The week before this year's
World Series of Poker started, Jon Friedberg headed to Mexico to sit on a beach. He didn't go there to imagine slicing through the massive player fields or work out this year's poker strategy. He didn't go there to visualize winning his second
WSOP bracelet. He took this vacation to get away from poker, clear his head, and not worry about what 55 days of nonstop poker action would bring him this year. He went there to sit in the sun and get his mind and body ready for playing 30 to 35 events.
"I want to make sure that my level of patience is extremely high and my level of frustration is extremely low. I want to go in with a clear head," Friedberg said.
Friedberg, who has an MBA from Pepperdine University and a poker-playing life for which many would trade plenty, covets exercise and sunshine as if they were air, and he does his best to make sure that he provides himself plenty of each, even when he's facing the world's most intense tournament series.
Friedberg's been playing poker since he was a sophomore in college at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and his results prove that he's a capable competitor. He's cashed eight times in
WSOP events, including his bracelet win in last year's $1,000 no-limit hold'em event, which was good for $526,185. He's coming off an eighth-place finish at the
World Poker Tour Mirage Poker Showdown ($57,637). He's won more than $767,000 playing live tournaments, and thousands more playing online under the name "pokertrip."
Charging the Batteries
Players constantly need recharges of sunshine, exercise, and eating, things that poker players often don't think about. They should, Friedberg said.
Friedberg has competed in
WSOP events since 2004, but this year he plans on entering 30 to 35 tourneys, which would be more events than he ever played before. His trip to Mexico to soak up as much of the sun's rays as possible was a must, especially after playing for consecutive days at the
Mirage Poker Showdown. Making it so deep through a limited field that was loaded with great players was huge for Friedberg's mindset, but it was also exhausting.
Plus, the win gave Friedberg a nice bankroll to finance his
WSOP buy-ins. He stated that he feels like he's on a bit of a freeroll. The only thing left was to get away, clear his head, work out his body a bit, and wait until the
WSOP started.
Eating properly is also a key component of Friedberg's success, but he is no health nut. He just needs to eat right, and that means cutting out the quick and easy foods that are readily available to poker players, who don't work the banker's hours of those in the normal world. It's not that he doesn't like fast-food, he just can't eat it.
"When I was 22 or 23, I could eat anything and still have the same amount of energy. But nowadays, if I eat fast-food, I can't focus as well and I just don't feel as good physically," he explained.
Each day on his way to the Rio, Friedberg will pick up something from a local deli and eat it during the first few moments of play. With the Amazon Room so far away from the nicer restaurants in the Rio that serve healthy food, the players often end up at the poker kitchen. It has a small selection of healthy food - like salads and wraps - but the best-tasting food is hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza slices.
If Friedberg eats these things, it turns his brain into a greasy lump. So, he brings his lunch with him, and on dinner breaks, he dashes to one of the nicer restaurants in the casino.
Friedberg doesn't believe the lack of great food near the Amazon Room affects most players. There's more players in their early 20s than ever before. They eat anything they want, play poker for 12 hours a day, and go out and party most of the night, only to start the whole cycle the next day, while the older players struggle with such things as regularity.
"When you're younger, you're a lot more indestructible and things don't affect you that much. So I would say that because the average age of a player is getting lower, people are probably less health conscious," he said. "But the older people coming into the game - I don't consider myself older, necessarily - the 40- and 50-year-olds, are certainly more health conscious than players were in the smoke-filled poker rooms five or 10 years ago. It used to be just a bunch of big, fat old men smoking cigarettes. Now, you get a lot of people who are health conscious."
He did say that he wishes there were more selections from which to choose at the Rio.
Getting sunshine and exercise during the
WSOP is an altogether different challenge. Since casinos keep out sunshine as if it were poison, Friedberg has to make time to get out to Lake Mead for some boating or up to Red Rock Canyon for a hike. It energizes him, and he needs it, he stated.
The gyms are open pretty much 24 hours a day, but the time to use them can be fleeting. If he does well in a tournament, Friedberg could be inside the Rio from noon until after midnight. But if he exits early, he stops by the gym on the way home to work out his frustrations and the energy that gets stockpiled by sitting still for all of those hours.
Before he made his trip to Mexico, Friedberg couldn't help but look forward to the
WSOP and what it means to all of those who compete.
"The
World Series is the pinnacle of poker. I think most poker players are probably very depressed come mid-July when the
World Series ends. We're depressed because we have to wait 11 months until the
World Series starts up again. The anticipation leading up to the events gives me butterflies," he said.
"I think the only thing I need to do right now is totally clear my head of poker; clear my head of any anxiety I have, any stress, and any bad beats that I'm still not over. I don't want to have any tension in my body from any previous poker bad beats. I just want to come to the World Series fresh and clean, and that way, I'll play patiently, I'll play well, and I'll play confidently."
Simple World Series of Poker Winning Strategy
No matter how large a tournament field is, no matter how many thousands of people are in an event, Jon Friedberg has a strategy to make it deep into a tournament: He doesn't let his eyes wander from the nine players he is facing at his table.
"Whether there are 800 players in a tournament or 3,000 players in a tournament, you're playing the same number of hands from start to finish," he said. "Realistically, you're going to be facing only nine other players at a time for the entire three days. It's not like you have to knock out those other 2,200 people, because other people in the tournament are doing it for you."
Friedberg doesn't worry about average chip-stack size, is never intimidated by the field size, and knows that if he plays his table at the highest level possible - and avoids bad luck - he'll go far.
He uses his last year's bracelet win as an example. He said he spent the first day of the three-day event well below average in chips before winning a few hands at the end of the day to put him at the average. He didn't worry about being short compared to the rest of the field; he just played his game at his table, and by the end of the second day, he bided his time, hit some hands, and gave himself a chance to win on the third day.
So Far in 2007
That trip to Mexico must have helped.
Before the first week of the 2007
World Series of Poker had concluded, Friedberg had come extremely close to winning his second bracelet in less than a year. He finished third in the $1,500 pot-limit hold'em event, winning $101,147. That event attracted 780 players and was won by newcomer Mike Spegal. Gavin Smith finished second.
Get Wet or Take a Hike
No matter how exciting the
World Series of Poker is, sometimes you just have to get away from it all. Fortunately, the choices abound in Vegas.
A short drive west of Las Vegas lies Red Rock Canyon, which features a 13-mile loop through some of the most spectacular desert scenery between Vegas and L.A. Besides the unique view of Las Vegas that it provides, there are many hiking trails for all skill levels, and all are easily accessible from the road that snakes through the park.
Lake Mead, located about 30 miles from Vegas, offers many outdoor activities, including hiking and watersports. Those who happened to leave their powerboats at home can rent a number of different watercraft from businesses surrounding the lake. A quick Internet search will bring up all of the needed information.
