Preparations for Day 1C

I’m ready to play. It’s the morning of Day 1C. It may be my age but I felt that I needed to prepare for marathon poker tournaments like the Main Event. With Day 1’s lasting into the wee hours, time zone differences making it feel even later, and needing to maintain concentration throughout the tournament, I felt that just going in blind would be a huge mistake. So I decided that there were a few things that I could do to prepare.

Diet—I don’t care what anybody says. Yes, you should eat healthy. But for the days prior and during a tournament, I don’t want to eat anything different than the foods that I am accustomed to eating, whether they are healthy or not. So in the 2 previous days, I’ve had a sub sandwich for lunch, a pizza for dinner, eggs, bacon, and hash browns for breakfast, skipped lunch (as I do a lot), and chicken tenders for dinner. I know. I know. These are typical poker room cuisine. But that’s what I am used to. The last thing that I want to do is develop any kind of stomach flu or adverse food reaction right before or during a tournament. So the last 2 days were not time to get adventurous and try anything different than what I am accustomed to eating. So I’m good.

Play—I wasn’t going to change my game now so why worry about it. I played some cash games and a tourney here at the Orleans on Day 1A but didn’t even go into the poker room on Day 1B. Clear the head. I’ll get enough poker today (hopefully)

War kit—It may sound ridiculous to the younger players, but I have a bag that I take with me to tournaments. It contains: Immodium AD (can’t be running to the bathroom too often), Tums (an antacid just to be comfortable), B-12 (for alertness), Tylenol (for any ache, pain, or headache), and a picture of my family (to remind me of why I’m playing in the first place).

So I’m good to go. I had a little bit of a hard time going to sleep last night. It’s like a kid on Christmas Eve. The anticipation is killing me. I take the free shuttle over to the Gold Coast and walk over to the Rio. Again, I can feel the excitement. It’s not technically the 1st day of the Main Event, but it is for the players of Day 1C. You can see it in their faces. People standing around talking while seeming to size up everybody that walks by. There’s a crowd waiting for the Amazon Room to open up and allow players to go to their tables. It’s almost time.

Finally, we’re allowed in. Let me find my seat. I already located it when I was in here as a spectator on Day 1A. I remember wondering then if the guy sitting in my seat on that day would make it to Day 2. I’m not superstitious. I just wondered. Before I came into the Amazon Room, I was talking to a guy I met at the 888.com Welcoming Party the other night. Now this guy is superstitious. When they allowed us in, he had to go around and go through a certain door to enter because he thought that it was “lucky”. I’m not sure the door will help him.

Here’s my seat. I show the dealer my seat card. Yep, I’m in the right place. Seat 6. Put my bag under the chair and I’m ready to go. Let’s get this show on the road. Let me take a look at my table-mates.

Seat 1—Some kid (low 20s) with a British accent.
Seat 2—40ish guy-American
Seat 3—same as Seat 2
Seat 4—mid-20s American
Seat 5—mid 30s American that seems to like to talk.
Seat 6—Some moron—me.
Seat 7—mid 30s American
Seat 8—mid 20s American
Seat 9—mid 20s American
Seat 10—mid 20s American

Ok. Let’s get done with the announcements already. Finally, those magical words. “Shuffle up and deal!!”