September 6, 2007

Our traveling was completed overnight. We awoke to find ourselves in Skagway, the final Alaskan port on our journey. It was very windy and cold.

Skagway has a full time population far less than the 8000 cruise passengers descending upon it. The town was almost entirely tourist stores. It was tough to imagine what life would be like in the winter. The town has a spectacular history as the starting point for the Klondike Gold Rush. Many of the buildings are from that era, most now converted to stores. The surroundings were inviting, but the weather was taking its toll. We made a relatively quick visit to town before retreating to the security of the ship.

That evening, Kris entered a blackjack tournament. Each entrant was given $1000 in chips to play seven hands with a minimum bet of $100 per hand. Well, actually, the chips were worth 1000 points since they had no cash in value. The top seven scores qualified to play in a final. Kris played in an early round and quickly put up the highest score of 2700. Her name remained on the list for a long time. The later rounds had the advantage of knowing what it would take to qualify so they started betting more aggressively. In one round, aided by the dealer busting in the first hand with several players putting it all on the line, three players claimed qualifying spots. Kris got bumped out.

Kris had a second entry so she showed up for one of the final qualifying rounds. Things were going very well until about the 5^th hand. Kris bet half her chips and was dealt an ace and an eight. The dealer had a six showing. It was double down time. It was the right bet. It was either win or lose, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity with such a statistical advantage. Of course the statistical advantage isn’t a guarantee and Kris got knocked out. It was exciting to watch.

The final was pretty disappointing. Most of the qualifiers didn’t really know how to play blackjack. A couple of them had been downright obnoxious about the way the tournament was conducted. The only high point was the dealer getting a good hand in the last round and knocking most of the players out. The winner was the one who had lost the least.