Balloon guy 158 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Day one:After flying coach…yuck…we arrived in Seattle around 2. Got a shuttle to the hotel, then took the monorail to the Space Needle for dinner. Friday, on a nice day, and there was walk up available early, so that was nice. Dinner was average, I guess you pay for the view. Beautiful sunny day in Seattle, I’ve only been to Seattle 3 times, and every time it is bright and sunny, so I don’t get why so many people joke about the bad weather. Maybe it’s an inside joke. On the boat the next day, and we’re off. Poker tournament the next night, $60 buy in, 10 players max. I don’t pre-sign and get 3rd alternate. I will pre-sign for the next 2 tournaments. Only top two get paid, 70%-30% after 15% rake from the house. Juneau we go on a float plane flight to the Taku lodge for some great Salmon and a nice walk in the woods smoking a cigar. I saw a moose flying in, but no other wild life.Skagway we rent a car and drive to Carcross in the Yukon Territory, see two bears on way up right next to road. Then drive this loop that wasted 2.5 hours and get back to Carcross. We have to be back in 2 hours before the boat sails, and I think I remember it taking an hour forty minutes to get to Carcross but we stopped for a lot of pictures etc. But just in case I punch it. Of course then the grizzly bear on the road makes us stop for pictures, and 10 miles later a black bear lets us get to within 20 feet of him to video him. Very cool, but the others are a bit nervous about time, I figure now we are golden on time so I bet my buddy $5 we get back with over a half hour to spare. He accepts and I floor it. Get into some fog then light rain at the summit, but ice never forms and we get out and arrive in town with 40 minutes to spare. Definitely a fun drive and we saw bears etc for ¼ the price for us all to take the tour.Tracy Arm to the glaciers and there is too much ice in the water so we can’t get all the way up. But there is another poker tournament so I sign up early. We start with 1500 chips, blinds start at 50-100 with 15 minute blinds, 100-200, 200-400, 300-600, 400-800 w 25 antes, 500-1000 w 100 antes. So not much play. First important hand at 100/200 I have 1100 chips. I am SB with Q8clubs, all fold, button limps, I call, BB checks. Flop Ace club 5 club 10 diamond. I check, BB checks, Button bets 200 into 600 pot, I call, BB goes all in, Button instacalls, I have 700 behind, with 2300 in pot and second nut flush draw. I decide this game you need to win early or save your time and call. BB has 55 for bottom set, Button has AA for top set, I have the flush draw and catch the 2 of clubs on river. Bust BB and button is down to 200 chips, I am now 2nd place.Get to 3 handed I have 4500, button is player who had 200 who now has 5000+ and BB has us both covered. At 400-800 I am SB with QQ, button limps, I go all in, BB instacalls and button mucks 55. BB has AA and it holds, and I bubble on the high seas.Ketchican is a shopping port with a lumberjack show, but we are not in town long enough so we just shop. This is my anniversary so the four of us go to the private restaurant on the ship and have lobster. It is okay, but nothing special. The night before at dinner they had King crab legs and I had 5 servings. My wife was mad, but I took the stairs to the room afterwards so I figure it’s a wash.Next day we are sailing towards Victoria, but won’t arrive till 7:00PM. There is the final tournament with a $100 buy in. I get in and we only have 7 players. The casino won’t let us start without 8. A guy standing there wants to play but says his piggybank won’t let him. So two guys kick in $20 each and I am reaching for my wallet when the guy says okay. So he kicks in $60 and we have 8 players. $476 to first, $204 to second. I get aces early, AK a couple times move up to chip leader. Watch some tough beats, with the guy who bought in light playing some bad cards and catching. I bust him when he’s in the BB for 600 and has 200 behind, I shove AJ UTG and isolate him and beat his J 3. Then it is down to 5 and I am short after my A10 < KQ aipf against short stack. He pays me back by calling my all in from the SB with J 10 off, I have JJ and I double to 2nd place. Get down to 3 and I get aces again, then AJ and AK and get chip lead, bust short stack and I have 7500 vs 4500. I offer to make a deal since the blinds are 400-800, and going up in 2 minutes, he offer me 360 to his 320 and I take it. He is in a wheelchair and I made a joke that we should play for loser having to walk naked around the outside deck. He makes comment about his wife having to push him and I say I wasn’t going to let him out for no “I’m in a wheelchair” excuse. I’ve found most handicap guys can laugh about their disability if you treat them like any other dude. The ones that can’t are too slow to catch you anyway. We play it out and he won, but you know the game is different when you aren’t playing for anything, I’m sure I would have won had the money been on the line... He gives me $160 from the first place prize, I find the guys who kicked in the extra $40 and give them their $20 bucks back. Between a good night of blackjack, a bad night and a wife who only plays $.05 slots, we are only stuck $200 for a week of gambling. Saw a lot of whales, mostly on the part of the travel outside of the inward passage, when we are in the Pacific. When we arrive in Victoria the winds are too high to allow us to port, or so says the captain. You need a good Scandinavian captain on your cruise ship. Those guys would have gotten us close to the glacier and docked at Victoria. Our captain was British so you know he’s still got the Titanic shadow looming over his head…makes them timid. While in one of the ports my youngest daughter who got married last year calls and let’s us know she is pregnant. I can barely believe she is married and now she is going to be a mom. Crazy. Better be nice to the guy now, looks like he’ll be staying around for a while. He left for sea duty while we were on this trip so I suspect my daughter will be staying with us a lot this summer. Man, I could barely handle my wife when she was pregnant, I don’t know if I can handle the daughter living with us for 6 months…I may have to start drinking again, I’ll keep you posted.Fun trip, Alaska has a deep beauty everyone should experience. Cruises are really cheap right now. I was told that early in the season they were offering cruises to Alaska for Seattle residence for $150 per person, for a 7 night cruise with all meals etc. That’s crazy.Caught an early flight home so the drive to Vegas tomorrow at 4 AM won't be so bad. Link to post Share on other sites
king_tanner 84 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 nice.... can't wait to go. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 nice.... can't wait to go.Golden Princess.I have a lot of tips for you, like renting the car in Skagway, skipping the magic show, etc.If you PM me your phone number I'll fill you in on the scoop.But I might have to wait till I get back from Vegas, or I can talk in the car on the way if you want to chat around 6AM PST Link to post Share on other sites
Vtlaxer09 4 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 hahaha thats an awesome structure.. I WANNA PLAY!note: (Im on a superturbo craze) Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 hahaha thats an awesome structure.. I WANNA PLAY!note: (Im on a superturbo craze)And to make it worse I had a guy who folded KQ on a K J x flop when he called my standard 3XBB raise from the BB with AA and I shoved flop.What kind of DONKEY folds KQ with a K high flop???????? Link to post Share on other sites
GWCGWC 83 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Nice TR but more importantly, congrats Grampa. Link to post Share on other sites
rcgs59 15 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 you need to add the pic's Rob Link to post Share on other sites
gobears 0 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Good read as always - we've done the Caribbean cruise and hit most of the Mexico coast cities as well so Alaska is next on our list at some point.Congrats on the grand kid to come! Link to post Share on other sites
TheWynn 0 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 BG, you needed one of these 2 guys Captaining your ship.or Link to post Share on other sites
CaneBrain 95 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 thats the standard cruise ship sit n go structure (they ran them a lot on a holland america cruise I went on over last new year's). They are fun.Our cruise ship had a craps table though so I spent more time there....nice trip report. Western Canada is great. Never been to alaska. Link to post Share on other sites
Chris-LFC 0 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Good read lol...this made me lol..."Our captain was British so you know he’s still got the Titanic shadow looming over his head…makes them timid."haha epic line Link to post Share on other sites
Pot Odds RAC 23 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I didn't know Moose can fly. Link to post Share on other sites
Mercury69 3 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Sweet repot. Glad you had a good time! Link to post Share on other sites
lolly.gag.her 0 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 for a full trip report on alaska go read michener's book titled - alaskayou wont find any mention of poker but for those that want to go this will get you off your butt then go read his book poland and make plans to go see that grey beauty Link to post Share on other sites
vegasguy 0 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 You must run good in seattle weather because I lived there for 13 years and it is only sunny about one day a month except for the summertime. Alaska sounds nice I should go sometime. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted June 1, 2009 Author Share Posted June 1, 2009 for a full trip report on alaska go read michener's book titled - alaskayou wont find any mention of poker but for those that want to go this will get you off your butt then go read his book poland and make plans to go see that grey beautyI just finished reading Poland before this trip, and have read Alaska before, but am reading it right now.Def good books Link to post Share on other sites
AceJackOffS 0 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I have to go to Seattle in September for a stupid hippie wedding so I have been trying to find a way to make a vacation out of it. Alaskian cruise seems to be the way to go. pretty cheap too $549 for a standard room for a 7 nighter Link to post Share on other sites
ilovejulie 0 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Good report. Thanks for sharing! Link to post Share on other sites
MaxStPolish 4 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Lol, I'd say bring a chip set and deck of cards and when one of those tournies kicks off, tell the players to meet at the buffet tables outside and get a cash game going, or make a tourney of your own with a little more fun structure and no rake :)They can't say no, right? Since it's the lawless high seas :)15% rake AND 15BBs starting stack. I'd totally just recruit the players to go play at a table somewhere Link to post Share on other sites
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