looking for general info/advice/wisdom for 1st time at WSOP

[huge]

I feel like I've seen this somewhere - a general thread about advice for a first-timer at the WSOP - but now I can't find it. Maybe I saw it last year?

I won a seat on bodog recently, and now I'm trying to prepare. If someone knows of a thread on 2+2 or elsewhere, or if someone out there has just put up a website with general info for WSOP virgins, please point me to it.

If there's no existing compilation that anyone knows about, I'm happy to have whatever wisdom or tips you can throw at me. Anything from "here's how to play against the big names" (I'm reading 'Kill Phil' right now) to "here's what you should have in your backpack at the table" to "here's what you should be reading/doing to get ready" would be helpful.

thanks, and see you there...

[Huckster]

A couple things to remember about playing in the ME.
1. The structure. This is not your weekly home tournament this is the world championship. The blinds start low and you have a big stack. See flops as cheap as possible, and do not fall in love with pocket aces or kings. I have busted so may people in main event by flopping sets to take out their big pocket pairs. Get away from the hand if you played it like ABC poker and you have to commit a large amount of chips on the river.

2. Do not let yourself be tagged as someone who can be bullied. Defend your blinds against name players or you will be a target for the duration.

3. Use the break times wisely. (restroom, eating, mediatate, etc.)

4. If you go deep get plenty of rest. You can only be on your A game if you are prepared mentally and physically. A lot of amatuers underestimate the length of the day. It is very diffacult to play your best poker all day long.

Hope the above helps and maybe I will see you at the final table.
Huck

[DVaut1]

Recently, a friend of mine on these forums asked me a similar question. Just a little background: I'm a relatively medicore player (read donk) who qualified (and played in) my first ME last year. I won another seat this year. My friend asked the following over PM:

[ QUOTE ]
What are you doing in preparation for the ME? You gonna crash course the HoHs?

[/ QUOTE ]

My response:

[ QUOTE ]
This is sort of what I did last year; I treated the weeks leading up to the ME like cramming for finals in college or something. I was re-reading both HoHs, Theory of Poker, Caro's Book of Tells...reading 2+2 MTT for hours on end...I went to some local B&Ms to get used to live play (at the time, I had probably played no more than a total of 50 hours live).

Frankly, it was all more or less worthless (actually, I should amend this. In the long run, I suspect there were probably great benefits to all of that preparation). But the ME is one tournament. I don't think there's really any way to 'prepare' (that will substantially increase the chances of doing well) -- even in a deep stack tournament with long blind-levels like the WSOP, the tangible benefits of copious preparation are likely close to null.

I think the best preparation for a single tournament merely involves praying to your favorite god(s) and/or idols and begging them to let you run good. The benefits of any kind of formal 'preparation' regimen likely won't manifest itself in a single tournament.

So, to answer your question, most of my preparation for the WSOP ME involves booking tee times at local golf courses and trying to find out where I can get a good (but cheap) steak while I’m in town.

FWIW, Stallion Mntn. Country Club is close to the strip and offers a nice discount if you're willing to schedule a tee time after noon (of course, it will be the middle of July, and in the middle of a desert). And as for steak, I've heard Mr. Lucky's 24/7 at the Hard Rock has an all-day steak special for $9 (which comes with three grilled shrimp, a potato and salad). This is what my ME preparation has produced.

[/ QUOTE ]

[kutuz_off]

I would definitely recommend NOT to read any strategy books right before the tournament. Books screw up your game and take quite some time to digest what works and what doesn't.

Just play a lot of tournaments, play deep-stack tournaments available online, live tournaments if you have any available locally. Reading 2+2 deep-stack threads might be of value.

As for breaks - you better map out available restrooms before the tournament, because lines will be huge. Bring bottled water and energy bars to the table. It can be pretty cold inside the cardroom, so you might want to have something with long sleeves in your bag just in case.

[okterrific]

[ QUOTE ]
A couple things to remember about playing in the ME.
1. The structure. This is not your weekly home tournament this is the world championship. The blinds start low and you have a big stack. See flops as cheap as possible, and do not fall in love with pocket aces or kings. I have busted so may people in main event by flopping sets to take out their big pocket pairs. Get away from the hand if you played it like ABC poker and you have to commit a large amount of chips on the river.

2. Do not let yourself be tagged as someone who can be bullied. Defend your blinds against name players or you will be a target for the duration.

3. Use the break times wisely. (restroom, eating, mediatate, etc.)

4. If you go deep get plenty of rest. You can only be on your A game if you are prepared mentally and physically. A lot of amatuers underestimate the length of the day. It is very diffacult to play your best poker all day long.

Hope the above helps and maybe I will see you at the final table.
Huck

[/ QUOTE ]


EHH , what the hell do you know about it? oh wait nevermind /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Lawman007]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A couple things to remember about playing in the ME.
1. The structure. This is not your weekly home tournament this is the world championship. The blinds start low and you have a big stack. See flops as cheap as possible, and do not fall in love with pocket aces or kings. I have busted so may people in main event by flopping sets to take out their big pocket pairs. Get away from the hand if you played it like ABC poker and you have to commit a large amount of chips on the river.

2. Do not let yourself be tagged as someone who can be bullied. Defend your blinds against name players or you will be a target for the duration.

3. Use the break times wisely. (restroom, eating, mediatate, etc.)

4. If you go deep get plenty of rest. You can only be on your A game if you are prepared mentally and physically. A lot of amatuers underestimate the length of the day. It is very diffacult to play your best poker all day long.

Hope the above helps and maybe I will see you at the final table.
Huck

[/ QUOTE ]


EHH , what the hell do you know about it? oh wait nevermind /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Is Huckster Huck Seed?

[Joe O]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A couple things to remember about playing in the ME.
1. The structure. This is not your weekly home tournament this is the world championship. The blinds start low and you have a big stack. See flops as cheap as possible, and do not fall in love with pocket aces or kings. I have busted so may people in main event by flopping sets to take out their big pocket pairs. Get away from the hand if you played it like ABC poker and you have to commit a large amount of chips on the river.

2. Do not let yourself be tagged as someone who can be bullied. Defend your blinds against name players or you will be a target for the duration.

3. Use the break times wisely. (restroom, eating, mediatate, etc.)

4. If you go deep get plenty of rest. You can only be on your A game if you are prepared mentally and physically. A lot of amatuers underestimate the length of the day. It is very diffacult to play your best poker all day long.

Hope the above helps and maybe I will see you at the final table.
Huck

[/ QUOTE ]


EHH , what the hell do you know about it? oh wait nevermind /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Is Huckster Huck Seed?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, he is.

[jtomon]

agreed, every time I read a new book I noticed a certain period where I ran awful trying to implement. Long term its well worth it, short term trips you up.

[Wake up CALL]

[ QUOTE ]
agreed, every time I read a new book I noticed a certain period where I ran awful trying to implement. Long term its well worth it, short term trips you up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Happens to me every time I drink strawberry flavored Koolaid, it must be cause and effect.

[stan1541]

Why would you not read up? Why would you not want to refresh, or even learn a little? I'm not saying adapt a new playing strategy, just get your mind focused on some of the little things.

Also, a question, Would it be better to play tons of hands online or get similar time (ie less hands) in B&M?

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
A couple things to remember about playing in the ME.

[/ QUOTE ]


good post. sounds like it's the simple things to consider. these are the types of things it's nice to remember.

thanks for contributing.

bwana

[Lawman007]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


Is Huckster Huck Seed?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, he is.

[/ QUOTE ]

How cool is that? The OP asks for advice for a first timer at the WSOP and a World Champion shows up to give him some. This forum is so great. Thanks for your input, Huck! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[wiz_apprentice]

[ QUOTE ]
I would definitely recommend NOT to read any strategy books right before the tournament. Books screw up your game and take quite some time to digest what works and what doesn't.

Just play a lot of tournaments, play deep-stack tournaments available online, live tournaments if you have any available locally. Reading 2+2 deep-stack threads might be of value.

As for breaks - you better map out available restrooms before the tournament, because lines will be huge. Bring bottled water and energy bars to the table. It can be pretty cold inside the cardroom, so you might want to have something with long sleeves in your bag just in case.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with kutuz_off on most of his post with a couple of adjustments:

1. I agree on not reading a NEW poker book just before the ME. Rereading an old book to "brush up" on a few points of your game is probably ok. (If reviewing an old poker book messes you up, then don't read a poker book.)

2. I'd suggest bringing some bottle water(drink it first) & other drinks like Gatorade. Since you won't have a fridge around, the water will get warm and not taste very good.

3. Energy bars(and/or fruit). Bring a variety of things. If you don't, you'll likely stop eating what you brought with you. Those days get long and you need to eat to keep your energy level up.

[huge]

[ QUOTE ]
A couple things to remember about playing in the ME.
1. The structure. This is not your weekly home tournament this is the world championship. The blinds start low and you have a big stack. See flops as cheap as possible, and do not fall in love with pocket aces or kings. I have busted so may people in main event by flopping sets to take out their big pocket pairs. Get away from the hand if you played it like ABC poker and you have to commit a large amount of chips on the river.

2. Do not let yourself be tagged as someone who can be bullied. Defend your blinds against name players or you will be a target for the duration.

3. Use the break times wisely. (restroom, eating, mediatate, etc.)

4. If you go deep get plenty of rest. You can only be on your A game if you are prepared mentally and physically. A lot of amatuers underestimate the length of the day. It is very diffacult to play your best poker all day long.

Hope the above helps and maybe I will see you at the final table.
Huck

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow ... umm ... thanks (hands shaking, voice stammering - I'll try to get all my trembling around famous players out of the way NOW before I sit down with them).

I especially appreciate the advice about defending blinds against top/name players. I think I'm reasonably good about that in general, but it seems like a good idea to make a real effort to send that message early if I'm at a table with a bigshot aggro player.

Would you (Huck) be willing to talk about how you size up an unknown player at the ME? Is there anything other than the obvious that makes you decide "OK I can abuse this guy" or "maybe I need to be careful with this one"?


Thanks for your reply to my post (and all the others - you little people matter to me too!) I've been sort of hoping and not hoping to run into big names at the tables, and it's nice to have a run-in on 2+2 in a situation where I don't have a pile of chips at stake. (My closest brush so far has been busting Paul Magriel out of a tournament at Caesar's earlier this year - man was he fun to have at the table)

See you at the FT,
-huge

[huge]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I would definitely recommend NOT to read any strategy books right before the tournament. Books screw up your game and take quite some time to digest what works and what doesn't.

Just play a lot of tournaments, play deep-stack tournaments available online, live tournaments if you have any available locally. Reading 2+2 deep-stack threads might be of value.

As for breaks - you better map out available restrooms before the tournament, because lines will be huge. Bring bottled water and energy bars to the table. It can be pretty cold inside the cardroom, so you might want to have something with long sleeves in your bag just in case.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with kutuz_off on most of his post with a couple of adjustments:

1. I agree on not reading a NEW poker book just before the ME. Rereading an old book to "brush up" on a few points of your game is probably ok. (If reviewing an old poker book messes you up, then don't read a poker book.)

2. I'd suggest bringing some bottle water(drink it first) & other drinks like Gatorade. Since you won't have a fridge around, the water will get warm and not taste very good.

3. Energy bars(and/or fruit). Bring a variety of things. If you don't, you'll likely stop eating what you brought with you. Those days get long and you need to eat to keep your energy level up.

[/ QUOTE ]


I think I agree about new reading vs re-reading. I'm reading a couple of new books now ("Kill Phil" and "Beyond Tells"), but I think in the couple of weeks before the ME I'll just do some reviewing of my stand-bys (HoH, Gordon's Green Book & maybe Caro). If there are other titles people particularly recommend (new or old), let's hear 'em...

thanks for all the input, especially about water/gatorade, variety of food, warm clothing, etc - it's that kind of stuff that I just would have no idea about.

-huge

[greg nice]

re: food

can you order food or otherwise buy it and bring it to the table? or are you limited to bringing your own?

[Roswell]

Huckster,

You were pretty sure that Furlong would fold, right? I think almost everyone in the world would have thrown away A3 in that spot.

[burningyen]

Here's what I learned from my experience last year (my first and possibly last WSOP main event unless I start running better in satellites):

1) Practice playing deep stack poker. The Sunday $10k on Bugsy's Club uses the same chip structure as the WSOP main event (10k starting stacks, starting blinds at 25/50).

2) Read Caro's book of tells and practice playing long sessions live as much as possible.

3) Get used to the fact that most of even the best players will bust out on Day 1, that you will have to gamble and that anything can happen, bad or good. Just concentrate on the things you can control and play great poker.

4) Don't forget how little money you have invested in the event. It is a psychological edge you have over some "pros" who are not adequately bankrolled for the event.

5) Do not load up on caffeine early on. You will crash later in the day when things really start to get hairy.

5) Exercise, especially cardio.

6) Win coinflips.

[stan1541]

[ QUOTE ]


6) Win coinflips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you have any specific ideas on this one? Cause if you do, I would pay greatly to learn!!!!

[po-Jay-to]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


6) Win coinflips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you have any specific ideas on this one? Cause if you do, I would pay greatly to learn!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
Corollary to #6:
If you find yourself with the worst of it...Suckout.
/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[crackhead]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


6) Win coinflips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you have any specific ideas on this one? Cause if you do, I would pay greatly to learn!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
Corollary to #6:
If you find yourself with the worst of it...Suckout.
/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

AWESOME!!! Sage advice my man!!!!

[Lawman007]

Here's another pearl of wisdom: Make the final table. It is very difficult to win if you don't.

[Texter]

If possible go before the ME is about to start and get your player registration card.

Once the ME comes along that line is looooong.

[Grunch]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A couple things to remember about playing in the ME. [...]

Hope the above helps and maybe I will see you at the final table.
Huck

[/ QUOTE ]


EHH , what the hell do you know about it? oh wait nevermind /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Is Huckster Huck Seed?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, he is.

[/ QUOTE ]

This has not been verified.

[okterrific]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A couple things to remember about playing in the ME. [...]

Hope the above helps and maybe I will see you at the final table.
Huck

[/ QUOTE ]


EHH , what the hell do you know about it? oh wait nevermind /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Is Huckster Huck Seed?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, he is.

[/ QUOTE ]

This has not been verified.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure but it has not not been verified . FWIW.

[bsheck]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


6) Win coinflips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you have any specific ideas on this one? Cause if you do, I would pay greatly to learn!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
Become religious.

[steamraise]

[ QUOTE ]
Is Huckster Huck Seed?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, he is.

[/ QUOTE ]

This has not been verified.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds kinda like him from his posts.
Huckster post (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Board=gossip&Number=5903098 &Searchpage=1&Main=5875340&Words=+Huckster&topic=& Search=true#Post5903098)
Huckster post too (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Board=tv&Number=5554355&Sea rchpage=1&Main=5525945&Words=+Huckster&topic=&Sear ch=true#Post5554355)
Huckster post also (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Board=gossip&Number=6188955 &Searchpage=1&Main=6186248&Words=+Huckster&topic=& Search=true#Post6188955)

[Lawman007]

Yeah, those other posts of his verify it as far as I'm concerned. Besides, in my entire life I've only heard of two people named Huck, and one of them was a figment of some guy's imagination, so this has to be the other one. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[pokergrader]

Nice thread. Thanks for the information all who provided it.

[huge]

thanks to all who replied to this - world champ or otherwise.

It seems like this thread should get moved to the new WSOP discussion forum. I'm guessing a moderator has to do that...

[wiz_apprentice]

One more thing. Jeffrey Pollack the Harrah's executive in charge of the WSOP has an email address for players to use. Mainly for questions and suggestions. Here it is:

jplt@harrahs.com

I'm sure he still has assistants answering emails about the Main Event and the upcoming preliminary events. If you think of some good questions and get an informative response, post it on the thread.

[wiz_apprentice]

[ QUOTE ]
thanks to all who replied to this - world champ or otherwise.

It seems like this thread should get moved to the new WSOP discussion forum. I'm guessing a moderator has to do that...

[/ QUOTE ]

Why hasn't this thread been moved to the WSOP forum? Bumping and hoping this thread gets moved to the appropriate forum.