Taking a Shot
Assani Fisher came to Las Vegas in June of 2006 as a hotshot young online pro — ready to take the World Series of Poker by storm.
The World Series had been catapulting more and more new faces to stardom since Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event in 2003. Fisher dreamed of leaving Las Vegas as a millionaire and household name with sponsorships to continue doing what he loved.
He had reason to be confi dent. His online poker career had just taken off with a $70,000 chop of the big Sunday tournament on Party Poker the previous month. The $10,000 buy-in to the Main Event wasn’t a concern. He had won a seat and an additional thousand in spending money through a PokerStars Satellite.
Fisher didn’t want to fl y in for one event. He was committed to playing poker for a living and Las Vegas is the June and July home offi ce for poker professionals. So he rented a house for six weeks and prepared to make his mark outside the virtual world.
Then reality set in.
Fisher had little experience in live tournaments. The buy-ins he played, the least expensive of which was $1,500, were more than anything he had done online. To make money in the long run, players need not only to cash but fi nish near the top of at least one event — something even the top professionals can go years without doing. And a 23-year-old with cash in hand making his fi rst trip to Las Vegas is trouble waiting to happen. Despite minimum cashes in two events, Fisher returned home to New York with his $80,000 bankroll cut in half. It took 18 months for him to fully recover from the setback those six weeks did to his burgeoning poker career.
For every story of a Jeff Madsen winning two bracelets and cashing for nearly $1.5 million a month after he turned 21, there are hundreds of stories like Fisher’s every summer in Las Vegas. But tales like his aren’t the ones that make the news.
Participating in the World Series of Poker should be on the mind of any serious poker player. No other competition in the game comes close in terms of the potential to launch a career. But knowing when and how to take a shot can be the difference between a positive step and a debilitating disaster.
Here’s what some top professionals and regular Joes with experience said are the keys to making a fi rst attempt at the World Series — without damaging your future:
STAY WITHIN YOUR BANKROLL
Poker pros have differing opinions on how much is too much to risk at the World Series. On the conservative end, Chris Ferguson advises not put up more than two percent of one’s bankroll on any tournament. This means to buy into a $1,500 event, a player should have $75,000. To buy into the Main Event would require $500,000.
“I really don’t think that’s so outrageous,” Ferguson said. “If you want to become a top poker player, it’s in your best interests not to gamble. A lot of people have made a lot of money and become successful poker players because they took shots, but a lot of those same players went broke and weren’t as good as they thought they were. If you’re a good enough player, you can make it to the top doing this. You may not get there as fast as some people, but you’ll likely stay there longer.”
Paul Wasicka takes the stance of the more modern risk-taking internet player. He says people only need to make sure they put up less than ten percent of their bankroll. Wasicka was 25 years old and primarily an online cash-game player when he took his shot in 2006 and won $6 million as the Main Event runner-up.
“If you do well at the World Series, there’s not just the prize money at stake,” said Wasicka, who was signed by Full Tilt Poker following his breakthrough. “There’s sponsorship money, which is a whole career in itself. My goal ever since I started out was to get sponsored. I thought that would be the greatest thing ever. To reach that goal was just awesome. If people are out there to get fame, there’s no better tournament to go for it.”
For that reason, Ferguson, the 2000 world champion, said he wouldn’t blame players for extending their limitations slightly for the Main Event. But he wouldn’t make that exception for the preliminaries.
“Sure, there can be added benefi ts for winning any bracelet, but that’s only for winning,” Ferguson said. “You can’t plan based on the slim chance you win. For any other tournament, you really want to follow those bankroll restrictions — unless you don’t mind going broke.”
Playing outside a bankroll not only risks disastrous results but can affect a player’s performance in the tournaments.
David Doyen, a 30-year-old from Los Angeles, doesn’t regret playing in fi ve World Series events in 2006 even though he spent $7,500 on the buy-ins and cashed for just $2,200. He had a day job and the money didn’t affect his way of life.
“If you’re a part-time pro, you can take shots theoretically over your head and that’s okay as long as you don’t lose so much that it kills your ability to play the games you want,” Greg Raymer said.
It was the following year, with poker as his only source of income, that Doyen wishes he could have back. He played four events for $6,500 and didn’t cash. “That I was not playing within my bankroll affected my decisions at the table because I felt I needed to do well,” Doyen said. “I didn’t play my best.”
Ferguson said people shouldn’t even try to satellite into tournaments they can’t afford.
One way to circumvent his bankroll requirements is to take on backers, though this can be a frustrating option if one does have success.
Raymer took his fi rst shot at the World Series in 2001 by playing in four preliminary events. That experience went well, so he tried the Main Event in 2002. That year, he lost $25,000. It was a big enough amount that he couldn’t safely play the limits to which he was accustomed. Raymer, who had long offered advice and discussed strategy at the online poker community twoplustwo. com, posted a thread that he was looking for backers and got an enthusiastic response.
“A lot of the people who supported me were friends I knew in person,” Raymer said. “But I thought making the post was a better way to go about asking than to call them and make them feel pressured to say yes. Then I had half a dozen people I had never heard of or met, but they had read my posts over the years and decided it was a good investment.”
Indeed it was. Raymer’s backers hit the jackpot when he won the 2004 Main Event for $5 million. Unfortunately for Raymer, it meant he only owned a third of himself when he made his big payday. But the fame and independence the victory gained him were well worth the sacrifi ce.
HAVE A PLAN ... BUT BE WILLING TO ADJUST
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of Las Vegas and blow through a substantial portion of one’s bankroll before realizing it’s in jeopardy. To that extent, it’s good to go into the World Series with a plan. “It’s not so hard sitting home a month before the Series to come up with some reasonable guidelines,” Raymer said. “Then say you’re not going to exceed these guidelines unless you’ve won.”
These guidelines should start with how much you can afford to lose without affecting your play or life. Then you can choose the tournaments that fi t into that amount and leave the rest of your bankroll at home.
People know their personalities and demons. Some players will set out a plan and be careful not to exceed the limitations they put on themselves. Others could be tempted to stray under certain circumstances. The most important part is to be honest to yourself.
Raymer suggests having a poker buddy back at home to help keep you in line.
“Talk to someone with a similar viewpoint as you,” Raymer said. “They’ll understand. Parents and spouses can be what we poker players would call silly about their thinking on things. But if you have a poker friend who is reasonable about how he spends his money, he would be good to call and report to. He won’t get caught up in the momentum. It’s important that he’s back home. If he’s there with you, he might be losing too, and not want to admit to you that you should quit because it would mean that he should.”
To encourage your buddy not to be afraid to speak up, Raymer suggests writing yourself a contract and having him watch you sign it, then saying you would like to call him up every day or two for him to make sure you keep your word. Wasicka says it’s good to have a plan but you also must allow for fl exibility. “If you go three or four times without cashing, it’s easy to get down on yourself,” Wasicka said. “These tournaments keep popping up every day. It’s easy to go play them and not be 100% focused. Or thinking about the bad beat you took in the previous tournament can negatively affect your play. It can be pretty tough if nothing is going right. For those who are going to play a lot of events, I’d say maybe you should have a basic game plan but not be set on it. If things aren’t going well, maybe take a week break to gather your thoughts.”
WATCH YOUR EXPENSES
About half of the $40,000 that Fisher spent over six weeks in 2006 didn’t come at the poker tables. As a young guy in Vegas for the fi rst time, he got caught up in the night scene. If he wasn’t at Tao, he was at Tryst or Pure or a strip club. “There are temptations for sure,” Fisher said. “Everything is so expensive there. If you want to go to all the clubs and do everything, it’s so much easier to get bottle service and skip the lines. But that’s usually $500 a bottle, and there could be a two-bottle minimum. Plus, when you’re in Vegas, you want to do things right. So many people seem like they have money. It all kind of leads to the mindset that, ‘Oh well, I’m young and having fun.’ Then it’s not until you look back and see how much money you blew that you’re like, ‘What was I thinking?’”
Fisher was on the right track by renting a home and avoiding the hotel costs, though he only shared the rent of the four-bedroom place with one friend. Wasicka split a house with eight friends in his World Series debut, making his living expenses extremely reasonable.
Wasicka was also able to experience the nightlife without overdoing it. “Vegas is by far the most expensive city I’ve ever been to,” Wasicka said. “You have to budget when you’re out there. My friends and I said we would go out once a week or every other week but not make it a daily thing. Pick a day you can all look forward to. If you’re always drinking and going to clubs, you’re going to have a tough time concentrating at the tables anyway.”
DON’T GET DISCOURAGED
You don’t have to reach the American dream overnight. It took four years before Raymer had success at the World Series. It’s more important to leave Las Vegas with a good learning experience and the capability to play your regular limits than to go home a winner. Ferguson cashed fi ve times last year with a fourth-place fi nish and still lost money overall at the Series. Raymer had four cashes with two fi nal tables but also fi nished in the red.
When Fisher returned from the 2006 WSOP, he was burned out from poker and found it diffi cult to drop down in limits. It wasn’t until he hit a $52,000 payday on a PokerStars tournament in January that he fully recovered from his setback. Now a Las Vegas resident, Fisher plans to take a cautious stab at the World Series this year. “I might play one or two and try to satellite into the Main Event, because there’s a lot of money in TV exposure if you can make it big and get sponsored,” Fisher said.
Wasicka knows all about the potential benefi ts. He encourages all online players to give the World Series a try as long as it’s within their bankroll.
“I think it’s important to take a shot every now and then,” Wasicka said. “A lot of online cash-game pros fare well in these things. They’re a little uncomfortable with the live aspect, but their actual game strategy and how they play hands can be better in a lot of situations because they’ve typically seen a lot more hands than the live pros. It can be a good experience for someone to take a shot and see what happens. If you didn’t like it, you can always go back to your bread and butter. But you’ll never know until you give it a try.”
