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When Donna booked the room, we immediately started watching for airfare. As it turns out, the flights to Nassau from Miami / Ft. Lauderdale are only about $70, but the taxes are another $90! Can you believe that? The taxes are more than the flight itself. Geesh.

We were able to get a flight from Albany, NY to Fort Lauderdale for $120 round trip each on Southwest Ding! Fares.  Way cool!  Our flight left Albany at 6:45 am, and we arrived in Nassau around 5:30 pm.

Upon arrival, we had to get a ride over to Cable Beach. The fare was $15.  The last time we were here, we took a shuttle which was $17 per person per direction.  I guess we are going to take a cab from now on.

We arrived at the hotel and the weather was beautiful!  Mid 80s, humid, and a nice breeze from the ocean.  We checked into our room, and it was just as promised - an ocean view from the casino tower.  perfect!  Here is what we see from our balcony:

Notice the stools in the pool on the left side.  You can actually stay in the pool, swim up to a stool, order a drink from the bar and never have to leave the water!  How cool is that? 

Donna wanted to play table games for awhile so off we went.  Her favorite game is Caribbean Stud Poker, however, they did not have that game here.  Imagine that - we are in the Caribbean and they don’t even have Caribbean Stud Poker.  We ended up playing 3 Card Poker and Let it Ride until about 2am.

Tonight the poker tournament starts.  I am excited - VERY excited!

We cannot wait for the poker tournament to start!

Donna and I have been to the Cable Beach Resort in Nassau, Bahamas a couple of times. The first time was when I played in the World Poker Tour Battle for the Season Pass I.    Donna loved it so much, she wanted to go back there for our honeymoon. So we went, and of course, we played in the casino. As a matter of fact, we spent a lot of time in the casino. We were very aware to use our players card when we played. When we were done, we ended up having over half of our room comped for us!

In July, we received a mailing from the Cable Beach Resort saying that we qualified for FOUR free nights at the Wyndham Resort and Crystal Palace Casino.   We both figured that the room was for a Sunday through Thursday stay, but we could not find that fine print that said such. So Donna called them and to our surprise, the four free nights were valid ANY TIME through the end of October. This was a pretty good deal because rooms go for about $170 per night plus tax. We looked over the schedule of events, and picked out target dates: September 27 - October 1. There was an “Everyone Wins Holdem Poker Tournament” that weekend. The operator verified that there was availability that weekend, and we booked an ocean-view room for a whopping $0. The only thing we needed to do was to find airline tickets.

Next on the task list was to find out more about the poker tournament.   I called the telephone number on the website and found out that the tournament was by invite only. The operator looked me up and said that Donna and I did qualify, but had to pay a $99 entry fee. She also told us that everybody who entered was given $100 in casino free play money. In essence, it was a freeroll.

I quizzed her on the payout. They pay the top 10 places according to the following schedule:

10th: $200

9th: $300

8th: $400

7th: $500

6th: $700

5th: $750

4th: $1000

3rd: $2500

2rd: $5000 + Gold ring valued at $2500

1st: 2008 WSOP Main Event Seat + $1000 cash for travel + Diamond championship bracelet valued at $8000

WOWIE! Not bad for a freeroll. I was curious about the chip stacks, blind structure, and number of players. She reiterated that not just anybody can enter. Entry into the tournament is by invite only. When I pressed about how many entries there typically are, she said about 150. Every player starts with T10,000 chips, the levels are 20 minutes long, and the blinds start at 50-100. I do not like the 20 minute blinds, but everything else seems great.

When asked about the playing schedule, her response was, “You play on the first day for three hours. If you do not bust out, you come back the next day for another three hours. If you still have not busted at that point, you take a 2 hour dinner break, then come back for the final table. The final table usually lasts another three hours.”

Am I hearing this correctly? You start with 10,000 chips, 150 people, and the tournament is over in 9 hours? Very Nice!

So, we are off to the Bahamas to play in a freeroll! We leave on Thursday the 27th. Check back for updates!