It takes this time of year to remind me why I play poker.
I, of course, am talking about the World Series of Poker. You'd be hard pressed to find many articles now that aren't about the WSOP. For sheer numbers of donkeys galloping through fields of poker chips, you can't beat America. The month-long event pits players from all over the world against each other in every poker game imaginable. The largest NLHE tournament in the world is held at the end. First place in this tournament is a ticket to eight figures between prize money and endorsements; not to mention having your name etched into poker history forever.
I want to make my mark as much as anyone. I see poker in 20 years being studied far more thoroughly. There will be many books and training materials available that will put into exact wording and mathematical expression concepts we're only abstractedly describing today. I see leagues on every continent. You're already seeing the first steps now. I want to be one of the original kids who came into this industry in it's stone age and took huge checks out. I want kids to study my hand histories and say, “damn, he played for the win.” I'm excited because I'll be making my yearly pilgrimage to the poker Mecca, where all of this can happen. I'm also determined to make things happen for me at the Series this year, because everyone is getting more educated, and it's getting harder every day. That, and because my first WSOP was a disaster, where I felt like I never got a chance to play my best.
My first house didn't have air conditioning working for a while. My backer ran into financial problems, which while I was sympathetic toward, they were pretty damned annoying when I'd flown from Malta to be there. My grandfather passed away pretty suddenly halfway through. There were other family problems. I whiffed the whole series. I made a lot of money online but that's because I never left my house.
This year, I'm not making those same mistakes. That, and I've lost a lot of my roll since last year (<3 you MTT backing!) so I can't really afford to screw around. I need to be free of distractions and able to play my best, and also be in a social environment with good people . The first part of securing that was making sure my house this year was comfortable. You need air conditioning, good people, and good music to grind. Being around my friends who I've grinded with before allows me to know I'm going to be around positive people that motivate me. So when my friend Mcmatto offered me a spot in his house I quickly accepted, knowing a bunch of my friends would be there.
Other than being one of the best No Limit Hold'em tournament players I know, Matt's also a good organizer. He's the one you want picking your Vegas house. With him you know you're going to get a good master bedroom, a living room with a huge entertainment center, a nice grind area, and a pool.
Matt's also the kind of guy you want to bounce hands off of. We started off in poker talking hands over burgers in the U District of Seattle. I met him because his frat house was ten blocks away from my apartment. He always asked great questions, and I thought he had a ton of potential. In a couple years, he went from $6.50 SNGs and $.50/$1 NL to winning SCOOP and FTOPS events. It will be nice discussing poker with someone who I haven't talked hands with in a long time. It's always interesting to see the new lines that buddies advocate and discoveries they've come across. A guy as bright as Matt will have tons to teach anyone who listens.
The other Seattle guy in my house I haven't seen in a while is Tyler, or Sexuelity. He's grinded hard online before, but where I really saw him shine was in the bigger side games in Seattle, which he basically took over. He's a very unorthodox player who frequently has a different take on situations. His thoughts on hands have caused me to change lines I've taken for years. At the end of EPTs versus the most airtight solid MTT pros, Tyler's lines are still working. He'll be another interesting guy to catch up with.
I'll likely be playing whatever No Limit Hold'em event is going on during the day. I'm expecting the early $1k and $2k events to have as many ridiculously awful players as they had last year, because many tourists take their one shot in those events. As the series goes on, I expect to see the same drying up effect I saw last year, where the higher buy-ins got much tougher and the lower buy-ins tightened up a bit. As the Main Event approaches, the money is loose again as so many new players fly in.
My daily schedule will probably consist of me waking up, making a pitiful attempt to jog in the Vegas heat, and then eating a healthy breakfast. I'm going to try and bring Gatorade and energy bars to the tournaments most days, and keep up on my vitamins that up my immunity. I'm looking to stay away from tons of caffeine and Vegas food. When I bust out of tournaments, I'll head home to grind, where I can cook my own meals. At least once a week, I want to do something non-poker related. Hopefully near the end I can take my girl to a Vegas show or club.
I've decided to devote the whole month to playing poker, because I'm not sure of how much I'm going to play when I come back home. I'd like to spend more time writing and studying Spanish, and if I'm grinding 24/7 the way I have been for years, then that is not going to happen. The WSOP is my time to completely focus and remember why I started playing poker. It's also my time to make the money to set up my future for the goals I'd like to achieve. It's my Super Bowl as a professional player. I don't plan on slouching.
I can't wait to meet a bunch of you guys this year. It's fun at WSOP time to match all the names with faces finally. I also of course look forward to playing you guys deep in a donkament.
Good luck to all of you,
Assassinato Alex Fitzgerald
*Alex Fitzgerald is an instructor at PokerPwnagewho specializes in Multi-Table Tournament (MTT) play.
Recent Online Scores for Assassinato
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| $200 buy-in, $750,000 Guarantee on FullTiltPoker. 03/14/2010, 3 place for 55,580.00 |
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| $1000 buy-in, $1K Monday on FullTiltPoker. 05/24/2010, 2 place for 48,000.00 |
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| $109 buy-in, $109 NL Hold'em [$40,000 guaranteed] on PokerStars. 02/21/2010, 1 place for 38,437.00 |