Having qualified for Vegas back in Mid April, I have had time to put some preparation in place. The one thign paramount in my mind after having qualified was that In the few live events I had played in the previous year Ifelt my lack of live practice counted against me on a number of fronts. I thought it was important to address this and give myself a fighting chance for this special event that I have dreamed about going to for many years now.

The past couple months I’ve been going once a week to the G Club in Manchester to get in some live practice. I haven't bothered with the tournaments as the stakes are too small to interest me. I've been playing the cash games basically to get used to playing live opposition. The stakes in the bigger game I play there are typically £2-£2, though in many cases people straddle it for more than this to up the action. This sort of money is more or less on par with my average online stakes and the fact that a lot of people buy-in short I don’t feel the least bit intimidated by the stakes. By and large I’ve felt I’ve played good in the G, but I did have a horror show in Omaha last Monday, making a ridiculous call that I should never have made and a very obvious bluff that a good player was always likely to spot. My only excuse is I think I just had too much gamble in me, tiredness might have been a factor and it’s only my 3rd time playing a live Omaha Cash Game.

When playing in the biggish live tournaments I felt under pressure since I was playing in a big event. I felt like I was outside of my usual online environment. I felt self conscious about my chip handling, my posture and whether I was I giving off tells or not. My practice in Manchester has thought me not to care too much about these things, just play poker. I’m just going to play Poker and totally forget about the occasion and the potential sums of money involved.
My recent run of form online has also come at a great time, I feel if I can bring this to the live poker table and if people misjudge my sloppy chip-handling for the table sucker then on their head be it. That’s the attitude I want to take with me to Vegas.

Anyway a thanks to all the players I’ve played against in the G Club over the past weeks. I’ve enjoyed all the banter and even some of the moaning and people losing their heads that come with the live game, if I do well in Vegas you guys will have played a part no doubt.

Anyway wish me luck as I head Stateside.