A WSOP Veteran's Mindset
I'll be going back to the World Series of Poker in a few days for the
eighth year in a row. Man, how time flies. I was a wide-eyed kid in
Las Vegas in 2005 just happy to be in the same room as so many of my
heroes. Over the years, I got to see my dreams of making deep runs in
WSOP tournaments come true on a couple of different occasions. If you
can get your hands on the buzz that accompanies progressing into the
later stages of a WSOP event, I highly recommend it. online poker
468x60 Ten years after the story of some accountant from Tennessee
ignited my passion for poker and the WSOP, the game has changed a lot
and so have I. I'm a poker dinosaur now. Twenty-eight might as well be
forty-five in this game, especially for an American unable to access
the greatest tool for sustaining a current-level poker thought
processes: PokerStars. Poker has always been a young man's game. Now
it's a young non-American man's game. Part of the upside of getting
old is that you're more realistic. I know whatever relative advantage
I had at the WSOP in 2008, where coasting into the top 200 while
slowly accumulating chips and never facing an all-in until this
happened, is several degrees of measure less probable. When I
surpassed that 2008 finish in 2011, it was largely due to lady luck; I
had just a 2% chance of having had survived all of the all-ins that I
did prior to showing up for play on day seven. And the game will be
tougher this year than it was in 2011. A bit older and wiser, a better
ability to balance lifestyle during the WSOP as an adult will be
closest thing I have to a secret weapon against the field this year.
An early bedtime is no replacement for a deep-level of poker
understanding. I am doing what I can to compensate for this by setting
up strategy discussions with some of the many great young poker
players scattered around the globe I have had the privilege of meeting
over the years. I'm proud to have observed the growth some of these
individuals who have worked to achieve in order to long-ago surpass my
own playing ability. My friend Oliver Gill has been tenacious in his
approach to life as a poker tournament pro; from his home in
Australia, Oliver's words of insight dispensed to me via Skype have
helped to get this American poker player's mental gears dusted off and
ready for a week in Vegas. I am lucky to know a few guys such as
Oliver who have worked to achieve a handsome edge at the table and are
overdue for a great moment. One is Kevin Schulz whose intense approach
is a lesson on the importance of focus at the table. No one should
want Kevin at their table. His secret sauce? He pays attention. I'm
following Kevin's example this year by neglecting my smartphone
between breaks in tournament play. In 2013, that's a big edge that
only requires a bit of discipline. A dedication to keeping my head on
straight might be about the only edge I have this year. These guys can
play. But someone has to win these things. I want to have the best
chance possible. If I'm not in a tournament I'll be in the gym or in
my hotel room working on the daily fantasy sports operation that has
supplemented the void Black Friday left in my life. This is life as an
old man in poker. It's not all bad. You still get the chip and a
chair.