AMOS TROTTER WORLD POKER TOUR 05

Chapter 6

My first realization and impression of the WPT tournament is that it is a lot of just sitting waiting. I was anxious. I got there early. There were a lot like me but there were also a lot of seasoned players who had played in many tournaments. The events go on all year and are held at many different casinos with a surprising number of players who do nothing but travel the circuit to play poker. These folks not only know the process is slow but show up at the last minute contributing to the delay in the first day. The tournament starts on its designated time but there were a lot of players still finding seats, sorting chips, ordering drinks or food, and all of that commotion was distracting. Definitely not the focused play at a table as portrayed on television.

Add to that the players who thought it was effective or intimidating to wait long periods of time when it was their turn to play. Perhaps they had some source of devine insight that would inspire them to make the correct play if they only waited long enough. This was definitely going to take a readjustment to my mindset. A study in patience.

Play finally got underway with all the hustle and bustle of players being seated finally calming down. My table was fairly calm with very little wild betting or obvious attempts to "buy" the pot with excessively high bets. I won a few small pots and began to think I was as good at this game as I had believed. Then an old wizened player across the table from me knocked a dent in my chip stack when he played pocket threes and caught a third three on the flop. I had paired the queen in my hand with the highest card on the board. The old dude was quite content to let me chase with him checking first then calling my bet. I successfully chased him until he caught me. After the hand, I was glad I had decided to play conservatively and had not pushed all my chips in the pot to go all in.

At the end of the first day I had lost about one third of my chips. From my seat I had watched a steady stream of players that had been busted out heading for the exit. Some of the professionals like Phil Ivy and Chris Ferguson had walked out so I reckoned I had done okay. But, I was very tired. I had no idea that sitting for eight hours with the level of concentration this game demanded would be so exhausting. I looked forward to a meal, a hot bath and a good nights sleep. The meal and hot bath worked out okay. The good nights sleep not so much. I played poker in my mind all night waking up tired again on day two.