The next seven weeks will decide which poker players go home with one of the 99 WSOP bracelets on offer as the 2024 World Series of Poker takes place in Las Vegas this summer. From first-time players to seasoned professionals, Sin City will be packed with hundreds of thousands of bracelet hopefuls over the next couple of months.
If you’ve already read our guide on bankroll, bracelets and backers, you’ll know a little more about how to succeed at the felt. But sometimes, the journey’s enjoyment comes from the friendships we make at the felt and how we feel when we’re not playing poker. In this article, we’ll tell you how to deal with fatigue, what to aim for when seeking refreshment, and how to approach friendships in Las Vegas.
The Bedrock of Success is Sleep
If you’ve been to Las Vegas before, you’ll understand already just how important getting a good night’s sleep is. It’s vital to be rested and ready for the World Series of Poker. The WSOP is a grind if you’re doing it right and playing in all the events you believe you can win, and that applies whatever level of the game you play.
From the weekend warrior who conquers The Colossus to the elite professional who walks away with the Poker Players Championship Chip Reese Trophy, anyone who makes it to the end of a WSOP event has one thing is common with all the other winners – stamina.
Make sure that you arrive in good time to play your first event. Rolling from the plane to the poker table is a recipe for disaster and can leave you playing catch-up. Put yourself in the position to be successful – and profitable – by resting well before you start. Get yourself in a good routine at night and enjoy days off to break up the poker action with some relaxation away from the felt.
Resisting the Las Vegas Strip is tough, so if you enjoy a good night, make sure that you are emotionally bankrolling that night out with the tournaments you’ll play around it. Above all, if you sell action, then make sure you’re doing your best by your backers. Anyone can experience a losing visit to Las Vegas, but money can be won again after this summer’s WSOP. Your reputation is the most important thing to preserve.
Feeding Your Hunger in Poker Heaven
Any poker player could be forgiven for approaching the 2024 WSOP with an insatiable hunger that starts and ends at your beating heart. We live for poker. But the physical self is important too, and if you’re going to go far this summer, you need to make sure that your body is well fed. Maintaining a disciplined diet is something that virtually every poker player finds impossible during the WSOP, but there are ways around losing control of your eating habits over the next 99 poker events.
Daniel Negreanu famously trains religiously for six weeks prior to the start of the World Series then eats what he likes. Others pace themselves through the series, balancing a healthy diet on some days with opportunities to let off steam on ‘non-poker’ days. Whichever way you see eating and drinking during the WSOP, it’s important that it fits with your A-game.
From a healthy breakfast to nutritious, protein-based snacks to keep you going through the action, maintaining your energy through 12-hour days at the felt is vital. If you want to be the best, you’ve got to prepare your body to be in the best place it can so that it can support your mind when those big decisions need making.
If all else fails, simply order a roast beef sandwich and demolish it like 17-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.
Forging Friendships at the Felt
The World Series of Poker will dominate poker headlines over the next seven weeks, as bracelets are won and lost, reputations are built and a Player of the Year achieves glory. While these chapter points will, to a large degree, narrate everyone’s way through the WSOP, many players will take one memory home from Las Vegas – the friendships they make.
From making friends at the felt to backing players off it via the PokerStake platform, there are so many ways to build your friend circle in the game of poker at the WSOP. If you’re sharing in the fun of a WSOP final table, then cheering on a friend to a bracelet win is one of the best feelings in the world. Ask ‘Team Lucky’, who last year were front and center as three members – Shaun Deeb, Josh Arieh and Matt Glantz – were right behind the world champion Daniel Weinman at the Atlanta man won the WSOP Main Event for $12.1 million.
If you’re travelling to Las Vegas with friends then you can enjoy nights out in Las Vegas, to cheering each other on and swapping action in a WSOP bracelet event. From banter in the WhatsApp group while you’re all battling to survive to a Day 2 to dinner break support sessions as you get deeper in each tournament, your friends won’t just keep you going during the World Series of Poker, they’ll be the memories you keep forever, long after the last bracelet has been won at the felt.
The World Series of Poker is about to begin… so what are you after: bracelets, memories, friends or fame?
