poker in Aruba

[frank white]

I recently went on a cruise and one of the stops was the beautiful island of Aruba. the wife and i did some "duty free" shopping in the early morning and then had some early lunch before heading off to the beach. our boat didnt leave port until 11pm so i planned on playing around 6:00 and staying for four hours and then hop in a cab and get back on the ship before it leaves. i start to take a tour of the casinos and ask around and i was told which places had poker rooms. anyone who has been to aruba knows that after 2 hours in the sun there, you need to take a break, so i went for a walk to check out what limits were spread and how the games looked. it turns out that the poker rooms don't open until 7pm. i am instantly bummed out. i am used to the foxwoods/vegas world of poker going 24 hours a day. i ask a blackjack floorperson what time a full table would get going, and he tells me that they get enough players for a full table around 8 or 9. this was a total letdown. i headed back to the beach to lay out in the sun for another hour. did some swimming then got some more sun. i ended up not even playing because i would have missed my ship if i stuck around. has anyone gotten a chance to play in aruba? i can't be too pissed off that i didnt play cards while in paradise, at least i got a good tan and got to swim in beautiful clear and WARM water in early march. that cant be done in boston harbor, revere beach, or cape cod during this time of year.
-frank

[JJ97]

Funny -

I just got back yesterday and had the exact same issue. We stayed at the Rennissance, right next to where the cruise ship docks. But I went to all three poker rooms during the middle of the day and got the same story.

Totally disappointed... I really couldn't play at night because my wife thinks that is the time we need to spend going to diner and being romantic and crap like that.

During the day she's perfectly content to lay in the sun and let me get lost in the casinos.

So Aruba for Poker was very disappointing, but good otherwise.

JJ

[frank white]

jj,
i was there on friday. did you happen to go to that italian restaurant right outside where the cruise ships dock called Don Carlo's? i am italian and have gone to scores of italian restaurants in my life, and this place was in the top 5. they actually serve their pasta al dente. their shrimp scampi w/ garlic butter sauce was incredible.

[budman]

I played in the Holiday Inn last time I was there. The games did start late. The rules were a little funky and it took me a couple of days to adjust.

They played 11 handed limit hold'em. In the 10-20 game you could raise the pre-flop 20 right away. So many times the large blind might have to call 40 or 60 before the flop.

One local guy fell asleep at the table every night. They would pound on the table and generally slow the game up to accomodate this guy. I took to trying to foul his hand when he would sleep, and almost got thrown out after fowling his hand at least six times in one hour.

We played with the owner, who was a loose aggressive player and a lot of fun to sit with. When the table would fill up he would get up and let a paying customer sit.

During that trip, only the Holiday Inn was spreading poker. Now I hear there are three or four casinos with poker.

I am going back in July and will give it another shot.

And I will have to try Don Carlo's restaurant.

[RPMick]

Radisson or Holiday Inn are my only cash game experience down there. The limit rules, as someone points out, are non existant. Had the same thing happen at 10/20 and the dealer just went right along with it.

I suggest hitting either of these places up, and sticking to NL. The dealers absolutely suck down there, you can't screw up NL too much. Plus they have no rake in NL, they charge $5 per player at a specified point on the hour.

If you really want to play, I suggest vacationing around late September or early October. More than enough action on that Island during that time.

-Ryan