Prep School by Kristy Gazes
My experience at the World Series of Poker is different from a lot of today's players. I have been playing poker fulltime for close to 15 years and made my living out of grinding away in live cash games.
In 1994, I first went to Binion's, where the World Series was held until last year. The environment was very different compared to today's World Series. Binion's is a much older hotel in downtown Las Vegas, which was a much seedier area back then. I used to get a room across the street at the Las Vegas Club: I thought I had it made.
Staying in a seedy hotel for a month and grinding away, eating yummy grilled cheeses at the snack bar. I miss some of that. It's kind of like backpacking through Europe. It's best when you don't know any better. Nowadays I have a place in Vegas, and don't think I could spend a night in a seedy hotel without bitching. I love you, but give me Park Avenue.
A lot of players like myself would go to the World Series to play the cash games rather than focus on playing the events. Back then, the prize pools were nothing like those being offered today and it made more sense for someone making a full-time living playing poker to focus on the cash games, especially with all the tourists that came into town for the World Series. If you look back at the number of players over the last 15 years, there were considerably fewer players in the tournaments just a few years ago. Even though there was a lot of prestige in winning an event at the World Series, the grinders all went to play the cash games because that is where the "easy' money was to be made.
It wasn't until 2001 that I played in my first World Series event, which was Stud Hi-Lo. I also played the S.H.O.E., where I came in fifth. It was quite a thrill to get to the final table at the WSOP, especially in a mixed-game event. Over the next few years I played a few more tourneys, mainly Stud Hi-Lo, which is my favorite. I still predominantly played cash games, and it wasn't until 2004 that I played in my first main event.
I won my seat online for $109. Unfortunately, I only lasted two levels. I had way too many espressos, not enough experience or patience, and really just blew my chance very quickly. I had only been playing no-limit tourneys for six months at that time, so I was nervous. Funny how a big tournament could do that to me when I had been playing cash games so long and never felt nervous or uncomfortable playing live.
Over the last few years I have played in more no-limit hold'em tourneys, averaging about two a month. I won the Full Tilt Championship at the Wynn last 2005 and beat one of the kings of poker, Ted Forrest, in heads-up play. While the prize and television exposure definitely helped my career and ego, it was playing with and defeating such an elite field that really gave me the confidence to focus more on tournaments.