JOIN THE CLUB.

Know When to Hold ’Em
Poker cruises bring high stakes to the high seas.

By Clark Norton

Poker cruises may well have been America’s first theme cruises. While the game’s origins probably stem from much older games in Europe and the Near East, poker’s roots in the United States most commonly evoke images of antebellum Mississippi riverboats.

Picture slickly dressed gamblers bluffing and betting as they sail along on paddlewheel steamers, an ace or two up their ruffled sleeves, chugging whiskey and taking in can-can shows during Natchez port calls. And perhaps not coincidentally, some common poker terms — “full boat” (nickname for a full house, three of one kind and two of another), “fish” (a bad player who squanders his money), and “the river” (the last card dealt in some popular poker games) — have nautical associations.

            Fast forward to the current day, when poker cruises have become some of the hottest theme cruises going, drawing thousands of would-be card-sharks-at-sea. The game’s exploding popularity — spurred by saturation of TV coverage of poker tournaments that rival other “sports” for tense high-stakes drama — has helped fuel the trend. It’s no wonder then that a number of companies and agencies are cashing in.

            Las Vegas–based Card Player Cruises is both the pioneer and leader in the field, having launched its first poker cruise in 1992 and thrived for nearly two decades while some other purveyors have come and gone. Linda Johnson, who has acquired the moniker of “First Lady of Poker” for her success at numerous tournaments (including a strong showing at the 1997 World Series of Poker), has run Card Player Cruises almost from the beginning, when she bought Card Player Magazine. The publication had previously put on one poker cruise, but Johnson — who has since sold the magazine but kept the cruise division — has upped the ante considerably, managing well over 100 voyages that have attracted some 35,000 total passengers to date.

            Johnson describes a poker cruise as much like any other except “with the bonus of having a real card room staffed with professionals. You can play as much or as little as you want. All the benefits of a cruise, plus.” Johnson attributes her company’s success to “good organization, top-flight staff, and hands-on service to our passengers. If there are any problems at all, we’ll handle them.” Including problems, she adds, between players, though those are exceedingly rare. “We have a no-abuse policy,” she says. “No tantrums like you might see at poker tournaments on TV. We want people to have a good time.”