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Poker players make some of the sickest bets I have ever seen. I have seen players make bets on some of the most ridiculous things for crazy sums of money. Very few of these sick bets ever affect me, other than giving me some entertainment value as a spectator; but one bet in particular made a recent trip much more enjoyable for me than it might have otherwise been.
The Party Poker cruise is one of my top three favorite tournaments of the year. Not only is it the only Limit Hold’em tournament on the circuit, but it’s also held on a cruise ship in the Caribbean – a welcome change of weather for a Seattleite such as myself.
This year, Party Poker did things right again, hiring Linda Johnson and Lisa Tenner of Tenner and Associates to handle media and player relations. Everyone did a spectacular job as always, making sure the players never had to want for whatever action they were looking for. Linda Johnson knows what poker players like, and this cruise was no exception. Considering the fact that they were operating what was, this week, the fifth largest cardroom in the world, she and her staff pulled off a miracle to make it all work. Lisa Tenner did her typically marvelous job, making sure every little detail was in its place for all of the media people and all of the pros in attendance. I am one of several writers who would never consider attending this event without the involvement of those two.
Joining some other big names this year were poker pros Gavin Smith and Bill Edler. Gavin and Bill have made one of the sickest bets I have heard about this year. Very rarely do you hear about a bet between two players in which neither can end up a winner and both are actually likely to lose a large sum of money. But somehow, Gavin and Bill, in all their infinite wisdom, have managed to find a bet to make that possible.
I first heard about the bet when I tried to buy a round of drinks in the Piano Bar on the cruise the first night. Gavin insisted on paying for the drinks and when I asked why he wouldn’t let me pay, Bill was quick to fill me in. It seems Gavin and Bill have a year-long bet that goes as follows: Whoever wins the least amount of money in any calendar month has to buy drinks for the winner and all of his friends whenever they are in the same venue together, for the entire next month. Bill had a great month in February, crushing Gavin in tournament wins. This meant that Gavin had to buy drinks for Bill and all his friends, whenever they were in the same venue, for the entire month of March. That in turn meant that I was going to quickly become Bill Edler’s best friend!
All bets aside, poker players really know how to live it up, and being stuck on board a cruise ship really brings out the party life in even the mellowest of them. If you’ve never been on the Party Poker cruise you have no idea what you are missing. Where else can you find two pros playing high stakes backgammon in the middle of a hoppin’ club, or an amateur getting ready for his first final table appearance by playing a little shuffleboard?
Where else would you find tournament directors, professional poker players, dealers, and amateurs from around the world all hanging out together, mixing it up and having a great time? Where else can you see an entire room full of people, with a sea of laptops in front of them, all paying 70 cents a minute for internet access, just so they can get their online poker fix for the day? And where else do you find two good looking women, who have had a little too much to drink, wandering the ship with pen in hand looking for poker players to sign their chests? It was a sick, twisted time and I loved every minute of it!
Usually a week on board a cruise ship is more than enough for me, but when this ship finally pulled back into the beautiful cruise port of Fort Lauderdale, for once I wasn’t yet ready to leave. I lingered around, enjoying the peace and tranquility, until I realized that Bill and Gavin had left the ship and I was going to have to buy my own drinks. I quickly scurried off the ship, determined to follow them to their next venue, and longing for next year’s cruise to come around quickly so I can do it all over again!
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