Devo’s Guide to Getting Away from the WSOP

Hello. It’s week four of the 2015 World Series of Poker. If you’ve been in town since Memorial Day, you’re probably starting to feel a little fatigue. If you just got here, you’re probably planning on being here for a while. I played more than 20 events at the WSOP for eight summers, and I’ve learned a few things about carrying momentum into The Main event. Here’s some ideas I have that I hope will help you out this summer and set you up for success.

First off, if you’ve been here since the beginning, now is the time for a break. I highly recommend taking at least one full day off very soon, and I recommend that you have at least a portion of another day attached to it. I also recommend getting out of town. Detaching yourself from the energy of Vegas for just 24 hours is important for detaching your mind from the WSOP and allowing true rest and relaxation to happen. There are limitless opportunities for escape from Las Vegas for a night. If you have a car, use it. If you don’t, rent one. If you can’t rent one, then find somebody who can. If you can’t do that, then buy the damn car and return it a couple of days later.

In 2006, the World Series of Poker started on a Monday in the last week of June. They never did this again because they discovered how hot August is in Vegas. After week four, I was pretty exhausted. I had a bunch more money than I showed up to town with a month ago, but it was all starting to catch up with me. My brother talked me into heading to Laughlin for my birthday, but I had no ride. I couldn’t rent a car because I had no credit card. They wouldn’t accept my debit card. I pulled $10,000 cash out of my pocket and offered it as a deposit. I’m sorry sir, we can’t accept that. I pulled $10,000 cash out of the other pocket, enhancing the deposit. Sir, we can’t accept cash deposits. Do you have a sales department? Yes, over there.

Hello sir, I’m interested in that Mustang, do you have a return policy? Yes, you may return the car for a full refund within seven days and up to 200 miles. How much is the car? $17,995. I’ll take it. See you in a few days. Laughlin is 97.5 miles away from Vegas, so that worked out well.

I went to Laughlin, had a great time, and came back to Vegas excited to play poker again. One day away from the WSOP makes you appreciate it and look forward to playing again tomorrow. I’ve had some great adventures over the years. Laughlin was a good one that I repeated several years later. Twice I have driven to the coast for a surf session and a night on the beach. In 2013, I headed for the town of Pioche hoping to catch a trout out of Echo Canyon. That lead to my friend Fitz and I performing an impromptu concert for the locals while we all drank canned beer together.

Now, go. Take a mid-WSOP break. You’re not playing the $10,000 six-max tomorrow, and if you haven’t busted pot-limit Omaha (PLO) yet, then you will soon because everybody busts in PLO. You can skip the $3,000 no-limit event and be back in time for the 10-game event in the evening. Have fun. Make stories and memories. I’ll never forget that time in Pioche with Fitz, and I don’t remember anything about playing poker that summer.

Good work. Feels nice to be back and I bet you noticed that you were way more excited to be playing poker than everybody else that hasn’t had a break lately, eh? Hopefully you win some money, but being well rested does not mean that you will win. It makes it more likely that you will win, but it is hard to win money in poker tournaments.

From this point forward, you need to focus daily on the tournament at hand while maintaining enough gas in the tank to head into the main event with momentum and energy. You need to have at least a couple of days off between now and then, and you need to take some time off for yourself before the main. Plan for this without planning it out. Go with the flow every day. Play this hand your best right now. You should be playing well and making deep runs, but every once in a while the flow will break and give you a natural chance for a break too. Don’t use this time for cash games or strip clubs, use it to take a break and recharge, because you don’t know when your next opportunity for a break will come.

I always kept hiking sandals, a small day pack, a chair, a blanket, fishing gear, and a bottle of whiskey in my car. My favorite escape from town when the day dealt me a level three bustout was to head up into the Spring Mountains, home of cooler air at seven thousand feet. The town of Mt. Charleston is about an hour drive from The Strip and a good launching pad for many hikes through pine trees. Mt. Charleston Lodge has a bar and a restaurant with a sunny patio and a great view. They will rent you a cabin if you want. West of Kyle Canyon lies Lee Canyon and Las Vegas’ ski resort. The meadows are my favorite place to have a picnic, and here is where you will start to see some of the Spring Mountain’s wild horse herd munching on soft grass in the meadows or on the ski slopes above. This herd’s home is further away from Vegas in a place called Cold Creek. Here lies one of the Spring Mountain’s most prolific springs and is the water source for those horses and an elk herd that lives in the higher altitudes. I caught a trout out of a pond there in July when it was 114 degrees in Las Vegas.

It doesn’t matter where you go or what you do, but just that you do what you need to do to take care of yourself in this marathon of a poker festival. You want to feel like the best form of your poker playing self heading into the main event, which is right around the corner. Feel free to hit me up @devopoker if you want some escape from Vegas ideas. ♠

Bryan Devonshire has been a professional poker player for nearly a decade and has more than $2 million in tournament earnings. Follow him on Twitter @devopoker.