Shark attack in the Mediterranean

When chief Brody, the I-told-you-so policeman in Jaws, said "you're going to need a bigger boat", the MSC Poesia would have done nicely. The floating hotel, with an amazing 1,000 staff on board, could withstand any finned attack, but I did not account for the sharks on board for the PartyPoker Million VI cruise.

I basically got chewed up on the cash tables during the week, and went to bed at night lamenting "you're going to need a bigger bankroll". I certainly did not play badly, and I was ahead most times the money went in: K-K caught up by two pair, A-A tripped up by Q-Q, set ran into rivered over-set etc. It was just a nasty run, but that's what this game is about and I'll no doubt benefit from the other side of the coin soon. Thankfully for the past 12 months I have employed sensible bankroll management and can soak up the downswing.

Because I was working on the cruise - reporting on the tournament for our PartyPoker Blog - I could not devote enough time to making my losses back, so there are some folks out there still with some of my money. As they're our players, I am very happy for them!

We sailed from Venice to Bari, in southern Italy, across to Greece, then two stops in Turkey before turning around for Dubrovnik in Croatia and back to Venice for a tortuous 12-hour journey home to Blighty.

In between, the tournament was played out and won by Germany's Alexander Jung, who pocketed about $350,000 for his week's work - not a bad return!


The tournament was a great success, being nicely structured and run expertly by Matt Savage and his team. Having a makeshift card room set up in a beautiful room on the seventh deck, with views of the sea rolling by is sublime.

My reporting duties were not helped by a rubbish and expensive internet connection, which meant I had to watch every hand then disappear in tournament breaks and at the end of the day to my cabin to write up and file as it was the only place I could get a connection. It meant my days were far longer than they should have been.

Internet and cash game woes were put into perspective during the stop off in Dubrovnik. To think this place was at war just 15 years ago is an eye-opener, and you can still see the scars as bullet holes mark nearly every building in the walled city.


The emotional scars cut deeper, of course, and the remembrance room, dedicated to the hundreds of young "Dubrovnik Defenders" who died at the hands of the invading Serbs in the years after 1991, is a must visit. Pictures of the young men who died adorn the walls, and it brings modern warfare home. No more black and white images of World War Two, this was up-to-date horror on the very streets I was treading.

I managed about four hours in Dubrovnik - I'll deffo be back under my own steam at some point - the longest I spent off the boat. I only lasted an hour in Istanbul before becoming peed off with the street hawkers.


Back on board and our party of players, family, friends and staff made up about 400 of the ship's total passengers. The rest seemed to be elderly French people on holiday. You've got to love the French pensioners and their interesting interpretation of queuing.

I started the week in an inside cabin - not ideal, especially as I was having to spend so much time in it writing - but then after two days was relieved to be moved to an outside cabin, with large port hole. Alas! My dreams of beautiful, relaxing views were dashed when I realised I was next to a huge lifeboat!


I eventually got home late on Saturday night, absolutely knackered, to be honest. It had been a great trip, however, and a superb tournament to report on. All I need to do now is try and fix myself up for Vegas.

Good luck at the tables, folks. And remember, it is safe to swim in the sea: Shark attacks are rare.