My friend played in the main event of the World Series of Poker a while back, having won his entry in a freeroll on Full Tilt Poker. He somehow managed to finish 520/5619 for baby money of $12,500. This is what he has to say. There are some minor trades that he has to pay out, but he is glad to have gotten that far. Here are some of the things he learned:
- Vegas still sucks. His sinus cavities are all messed up, and his head feels like it is filled with helium.
- He sucks. he wasn’t taking the time he needed to review the relevant information. Often, he was just stalling, not thinking about anything except maybe “the fucking Mirage”.
- The field sucks more. How else can you explain calling off 20K in the 100/200 round on a paired board, or calling down with 33 when you are check-raised and bet into on every round.
- There were hundreds of solid players. Many of the pros played very well, but there were many other players who were young, and who played that year for the first time, who were as good as, and sometimes better than many of the name players.
- He was lucky. Of course, that is the story of many players’ poker life. He is now 3/6 ITM in WSOP events, and is averaging a profit of 8.9 buy-ins per tournament. I hear that it’s better to be lucky than good.
- He sucks. He had no idea what to do in a wide variety of situations. In particular, He didn’t have much of a plan with regard to being a bully or dealing with a bully. Likewise, he wasn’t sure of when to reraise, or how to deal with reraises.
- He will play again. Of course, until he stops sucking he’ll have to win the entry in a satelite like he did that year.