WSOP Preparation

I don't think Bruce Arena was complaining about this referee yesterday (see more girlfriends of soccer stars, thanks SI). Speaking of SI, my wife threw out my Swimsuit Edition before I got my sweaty palms on it. Would you stand for such a thing?

It isn't very good form to pimp yourself, but yesterday's post on Top Ten Poker Catalysts was solid. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

I've booked a room at the Bellagio for next week but need to look around for other options. The question is should I stay at the Rio, and a cheap place, or at the Bellagio. Bellagio or Rio will eat up my per diem set aside for expenses, but Bellagio is always great and the Rio would probably be terrific convenience.

I am a legendary packer before travel, taking probably five-ten minutes to pack for a week. This will be a bit more challenging due to what I'll be doing. Things to pack:

• Tape recorder, tapes, batteries
• Transcription machine (old-looking tape recorder with head phones and foot pedals to transcribe tapes; I have to listen then type on my laptop)
• Some company stuff (things like some brochures, etc.)
  
• Notebook
• Peripheral items (iPod, headphones for my laptop, power strip)
• Things it would be great to go and get: extra battery for my cell phone, for my laptop

I'm thinking hard about just buying into the $1.5k NLHE event that kicks things off. It would make a good story potentially and a nice treat for me. I don't know if I should do it or just play a satellite. A satellite is sort of a mix between smart ROI and a cop-out. The cop-out part is if I win a seat then it was destined; if not, then it wasn't meant to be. I could also just play cash games then invest profits in a seat.

Waffles had a nice perspective last night during his duel with MiamiDon: "Buy-in the $1.5k, cause you're stupid." I probably needed more reasoning behind that, but at least it's input. Waffles titles his post today Bite My Weiner CC, which is a nice shotout. His logic on the hand documented is a classic, with his anger at being sucked out by Iak's nut flush draw to Waffle's overpair is great: close to the money wimpology. I hope I never get that disease for sure. I do think you should focus alot as you get close to the money, but where you are when you're in the money is more important than getting to the money. Shallow cashes aren't nearly as important as getting deep with your cashes.

Poker room is almost finished, so I'll have photos to follow probably this weekend. I'm going to hold off on anything for the walls as I may get some photos from the WSOP ventures that would do the trick. Now I just need to get the games going here.

Any thoughts or ideas that you have for stories or angles at the WSOP, please leave comments or email me at csquard@gmail.com. I'm finishing a great interview with Joe Sebok and have several more in the hopper. I want to continue profiling people like us, aspiring pros, as well as some big names. I think I can bring something to the table for the big names as well, as most of the things I've read are pretty weak ("What is your favorite hand?"). I've done a ton of interviewing in my career (CEO's/executives), so the interviewing part comes fairly easy.

A few shoutouts to some recent visitors that you should definitely check out:

• The Obituarium: Joe Speaker is great, another link missing from my links. He has a story on Truckin' as well about a night in Glasgow.
• You gotta just keep livin man, L-I-V-I-N: Raveen likes winning massive amounts of cash while going to med school in Aggieland. He also has accidental bisexual friends, not that there's anything wrong with that (OK, maybe their is...).
• Adam LaBare: a regular visitor pursuing tourneys, including the WSOP. Good post on my favorite topic, bankroll management.
• Chris Danek: my new best friend, neither Chris nor I can figure out how he showed up in my analytics package, but he's there, he visited, now let's flood with love.

Again, check my story My First Lynching on Truckin'. Friday's recipe is my mom's Baked Beans in honor of upcoming picnics. Take one can of 10 oz Showboat Pork & Beans (none seasoned, just regular), add 1 teaspoon/squirt of mustard, 1/4 cup ketchup, 3 dashes of Tobasco, a handful of brown sugar, and a dozen shakes of Worcestshire sauce. Put in one of those square ceramic pan things, put two strips of bacon on top, then bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to make sure they aren't burning. Double the recipe if required, but they are great. Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by.