Should Amateurs Enter the World Series of Poker?

One of the things that kept me going during a brutal work schedule as I covered the 32nd annual World Series of Poker for www.poker.casino.com and Card Player was the "thank you" E-mails I got from some of my readers.

One of the more common themes expressed sounded something like, "Thanks so much for your daily reports! They make the World Series seem alive to me and really make me want to go there and play next year."

While I certainly appreciated the praise, I wondered a lot about the second part. I worried that I might be encouraging people who weren't ready to play in the World Series to do so.

If you are an amateur who's thinking about coming to play, and are trying to decide if this is a good idea, my answer is a very strong, "It depends."

If you're wealthy, it's a no-brainer. Why not play? It's glamorous and exciting, you could easily wind up seated next to a famous player or two and go home with some stories, and if you get lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle, you might even advance considerably further than your skills entitle you to.

Although the big-name players dominated the final week at the WSOP, there were certainly a number of "who the heck are these people?" types showing up at final tables throughout the tournament. Anything is possible (probable is quite another matter).

On the other hand, if you are not wealthy, and if the money required to enter the $2,000 limit hold'em tournament matters to you (or even worse, if the money required to enter the $2,000 no-limit hold'em tournament matters to you – I say worse because it's much harder for an amateur to advance in a no-limit or pot-limit event than a limit event), I think you're probably making a serious financial error by coming to the World Series to play.

Remember, I said, "to play." Coming to watch is a great idea, especially now that Binion's has indicated the 2002 WSOP will be nonsmoking, because it can be very exciting to watch the final tables, and you can learn a great deal about how to play against good tournament players (how much it will help you play against bad players is less clear). My own game has improved immeasurably because of all the final tables I have covered.

If you are coming to play, though, and have never played in tournaments before, or have played only in local tournaments with small buy-ins against weak competition, you are kidding yourself if you view your buy-in as anything other than a donation to the stronger players. Your money will be part of what they call "the dead money."

The donation might be worth it, if you want to measure your trip by something other than financial results. If you're just losing your "mad money," your kids are well provided for, and all your decision to play means is that your next car might cost $30,000 instead of $35,000, come on ahead. It's possible you might get several thousand dollars worth of stories or dreams by playing.

But if you are truly an amateur, you are absolutely, positively kidding yourself if you travel to the WSOP thinking that your entry fees are an "investment" rather than a bad gamble. As much as I dislike house advantage games like craps, a weak poker player would have a much better chance of turning $2,000 into $30,000 at a craps table than he would in a World Series event.

Notice, I didn't say he'd have a "good" chance at craps. I said he'd have a "better" chance at craps, as in "a slim chance is more than no chance." When you read my stories about World Series final tables, and you read about someone who usually plays $3-$6 poker or $5 dealer's choice with his buddies getting into the money, realize that for every person like that who gets into the money, there are a hundred who don't.

Another problem with going straight to the major leagues is that getting knocked around by the great players can shatter your confidence. You might well have the potential to play at that level, but if you go to the WSOP, enter six tournaments, and get knocked out of all six before the dinner break, your poker psyche might never recover.

If you're thinking about trying your luck at the WSOP, try some middle-level tournaments first. $100 tournaments are different than $20 tournaments. $500 tournaments are different than $100 tournaments. $1,000 tournaments are different than $500 tournaments. If you can succeed at the lower levels, you're not wasting your money trying for World Series glory.

If you can't succeed at the lower levels, keep practicing and learning until you can, and then move up. You can buy every worthwhile poker book ever written for considerably less than $2,000. I don't mind if my tournament reports encourage people to dream. I mind very much if the reports encourage people not merely to dream, but to take fiscally irresponsible actions based on those dreams.

Andy Glazer is the weekly gambling columnist for the Detroit Free Press and the author of Casino Gambling the Smart Way. He is also the online poker guide for www.poker.casino.com, and welcomes your questions there.