How to Pack for Playing the WSOP + VDSE

Now that I’ve sold out my package, I’m super excited for the WSOP this year! I’m playing all the $1k + $1500 NLHE tournaments, plus many of the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza. Altogether, I have 25 tournaments scheduled between 5/28 – 7/4, so I’m setting out for a real grind!

Smart packing is something that can make a grinder’s (or a Grindette’s ;) ) life a lot easier.

Grinding Packing List:

• A huge bottle of water: Inevitably the cocktail service will have moments when you’re super thirsty and it seems to be taking forever to get a waitress to your table.

• Snacks: Unless you’re really obsessed with beef jerky, you may want to bring what you like to eat on the run from home. I try to keep my snacks relatively healthy to avoid a sugar crash, and enable me to play my best.

• A lot of singles: Having a stack of ones is handy for tipping, and avoiding the annoyance of having to make change later.

• Mini Toothbrush and toothpaste, gum: Because going to Chinatown on your dinner break won’t leave your breath minty fresh!

• Chapstick/Lip balm: The climate in Vegas is super dry, and most people have to moisturize a lot here.

• Toiletries, change of clothes: In case I play until super late and crash with one of my friends on the strip (I live in Summerlin). Ty friends! :)

• Glasses, wipes for glasses, preservative-free eye drops: I wear contacts, but sometimes my eyes have had enough, and I have to change into glasses. Also helps if one of your contacts falls out—as mine did once during a WPT prelim!

• Hand Sanitizer + lotion: As necessary as hand sanitizer is during the WSOP, it can be rough on hands, so I make sure to have lotion.

• iPad, Phone, MP3 player, headphones, + all chargers: I don’t use my tablet while playing, but it’s handy to have in case I bust and want to take a reading break for a bit before jumping into the cash tables. Listening to music with comfortable headphones helps me focus. Chargers are extremely important to carry, because my battery always dies at some point.

• A physical copy of your schedule: In case you forgot those chargers we already discussed.

• Notebooks + pen: For recording hands, staking investments, to do lists, etc.

• Lucky Mementos: While I’m not superstitious, I think having little uplifting things around can help your mental game. For me, I’ll be keeping with me a very sweet note my Mom wrote me to wish me good luck. Also, I like having pictures of my friends and family on my phone, to scroll through.

Good luck to everyone this summer!