Find your anchor! Staying balanced at the WSOP

SOooooo Vegas is BRUTAL! While it has been an amazing experience so far, it’s been one expensive roller coaster ride! These past few weeks have been a serious test of my discipline and mental fortitude, more than my poker skills. While the poker tables have given my there share of challenges, I still feel like I’m playing well and just running bad. I’m not so arrogant to say I haven’t made mistakes, but I’m constantly working on those errors and I know that when the cards turn in my favor and I’m on my A game, big things are gonna happen. Thats poker, that’s variance, that’s life lol. No, the real challenges have been off the felt. Vegas has been even more difficult to stay on track than I thought it would. Some relationship issues, living situation problems, too many drinks, some bad influences, and some deep run busts that tilted me enough to hit table games, have all effected my training and my poker. While I know that sounds like alot, I’m being a little dramatic( shocker lol) to really drive the point home and make myself feel bad enough to be sure not to let any of it happen again. And if you heard or saw some of the REAL sob stories here, you would find out like I am, that what I’ve done is tame and nothing compared to it lol

Yes, you can eat healthy
at the RIO! lol

So on that note, I’ve decided to make this more of a mental game and Fitness based post, to remind myself of what’s really important, get back on track, and to save you all from hearing my bad beat stories! lol (well most of them)  Now I have to give credit where its due and thank Jason Ferruggia at www.RenegadeStrengthclub.com for the email that formed the basis for this post. In the email he had an incredible quote from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that really stuck with me…

“You always want to protect the thing that allows you to do what you do. In this case, my “thing” to protect is my training. Regardless of what time zone I’m in, or getting pulled in a thousand different directions or how little sleep I’ve gotten – I’ll always find a way to train, get after it and push thru. Training is my anchor – it centers me and allows me to then work a full 12-14 day of business. Find your anchor. Protect your anchor.”

I think he knows what he’s talking about!

It really spoke to me in this trying time of run bad. The more I read it, the more focused I became. The bad beats disappeared from my mind, the pressure of winning was removed and clear thoughts of just playing my best poker became my only concern. I remembered to focus on the things I can control and not to get upset at the things I cannot control. I remembered tomorrows another day and Poker will always be there. I remembered that for ME; without training, healthy eating and sleeping well, I’m not  nearly at my best. One of, if not the biggest reason I started this 2Fit2Fold blog, (as cheesey as I know it sounds) was to keep myself accountable. This is MY Anchor. Training, staying fit and healthy, it keeps me sane. Something I definitely need out here. Its something I think anyone playing this series or any serious poker needs.

Before the rest of the house
wakes up! lol

Poker is alot of fun and can be very profitable, but it’s way too easy to get your hopes and bankroll crushed. Stay Anchored, stay balanced. What keeps you grounded, in control, and on track towards your goals?  Whether you’re out here playing the WSOP,  trying to run it up at your local casino or just sitting behind the computer grinding online, figure it out! Then use it to keep yourself from going crazy and broke out here! lol

Let me know what you think in the comments below, love it or hate it! lol I’ll be playing the Planet Hollywood Ultimate Goliath and then the Monster stack event here at the Rio this week. So I’ll have another post for just poker and bad beats soon! lol Follow the action @TimOK311 on Twitter. @ 2fit2fold on instagram and  facebook be sure to like my 2fit2fold page while you’re there!

Thanks for reading! Run Good!

Tim

Tim Hits Vegas for WSOP

It’s official!! I have arrived at my first WSOP!!! Vegas BABY!!  The time has finally come for me to test my poker skills at the biggest and best series in the poker world!! The series last from June 1st til mid July and has every form of poker you can think of, at every imaginable buy in!! There’s even an Online event to play as well! It should be an amazing time, that I will be sure to learn a lot from and remember for the rest of my life! (and hopefully win a life changing score! lol) I have planned a pretty full schedule and with all the other great events going on around town, I’m sure it will be overloaded! Being my first time here I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of staying in Vegas for 5 weeks, but lucky for me, I have met some great poker friends in my short time of playing professionally, that are showing my the ropes! And after seeing how insane the airport is here, I could not be more thankful! One of them being John Michael Curcuru, who I met in St Maarten, after he also won a satelite through Intertops poker!

On my way Penn & teller lol

I’ve only been to Vegas two times and both were just for an overnight stay while passing through, which was enough to play some small limit cash games lol , but nothing serious. It’s pretty nuts, casinos towers everywhere, giant billboards, and non stop action; In and out of the casinos! People are everywhere at all hours and it seems like the party only stops when you want it to, or you drop from exhaustion! lol So this will be the ultimate test to staying healthy and Fit, to say the least. I’ve surrounded myself with some like minded people and prepared a pretty strict nurtrition and training program, so I feel confident I can handle the challenge. I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road, but being flexible and staying positive will go along way on this brutal grind. I’m also making it a point to stay away from the clubs and casino games as much as possible, cause we all we all know that’s just asking for trouble. lol

Just one of SEVERAL rooms! NUTS!

We didn’t waste any time after arriving other than to get a quick bite to eat and hit the tables for some small buy in single table sit and go tourneys. Very first hand I get aces! SWEETT, til we get it all in on the flop and the other guy has a set of 6s lol! I didn’t even budge from my seat, cause I knew it was coming and sure enough….BINK ace on the river! lol not a bad way to start off your first WSOP! lol Unfortunately, my luck didn’t run all the way and I came in second. Happy with that part but with the SNGs being winner take all, it was a bummer. We have played a few more since, placing 3rd in two of them, second in another and a 1st place as well. For the Win! lol The 3rd and 2nd places all had deals made at the end to chop in some fashion, so overall profitable. John and I agree there is some really soft play and seems like there’s a lot of easy money to be made in these SNGs if you know what your doing!

BUT These were just the warm ups to the BIG money and we are on our way to try our luck at the insanely massive Colossus tomorrow and if that doesn’t go well we will head on over to Planet Hollywood for their Goliath million guarantee! Wish us luck!!

Thanks for reading! Run good!

Tim