I discovered upon boarding the cruise that I would be playing the next day, Day 1. Just what I wanted, as it will allow me to rest the next day before having to play again. Still, it would be bitterly disappointing to have my tournament over just 1/7th of the way into the trip. I spent the first day exploring the ship, getting some exercise and chowing down at the buffet. The next day I sat down for my first ever, $10,000 buy-in event.

The table looked good. No name players and a few guys who looked like most of their experience was on the internet. I also discovered my table is 8-handed (other tables are 9-handed). It looks like I’m going to have to call an audible on my extremely tight strategy. I worked my stack up from 10K to 13K during the first two hours. No spectacular hands. Flopped top pair a couple times and won at showdown. Other than that, just took the blinds or won with a bet on the flop. I have at least a basic read on most of the players at this point.

The 21-year-old in the one seat is chip leader and calls everything. He’s not a very good player, but he’s getting the cards, catching rivers, etc. He’s up to over 20K by the break. The two seat is a solid Asian guy, about 23-years-old. The guy in seat three seems to be a pot odds-oriented player who doesn’t mess with my blind too much, but is not afraid to sometimes. The four seat is me. The six seat is probably the best at the table. Aggressive mid-20’s guy, but far from a maniac. The seven seat is doing that Unabomber thing, with the hood and glasses he retreats into when he’s playing a pot. He looks pretty stupid and is playing very loose. If the nine seat bets, RUN!!!. He’s by far the tightest at the table.

I had a bad run during the 3rd and 4th levels of play. There were a lot of situations where I raised with something like TT and the flop came down A-K-7, etc. I only remember two hands vividly. I have about 10K. Blinds are 100/200 or 150/300. I raise from MP w JcTc and the six seat makes it three-bets. The blinds fold. I call. Flop is 9c 5d 2h. I check -call the flop, putting him on overs (he liked to 3-bet with AT and better). Turn is 7c giving me a flush draw and a gutshot straight flush draw. I check-raise him and he looks a little upset. I think he’s going to fold, but eventually he tosses in a call. I am 100 million percent sure he will fold on the river, given my table image. The river is a Qh. I don’t like that card but bet in case he has AJ, AT or AK. He calls and tables AQo after I flip up my hand. Is it possible to call something a bad beat if the other guy had the best hand the whole way?

Another big hand occurred a little later. An Australian guy moves to the five-seat. After he has a brief conversation with Mel Judah, he calls my EP raise. I have 88 and get another caller. Three to the action flop of 8s-7s-6s. I bet and get called by both. I bet rag turn and get called only by the Australian guy. River is the 2s putting a 4-flush up there. I bet and he raises. I fold. I probably could have check-called there, but I think he had it. The guy seemed tight.

That puts me down to less than 5K. I go into the 2nd break with less than 3K. I get relatively close to the felt during the next level. I get all in with AQs on a flop of Q-5-6. The six seat tables TT and I hold up. I go on a small rush after that and win three of the next nine pots to put me back to 10K. The blinds are 200/400 at this point, with 400-800 betting levels. I balloon up to 22K and then am back to about 16K before the break. I am picking on the Australian guy’s blind a little, because he’s on a short stack. Eventually he takes a stand and blows a ton of chips when he caps pre-flop and flop with me when I had KK. He was on life support after that.

I get moved to the Hudson Room midship, away from the main poker room. My table has a new cast of characters now. There are 3 very good players (including me) and no bad players. Still no pros though. The only hand I remember at this table is when I raise with AKo and one of the good, aggro players calls from the SB. The flop is A-Q-x. Check-check. The turn is a blank. He bets and I raise. He mucks. He told me later he had JJ. Our table gets broken up. I raise my first hand at the new table from cutoff with AT and take down blinds. I raise two hands later w AQ. The flop is all rags. I bet. He calls. The turn is a blank. I bet and he folds.

There was only 15 minutes left to play when the hand of the day came up for me. The UTG player raises, EP cold calls and MP moves all in for 3-bets. Blinds are 500/1000 at this point. I expect to be folding, but look down at AK. That’s just a little too good to be folding for two more bets. I call and UTG calls. The flop is A-2-3. I bet. UTG curses in another language and folds. EP calls. The turn is a 5. I bet and EP calls. The river is a J. I bet and he calls. I table my AK and it’s good. UTG said he had JJ and would have won on the river. EP mucks. The all in guys shows KK and gracefully exits. That moves me up to 40K. I have to post the last blind of the day, leaving me with 39K going into the second day of play, well above the average of about 25K. I pretty much fall asleep right way when I get back to my room.

I look at the board after the next day’s play and find out I’m 50th of 280. I’ll take that. Chip Jett has over 100K. I don’t know how he did that. The ship docked in Mazatlan, but I didn’t get off. I am prone to sunburn and wanted to rest up for that night’s play. I watched the Mike Sexton channel for part of the day.

That’s right, a whole channel devoted to Mike Sexton. I wonder where I can get a baseball cap that says “Mike Sexton” on it, like they were wearing at the roast I watched. I now know all there is to know about the 1999 Tournament of Champions he organized. I also hung out by the pool and played a little basketball and ping pong.

I went downstairs that evening with Rob to get the free PartyPoker shirts. The guy running it looked at us suspiciously (as a joke) and said I think you guys play on Pokerstars too. Somehow he knew.

My Day 3 table was once again free from any professionals. We had all solid players though. Only the guy in the 9 seat still looked like he was nervous. I raise the first hand from MP with AK and the nervous guy calls me from one of the blinds. The flop is 9-T-x. He bets and I raise. He reraises and I call. The turn is a blank. He bets. I fold. Doh!

A little while later I pick up Td 8d in the BB and call the SB’s raise. The flop is Ad Qs Xd. He bets. I raise. He reraises and I cap. He says “Yikes” when I cap but calls pretty quickly. He checks the turn 9c and I bet. In hindsight I should have checked, as I’m now fairly certain he has an ace. The river is the Kd. I made my flush. He checks and I bet. He calls.. I show my flush and say sorry. He isn’t mad at all. Good emotional control. Must be a good player.

Of course, I lose it all a few hands later when I have JJ and three-bet an MP raiser and a cold caller from the button. The cold caller was a very loose player with a lot of chips. EP calls all-in. Flop is K-X-X with two clubs. I bet and cold-caller folds. EP guy turns over Ac Qc. The turn of a 2c gives him the nuts. I am down to about 28K or so. The blinds are 2K/4K. UTG woman, who is not that good, raises and loose guy cold calls. I call in the BB with AdQc. The flop is Tc-6c-3d. Everyone checks. The turn is a Kc. Loose guy bets and I raise. The woman folds and the loose guy calls. The river is a blank. He checks. I consider betting, but I get the sense he’s calling. I check. He tables KhQh and takes the pot. I hate how I played the hand. Though I did have 14 outs on the river.

I soon get AA and double up in a scary fashion. I’m back to about 30K. Then a solid player raises in LP and I reraise from the SB with KK. Mathew Cherackal, who ended up finishing 3rd and cashing for $700K says “cap it”. LP folds. I get a bad feeling that he has AA. I call. The flop is 6-6-6. I should have heeded the omen. I bet and he calls. The turn is a J. I bet his last 3K. He calls and turns over AA. The river is a blank and he wins a huge pot.

I am still in okay shape, but this hand kills me. I three-bet loose-guy with AQ from MP. It’s folded to nervous guy who thinks for a long time and cold-calls. Loose guy calls and flop is J-T-X. I bet 4K, leaving me with just two chips left. Nervous guy calls and loose guy foldes. The turn is a blank. Check-check. The river is a blank. Check-check. He tables 77 and wins the pot. Grrrr. Cold-calling three bets with 77. If I had more chips I probably could have won with a turn bet. I turn my 2K into 10K later when my A2s holds up against Cherackal’s 89s. I get knocked out a few hands later, though, when I raise with A2s again from LP and the SB reraises. I call. The flop is 6-4-2 and I put my last two chips in. He calls with 44. The river is a 2, which rubs a little salt in my wound.

I end up finishing in 80th place for $10,400. It was the biggest win of my career at that point, but not what I went there to do. At least I got to go out on the beach at the next stop, but the cruise went quickly from there on out. I was back to work and to my internet cash games before I knew it. The whole experience has left me eager to start trying to qualify for more of these big tournaments.