway (since we all rode together). Everyone else ended up with zone 20 or higher.
After the main event tournament and the SNGs were over, we pretty much only had one cash table left. Dan was their dealer so the rest of us were free to pack and do whatever we needed. Of course, we took a few minutes to do what we needed to, but then returned to the poker room just in case.
Brian and I packed our suitcase and left room in my duffel bag for the clothes we were wearing. We joked about reporting back to the poker room in our robes so that we could pack our present clothes also. I bet some of the poker players would take offense to that, though.
We didn’t really have to work much that evening because the table toppers were packed before long. We took the opportunity to put all of the pictures that were shot throughout the week into Kurt’s 4GB flash drive. Kylie and I tried to put the pictures in each other’s flash drives, but ours were much smaller and kept getting full before all the photos were transferred. Good thing Kurt had a one with a much larger capacity.
We didn’t really have multiple cash tables going at one time. We usually only had one, so Brian went through the entire week without having to deal the cash game and worry about raking. =P I did get to deal the cash game for a few minutes on Saturday night while Dan took a break and grabbed a bite. It wasn’t too bad. I don’t know why I was so intimidated at first.
After Dan came back and took over, I was thinking that I wish that I would have dealt the cash games from the get go. I was told that’s where you got good tips. I think Shawn got $50 dealing for a couple of hours one night. We hardly got tipped dealing the tournaments and satellites because the only time you get tipped is when the players win some money.
The nice thing about the tournaments is that all the dealers who work the tournament get to split the tips. I didn’t really get to deal the final table for any of the multi-table tournaments, but Jane gave me $20 because she started at my table in one of these tournaments. Our table was broken at the first consolidation so she ended up getting moved to another table. When she gave me the tip she told me it was for me and another dealer. I thanked her and explained that all the dealers who dealt in the tournament would have to share it (not just the two of us). There were four dealers in that tournament so we each got $5 from Jane’s gratuity. The other tips were given to the dealer of the final table and the sum of the tips were split evenly four ways also. I think we each got $12 from that, so $17 altogether from that tourney.
Generally speaking, the bigger the prize pool the greater the tips. However, it doesn’t always work that way. There are no set rules for tipping and it is completely at the discretion of each player. Some winners tip very little, if at all.
In the single-table SNGs, a single dealer deals the SNG from start to finish so that dealer got to keep their own tips. The first three days of single-table SNGs were mostly main event satellites. I dealt a few of these and didn’t get any tips. The downside about the main event satellites it that there is no cash if the winner chooses to take the main event seat. They just get a yellow receipt, which is their ticket to the main event. No cash usually means no tip. I was one of the casualties of this unfortunate arrangement.
Brian, however, was fortunate enough to get tipped in his single-table SNGs. I have no idea how he did it. He told me that they took the main event entries, but tipped him anyway. I think he got $20s on a couple occassions. He said it’s simply his charming personality. I think they just felt sorry for him. =P
The best tip that I received came from Nubia. I had dealt the single-table SNG that she won with pocket 10s. That one was a special SNG that we set up by request. We hadn’t really planned on it but there were several players, who didn’t play in the main event, wanted to play poker. So we set up some SNGs on the side with smaller buy ins. This particular SNG paid three places. Nubia gave me a $20 and I also got $15 from the second place finisher. Nubia is so nice. I didn’t get any tips until the very end I think.
Her husband James tipped really well too whenever he won. Except every time I was the dealer at James’ table, he would get knocked out in third place. He didn’t start winning until he got other dealers. LOL. I was an equally horrible dealer to Ken. He knew that he wouldn’t win if I was the dealer. It got to the point that he would request a different table or a different dealer.
During the multi-table tournaments, we would draw cards to see who would get to deal which table. Whatever table Ken is assigned to, I’d draw that table. It was very bad. There was one tournament that Brent and I switched because I would have had to deal to Ken for the fifth or sixth time. I bet he was screaming conspiracy after about the third time. It was all luck of the draw, though, or lack of luck on his part. =P
It got to the point that I would tell everyone how awful a dealer I am. Well, I was good to some who kept catching cards, but bad to everyone else. There’s a winner every hand, they say. No matter how awful I was at dealing cards, I wasn’t the worst dealer. That title belonged to Brian, unfortunately. I quickly learned, however, that you don’t have to be good to get tips. You just have to be charming. =P Who knew Brian was so charismatic?
Brian really enjoyed dealing. He never smiles at all. He has this perma-constipated look about him… But he smiled a lot while he was dealing so you could tell that he was enjoying himself. I think about the only time he smiled was when he was dealing cards.
Anyway, our cash games didn’t do so as well as we had hoped because of the Poker Pro machine at the casino. It was too easy and the poker players could play more hands. In a way, I wished that it hadn’t been there so we could have had more cash games and more opportunity for tips… But part of me was glad that we weren’t too busy because we would have ended up working ourselves to the bone.
Between the two of us, we probably only made a little over $100 in tips altogether. Brian made more than I did for sure. Although, I did make $50 playing “let it ride” on the last night. I sat down with $60 and cashed out $110.
Our sail and sign bill…
We didn’t really spend very much cash during the trip. Almost all of our expenditures were on our sail and sign account. We came with $300 in cash, but our biggest cash expense was the $120 we lost playing black jack. Brian hid half of that in his murse and we forgot all about until that Saturday night when we were packing to leave. With the money in the murse, my “let it ride” winnings, and the tips we received, we ended back up to almost $300. You could say we broke even if not for the $1300 sail and sign bill that we charged to our BOA credit card. =P
The funny thing about the sail and sign bill is that I actually stood in line at the purser’s desk to get a correction on what I thought was $10 in erroneous charges. LOL. Brian said he couldn’t believe that I would stand in line for something so trivial. I just didn’t want to pay for something that I didn’t do/spend. I’m a nutcase, I know.
Anyway, the line was considerably long so we went through all of our receipts while we waited and figured out that all of the charges were accurate. We didn’t end up needing to speak to the purser after all. =P
Brian’s reaction to our sail and sign bill…
I’m kidding! That’s the way he looks all the time. =P
Speaking of my wackiness, I asked the room steward for two extra beach towels because they took our wet beach towels from our room and didn’t replace them. Well, I thought they didn’t replace them.
Frank told us this story about how he got charged $50 for the beach towels in a past cruise. I figured that I didn’t want to be charged for beach towels so I wanted to make sure that I had the beach towels back in the stateroom upon our departure.
When we were packing, we found the beach towels that they replaced ours with in our stack of dirty clothes. So we ended up with four beach towels in our room. The room attendant picked up the extra towels on Saturday night, though, so we ended up with just two beach towels in the end. I can’t believe I fussed about the towels when they were in our room the whole time! =P I’m a goober, I know.
Tagging my excess baggage…
Kidding again!
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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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