One Week Out

Well, my own private Idaho begins exactly one week from day, and while I should be cramming in some extra poker study time prior to jetting off to the WSOP, life and work of course have conspired against me yet again. Family commitments, an unexpected big work assignment due next week, and a somewhat rushed management certification exam looming on the near horizon are all taking priority right now. Argh. But what are you gonna do? Suck it up, Bug, and get'r'done, that's what.

In the meantime, I am going to try and find at least a little time this weekend to get organized for the trip. Chief among these are:

• Finalize/review my pre-game checklist and game plan.
• Load up my phone with "brain" music to listen to.
• Get my table pack together (water bottle, energy bars, sweater, hat, dark sunglasses, etc.)
• Pre-pack my regular travel stuff, focusing on things like ensuring I have a copy of my buy-in preregistration receipt, etc.
• Review a couple of maps to ensure: a) I know how to get to the hotel, even if it is via taxi (I always find that on biz trips I'm less tilted if I spatially know where I am in a city and nearby environs, even if I'm going to spend nearly all my time indoors in meetings); and b) I know the layout of the Rio (I've been told it's friggin' huge; a fellow blogger just wrote that he got lost wandering around) including restaurant options, locations of bathrooms, etc.
• Read some random hand histories from the excellent Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume I
• Play a few DD Poker sims.

And that's the general plan moving forward from here. My expectations for winning (or even cashing) in Event #26 are, frankly, pretty low. The name of the game, for me at least, is just have what the Guru calls an "adult camp" experience for the long weekend. Have fun, don't stress, make the best decisions I can, play with heart, tweet regularly, have no regrets... and enjoy. Easy game.

On to the next installment in this WSOP adventure...

All-in for now...
-Bug