Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water. That was the advertisement for the famous 1975 Stephen Spielberg film Jaws and one could argue they are about to be a few more sharks at sea.
The Ladbrokes Poker Cruise IV is taking place on January 22nd 2011. The Ladbrokes cruise will set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida stopping off at three different ‘exotic’ locations before returning to shore on the 29th of January.
The whole event takes place on board the largest cruise ship in the world, the ‘Oasis of the Seas’. Entry to this festival of poker can be either bought or won.
So what is on offer here? Well put it simply a three day event, the first two of which are of starting days and the third being a final to crown the King of the Waves. Also many other poker based events to keep all manner and level of poker player occupied for this eight day event.
This got me thinking about just how popular and accessible the game of poker is. Putting the glitz and glam of this event to one side, one has to accept this event as yet another example of just how popular and accessible poker is.
I mean here we have an example of poker being played on the seas, as it has been for years, but we a little imagination and some cleaver marketing a whole event has been born. Given this event is now in its fourth year and with the backing of bookmakers Ladbrokes one can assume the previous events have been a success.
So now I am wondering, where next for the game of poker? Where do we take the game now?
At the start of this article I quoted the advertisement for the film Jaws, well now I am borrowing the main phrase from Star Trek nonetheless, ‘Space the final frontier’.Sir Richard Branson is about to embark on the first commercial space flights with the birth of Virgin Galaxy. Access to space travel is about to become a whole lot easier, not cheap but easier nonetheless.
Now is this another opportunity presenting itself to promote the great game of poker. Though the game doesn’t change, the way a tournament is targeted & marketed can and does change, so can we dare to dream of a new poker tournament amongst the stars.
Is it possible that one day we could witness the first intergalactic poker tournament. Granted zero gravity may pose some difficulty when trying to deal from the deck of cards or keeping them firmly face down on the poker table. I am sure though whichever entrepreneur chooses to follow this venture will have many issues to deal with.
As jovial as the above might be and granted the idea of poker in space may be fanciful to say the least, one has to recognise just how accessible the game of poker is. The game can quiet literally be played anywhere, how comfortable the settings in which the game is played is another issue.
I really wonder if the first person to suggest playing cards in a bar was scoffed at. It doesn’t seem so.
MPO777 is a game of strategy, chance and luck. It is game which mirrors real life and business as it requires forward planning and involvement of mind. Poker can be played at any time of the day and can sit alongside many other games of chance such as roulette, slots, craps and blackjack.
The Ladbrokes Poker Cruise IV might not be the answer to our problems if the aim is to be played in a bar or to be played in a casino, it doesn’t matter where we are or what we want to do.
If we want to make poker relevant to the non-avaiting social classes then maybe we should start thinking about how we can ensure the game is available to those who are blind to its benefits.
We could take the game forward to the point where it could potentially be played on mobile phones.