Is Ultimate Texas Hold'em in the Casino on Any Princess Ships?

[Projunior]

I am talking about Ultimate Texas Hold'em, played with a live dealer and where each player competes against the house. I am not talking about regular Texas Hold'em where players play against each other. I also know about the tabletop Poker Pro video game where the cards are dealt electronically. That is not Ultimate Texas Hold'em, either.

 

I have played this game on NCL ships, HAL ships, Royal Caribbean ships and Celebrity ships. Has anyone seen this game on any Princess ships?

[retrembl]

I was on the Grand when we cruises last year

[cloveygrl]

I am talking about Ultimate Texas Hold'em, played with a live dealer and where each player competes against the house. I am not talking about regular Texas Hold'em where players play against each other. I also know about the tabletop Poker Pro video game where the cards are dealt electronically. That is not Ultimate Texas Hold'em, either.

 

I have played this game on NCL ships, HAL ships, Royal Caribbean ships and Celebrity ships. Has anyone seen this game on any Princess ships?

 

 

Oh man I hope not - one of my fav table games.

[chinorider]

I played Ultimate Texas Holdem on the Majestic Princess and did very well. Flopped a Diamond Royal Flush on 2nd day of 49 day cruise. Needless to say it is my new favorite game.

[Loritd]

They had a ultimate texas hold'em table on the Star last month. The way my luck was I wish the hadn't:')

[FLCruise7]

As I recall, most of the Princess ships I've been on have this one - also one of my favorite tables to play!

[goldfada]

They have a slightly different version called “Heads Up Hold ‘Em.” Bets before the flop must be 3x the ante. It includes a feature where losing straights or better get a bad beat bonus. It is otherwise identical to Ultimate, but eliminating 4x bets increases the casino advantage. It is an enjoyable game, but take time to learn the strategy

 

 

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[Projunior]

So which is it? Ultimate Hold'em, the licensed Shufflemaster game as played on Crystal, NCL, HAL, RCL, Celebrity and in Las Vegas? Or Heads Up Hold ‘Em (new to me) which would seem to be unique to Princess?

[Projunior]

[Duplicate deleted]

[goldfada]

So which is it? Ultimate Hold'em, the licensed Shufflemaster game as played on Crystal, NCL, HAL, RCL, Celebrity and in Las Vegas? Or Heads Up Hold ‘Em (new to me) which would seem to be unique to Princess?

 

It's Heads Up Hold 'Em, but it's not unique to Princess. I've seen it at land-based casinos.

[Projunior]

Thanks for the info, Goldfada.

 

I have never come across this game. It is interesting to me that HAL would have genuine Ultimate, and Princess, also owned by Carnival, would offer this variant instead. I would have expected Carnival to have a corporate license with either Shufflemaster or Galaxy (owner of Heads Up).

 

I looked online and I guess Heads Up Hold'em has, as you mentioned, a slightly higher house edge than Ultimate. The strategy, while not identical, is close. Both games would seem to fill the bill as a way to while away some hours in the casino.

[Greyhound3]

Thanks for the info, Goldfada.

 

I have never come across this game. It is interesting to me that HAL would have genuine Ultimate, and Princess, also owned by Carnival, would offer this variant instead. I would have expected Carnival to have a corporate license with either Shufflemaster or Galaxy (owner of Heads Up).

 

I looked online and I guess Heads Up Hold'em has, as you mentioned, a slightly higher house edge than Ultimate. The strategy, while not identical, is close. Both games would seem to fill the bill as a way to while away some hours in the casino.

 

I have played Ultimate on the Grand (Feb. 2017) and the Crown. Did fairly well on the Grand...

 

Don't know anything about the Heads-Up version.

 

Grey

[Projunior]

I cannot get a straight answer out of Princess. I tried twice and both Princess reps claim that Princess has neither Ultimate nor Heads Up in their casinos. Obviously, they are misinformed, but I seem to have run into a brick wall. I am specifically interested in what is available on the Regal.

 

On a related note, I contacted HAL with the same question. Unlike Princess, they were very forthcoming. As I surmised, it looks like Carnival Corp is in the process of rolling out Galaxy's Heads Up Hold'em across all their cruise lines. I got the following back from HAL (HAL response to me in black and the response that the HAL rep received from Carnival in black):

 

"I checked with a contact at Carnival Casinos, they run the casinos on all Holland America Line ships, and received the below response:"

 

“We are making progress, there needs to be a disclaimer though, we signed a deal with a game provider and now offer their version of ultimate texas hold’em – it is essentially the same game, however it is called WPT Heads Up Holdem”

[Murray's Pop]

I was hoping for a straight, live dealer heads up game.  I guess they don't exist.