Preparation is Half the Battle - Q & A with Paul Wasicka

Paul Wasicka was first made known to the poker public in 2006, where he finished in second place at the Main Event to the infamous Jamie Gold, adding the $6 million payday to the $60,000 he had accrued in other world series events that year. Wasicka followed continued to add to his poker resume by finishing deep in the Aussie Millions and the LAPT before taking down the National Heads Up Championship for another $500,000. CardPlayer caught up with Wasicka on the first break of the first day of the main event.

Ryan Cadrette: How does it feel to be back at the Main Event?

Paul Wasicka: Great. I feel really confident, the most confident I've ever felt for a tournament. Right now I've got a little bit of a tough table draw. But I like my spot at the table. I've got Lee Watkinson over on my left, but so far we've stayed out of each other's way. There are a few internet guys at the table that seem pretty good. I'm trying to play for the smallest pots possible. I'm trapping a lot and slowplaying a lot of hands, and just playing really small pots. The biggest pot I've played so far can't be more than 1,600. I'm just trying to win small pot after small pot, and once the antes kick in, we'll see if I adjust. But as of right now, I like how my table is playing, and like my spot at the table.

RC: Speaking of adjustments, you first started getting public attention two years ago when you finished second in the 2006 Main Event. You followed that up with deep finishes at the Aussie Millions and the LAPT, and of course your win at the 2007 National Heads-Up Championships. Have you had to adjust your game at all since you've become a recognizable figure? Are people playing against you differently now?

PW: Yeah. I tend to get a lot of people calling me with weak hands, assuming that since I'm a pro I bluff a lot. I do pull some big bluffs in tournaments and stuff that people have probably seen a lot of, but usually it's few and far between when I'm bluffing. So I usually get called down quite a bit with weak hands. It can be frustrating, because they do catch two pairs on you, and they do catch their gutshots on you, but other than that, I think that ultimately it comes down to just feeling the table out and looking at the player that you're playing against. You have to kind of just get into his head, so each player you play differently. It's totally situational, but generally I've made sure I'm not bluffing all the time, and have been trying to value bet a lot too.

RC: People usually talk about the way the fields at tournaments like this have changed since the Moneymaker boom, about how much bigger they've gotten and how much more aggressive players have been. Have you noticed any changes in the players more recently, since 2006 or 2007?

PW: I think there are still a lot of weak players out there. But there are a lot of players that are starting to learn general concepts that they didn't know like two years ago. So I'd say by and large, the fields have gotten a little bit better, but that being said, there are still a lot of players that make a lot of mistakes. I think it's still a great equity tournament, probably the best of the year. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. By and large, I still feel really confident because I tend to do better against players that have a general grasp of the game and can actually read situations, because then I can kind of get inside their mind. But when somebody doesn't really know that betting a certain hand in a certain spot is a bad play, and they bet it, sometimes I get caught bluffing because if this guy was a decent player, he'd know not to bet here with a good hand, so I'll raise, and then sure enough he'll catch me bluffing. That's kind of what I've had to work on most, realizing which players are going to bet in which spots, and I've gotten a lot better at that.

RC: How has your series up until today been going so far?

PW: Actually, I've only played in five events, and I haven't cashed in any yet. Actually, I don't think I've made it past level 4 yet this year. But it's all good. The cash games are going good also, so I've just been kind of breaking evenish over the course of the summer. But breaking even is really good, because it lets you just kind of tread water until you make that one big score. And hopefully this is going to be the tournament that provides that.

RC: Where and what kind of cash games have you been playing since you've been here?

PW: I've been playing mainly online cash games, like the $10-$20 on Full Tilt. I do every now and then go to a card room and play some lower stakes, like $1-$2 or $2-$5, but I haven't done that so far this series. When I do that though it's mostly to go and have a good time, not to go out and make money. But online, mostly I'm playing the $10-$20 on Full Tilt, the six handed tables, but as we get deeper in this, I'll probably start playing a lot of short handed sit-n-gos and heads-up sit-n-gos, just to try to work on my game as far as knowing what to do with certain hands when it's folded around to me. I really want to cement that a little bit more, because right now I have a really good general idea, but I don't know exactly the math behind some of the different plays. So I'll probably study up on that a little bit more.

Right now there's a lot of preparation off the table. I feel like preparation is half the battle, so I can feel like I can give myself the best shot if I'm well prepared and mentally rested and eat well throughout the day. That's where my focus is mostly throughout most of these tournaments.

RC: What specifically do you do to prepare yourself mentally for this kind of event?

PW: I do a lot of things actually. I go on walks, I meditate, and I pray. I do a lot of different stuff. I read books, talk with friends, and then I psyche myself up. I listen to music, and just basically spend any day that I'm not playing thinking about different hands I've played in the past and fixing certain leaks in my game. That's a big part of it. Preparation, not just necessarily playing tons and tons of hands, but I do a lot of work off the table too.

CardPlayer's Live Player Database - Paul Wasicka

Paul Wasicka plays online at Full Tilt Poker