World Series 09

So I've decided to play several events including the main event this year. I haven't played the main event since 06 - I was moving July of 07 and got married last July. I'm really looking forward to playing in the Series, tournaments are a lot of fun especially if I go deep in any of them.

PokerStars is offering 100K VPPs if you qualify or buy-in through them and agree to wear their clothing. Also, you have to sign a waiver which basically says they own you if you were to win the World Series. What that boils down to for me is about 1 month of work that I wouldn't be forced to do. It would take a lot of pressure off of me which would be great. So, I'm planning on buying in directly through Poker Stars using FPPs, this ends up costing me about $8500 since I could have used the FPPs to buy cash bonuses. It seems well worth it to me and playing the World Series is definitely a +ev decision for me given the level of play in it. Ironically, the main event is the weakest in terms of skill level of any major tournament.

I haven't played any no-limit this year and very few tournaments so I'm planning on studying, watching some videos, and playing some tournaments before the World Series starts. I've had a lot of success in the past at the World Series but my style has changed pretty drastically over the years. I'm a lot looser and aggressive than I used to be which means I'm more likely to bust out of a tournament early but also more likely to win one. It all boils down to luck though, a few hundred or even thousand hands that I might play over the course of a tournament is an incredibly small sample. Here's to being lucky!

The events I'm planning on playing are:

June 12th 12:00pm Limit Hold'em (Event 26) $1,500 (3-day event)
June 13th 12:00pm No-Limit Hold'em (Event 28) $1,500 (3-day event)
June 15th ~ 12:00pm No-Limit Hold'em (Event 32) $2,000 (3-day event)
(optional) 5:00pm World Championship Limit Hold'em (Event 33) $10,000 (3-day event)
June 16th 12:00pm No-Limit Hold'em (Event 34) $1,500 (3-day event)
June 18th 12:00pm No-Limit Hold'em (Event 36) $2,000 (3-day event)
June 19th 12:00pm Limit Hold'em (Event 38) $2,000 (3-day event)
July 3rd World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold-Em (Event 57) $10000


If I make it to day 2 or day 3 in any of these tournaments then I of course won't be playing the following one. I'm planning on blogging the tournaments I do play.