Once again the World Series of Poker is fast approaching - and I'm blessed enough in life and in bankroll right now to be able to take a shot.
I blew up spectacularly in my home game's WSOP Satellite Series - quite literally gave my chips away in the Step 2 Championship tournament - but that's another story, so this time around I will be fronting my own entry almost entirely.
I say almost because I do have one backer, my dear friend Sven who has bought 15% of my entry into my bracelet event. That event this year will be my first ever Millionaire Maker, a Saturday bracelet event in June that boasts a guaranteed first place prize of at least a million smackers.
In preparation for this event - I've decided to reapply myself to playing tournaments on a more regular basis. Up until this week I've been well off my usual pace of a hundred live tournaments a year. This is good because I've had more balance in my life and all - but for the WSOP on mostly my own dime, I really want to bear down for a few weeks until it's time to go to the big dance.
So the plan is - two tournaments during the week, Tues and Thurs nights, at Hollywood Park. It's a cheap tournament, with enough decent regulars to make it worth my while in terms of getting sharp, staying aggressive and being practiced in live poker.
In addition to this, I also will be hitting my own Friday night Sit-N-Gos in my garage, always a lot of fun and a different vibe than going to a casino - but it will likely be very beneficial to my confidence as I tend to do very well in my home game (satellites excepted of course!).
Beyond that, I also have a Moose Lodge game this Saturday, and I've also got my eyeball on a Survivor event at the Bike two weeks from tomorrow night. It will be a nice change of pace and probably more in line with what my level of aggression will end up being in Vegas. Both in Vegas and at the Bike, the field will likely be tougher, and my stack will likely be shorter throughout - it will be a good thing to do.
So all told by my count it will likely be 10 tournaments between now and Saturday June 10, the date of the Milly Maker. Hopefully that will knock off the dust and rust, and hopefully I will play and run well enough to have a good amount of confidence going in.
If and when I bust from this event, I will have to take stock on how I am feeling - if I make the money and am up, or if I feel I played really well, I might just treat myself to something I've always wanted to do - play in a mixed game tournament at the WSOP.
Now I know what you're thinking, and yes I agree with you, I'm dead money in such an event. BUT, there are two factors that weigh heavily on my mind. I have actually played in enough mixed game tournaments over the years to know that they are incredibly card-centric and that luck is a much bigger factor than with no-limit games. Everyone is stupidly deep for hours, and then suddenly everyone is stupidly shallow. As long as I remember to make good decisions, they don't even have to be great, and to re-raise a lot when the cards demand it, I think I can hang.
The second factor is this - last year I walked through the Brasilia room during the $1500 eight game mix tournament, and every single active tournament professional that you could ever think of was playing in that tournament. They were all bracelet hunting, and I know that if I sit down in this tournament, I am almost guaranteed to be up against one or more recognizable opponents. Translation - even if I stink and bust early, I'm likely to have a story for the ages. It's not that I'm that star-struck, but it would be great to be able to tell my grandkids about when I stared down Phil Hellmuth and then folded like a little bitch.
If I don't feel like I played well in the Milly Maker, I will likely just go home or failing that (if the airfare's too expensive to change) I will simply throw down in the 2pm Deepstack on Sunday. These turbos are always good for a dream that is inevitably dashed upon the rocks of 12 big blinds or less after the second break.
Yes, it's World Series time I'm so gosh darn excited. Can't wait to go!
