How to prepare for your first (major) live event

[dino1980]

I've put major in brackets as it's subjective.

I recently comissioned someone to write a feature on this subject for the magazine I write for and figured it'd be a good subject to discuss on Blonde.

What do you do now that you wished you did when you first played a big tournament or played live for the first time.

My tip would be this:

If you can discover the structure of the tournament beforehand do so.

[danafish]

I'm playing a GUKPT next month and I was planning to prepare with a couple of large whiskies. Is that wrong?

[Dewi_cool]

nothing at all Dana, couple of bottles will do

[madasahatstand]

I'm playing a GUKPT next month and I was planning to prepare with a couple of large whiskies. Is that wrong?

Sounds like great prep to me

[M3boy]

Get there early and avoid any stressfull situations prior.

Be relaxed and focused.

[lucky_scrote]

Hmmm get plenty of sleep the day before is all i can say

[The_duke]

i'm with Dana -- get leathered -- no fear

[Dingdell]

Take a poker buddy with you and use them as a sounding board when you are finding it difficult or doubting your play. Use them as your personal railing team and get them to watch the table, spotting tells and bluffs etc you may have missed.

[Dewi_cool]

Take a poker buddy with you and use them as a sounding board when you are finding it difficult or doubting your play. Use them as your personal railing team and get them to watch the table, spotting tells and bluffs etc you may have missed.

always knew poker was a team game, just too drunk to notice

[Ironside]

brush up on the rules of breaking tables and the clock would be my change

the first major event i played (£750 freeze in the vic)

i was short shacked with 45+ players left and posted the big blind

i counted my chips and knew i could still pass and still have enough chips to make a double up worth it

sure enough i am dealt crap and i pass the game is paused a talbe broken and the blinds increased

now a guy is moved to my right and puts in a SB i make a small protest to the dealer saying i cant pay the BB twice

i get a shrugg of the shouldersand i let it go thinking i was in error now i dont have enough chips left  and confused

i fold my 72o in the bb and push all in the next hand which was less than a full blind raise and bust


i now know to call the floor over in future when i dont get the right ruling from the dealer and i also know to not be scared to speak out

[technolog]

i also know to not be scared to speak out

You used to be scared to speak out?!?!

[ACE2M]

Don't take your best friend of many years along, don't get steaming drunk the night before, have more than 2 hours sleep, remember to register, don't try to chat up well known female poker player, don't mess yourself the first time you get into a pot with a big 'name player', i could go on, damn it was fun though.

[ericstoner]

Go out on the lash the night before, prefrably lunchtime eh Dewi. forget to eat or have a cr@p beore the toiurny starts.

then pass every hand till the buffet break..................................Then wash and brush up, and come back to  play properly.

works everytime!!!!

[matt674]

Take a poker buddy with you and use them as a sounding board when you are finding it difficult or doubting your play. Use them as your personal railing team and get them to watch the table, spotting tells and bluffs etc you may have missed.

  GO DING GO DING

[Djinn]

I'm playing a GUKPT next month and I was planning to prepare with a couple of large whiskies. Is that wrong?

Just mix whatever it is with RedBull, I was more surprised at the length of the days in large tournaments than anything else. 

My first big tournament was the WPT Paris in 2004, I think, to which I won an online satellite much to the surprise of everyone playing said satellite.  Hours of low-limit cash games online weren't the best prep for a long-clock event - the deep stack and slow pace were real eye-openers.  I had two hours' sleep the night before, I was so nervous, and on getting to the Aviation Club drank three double espressos, was immediately violently sick in what I think was the men's restroom, and spent the first four levels trying not to throw up on Howard Lederer.  The positive side of this was that while you're concentrating on feeling nauseous, you aren't in the least intimidated by the scarier players at the table.

The best thing about these events is the time you get to just obsessively watch the other players, trying to catalogue their play like a little mental poker tracker.  And you have so many chips your options take a very long time to be whittled down into 'push or fold.'  I eventually snuck into Day Two which was a far better result than anyone could have predicted. 

To recap:  Try to sleep beforehand - if I'd had any Nytol I would have taken two at 9pm the day before
Don't load up on caffeine on an empty stomach
Try to make it into the correct restroom
Watch everybody at your table all the time, even through the boring foldy first level