The Explorer of the Seas, the second largest cruise ship in the world, sailed from New York on the 25 Jan with over 900 Ladbrokes guests onboard. They were there to play in the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise III, a nine-day festival of poker, and enjoy the world-renowned hospitality of Ladbrokespoker.com. With over ,100,000 in prize money up for grabs there was everything to play for.

Poker proceedings kicked off with the ,500 NLHE main event. Among the 242 players were a few familiar faces and names including Jon 'Skalie' Kalmar (5th in 2007 WSOP main event), Michael 'Beppe' Greco, Marc Goodwin, Jonas 'Nebuchad' Danielsson (the Ladbrokes King of Cash Games), Jeff 'Jaffacake' Kimber (World Heads up Champ), Roy 'The Boy' Brindley and Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott.

Four days of tense tournament play ensued, interspersed with stops at exotic islands such as Puerto Rico, St Thomas, the Dominican Republic and Labadee.

Edward Ihre, Managing Director of Ladbrokespoker.com commented: "We had Sit-N-Go's, tournaments and cash games a-plenty available pretty much any time of the day to suit every pocket."

"The excellent poker schedule coupled with alternative events such as the five-a-side football (which seems to have become a regular fixture on the cruise itinerary); a poker quiz run by Norman Pace, the Ladies ,000 Freeroll and the Ladbrokes farewell party. Feedback from everyone has been great and we're already looking forward to the next live event in Las Vegas in the summer"

The mani event final table comprised four Swedes, one Dane and a Brit was played out in an auditorium packed with supporters; to add to the already electric atmosphere, the cards were called out by popular TV poker presenter Norman Pace (who earlier that week cashed in the 0 NLHE), Roy Brindley and Jon Kalmar to name but a few.

Five Brits made it to the top ten, but all but one crashed out just before the short handed final table, leaving it to Michael Greco to represent the UK. Having sat down at the table third in chips, he went out first (winning ,980) after his A-9 suited, ran into A-K held by the eventual winner and chip leader throughout the game, Claes Westerberg. Westerberg – from Sweden - has only been playing eighteen months but left the cruise 3,625 richer.

Ihre continued: "This is a rare opportunity for us to get to know our customer and is about more than just the poker - as the five-a-side football illustrated. It is so popular an event amongst our players that it was seriously oversubscribed. We even had to rope in a professional to referee the game and the British team was coached by the indomitable Barry Fry (ex Peterborough Manager)."

,500 Main Event Final Results:
1st Claes Westerberg, 3,625
2nd Niclas Adolfsson, ,210
3rd Henrik Lovander, ,560
4th Thomas Mose, ,280
5th John Lofstrom, ,300
6th Michael Greco, ,980