a time for reflection…after foxwoods
After busting out on Day 4, in a situation I usually get away from, I’ve taken some time to collect my thoughts and reflect on this months WPT event at Foxwoods. At first I was was stunned, then I was shocked, then I was just angry (at myself) for allowing another players reckless (specifically one) style get into my head and affect my play. I’d like to tell myself it was unavoidable (denial), I’d like to say I learned a valuable lesson (not the case) and I’d like to forget about all the outside influences and negativity I felt leading up to my demise, but that’s not going to happen either.
This last week of reflection has given me the time to think about how my body and mind need to work together, as one can easily become stronger than the other. I’ve been focusing so much on improving my diet and increasing my core body strength through daily exercise that I’ve left parts of my mind behind during the past few months.
While most of my experiences at Foxwoods were unpleasant and not worth remembering, I did manage to meet a few good people during this WPT event that were helpful (indirectly) for the Five Diamond WPT event coming up at home in the Bellagio. While I would love to have been in possession of some of the mind exercises I recently learned during my stay at Foxwoods and use it to block out the negative surrounding, it just wasn’t meant to be. However, now that Foxwoods is over, I think it is necessary for me to spew out all my thoughts that were witheld and harbored during the event; for both my own personal reasons and to give any poker players in the future a heads-up on what to expect when traveling to Foxwoods “Alcatraz” Connecticut.
While I am personally venting to release all the ugly antibodies I picked up during the trip, I am blogging this event with graphic intent and description to remind myself in the future what pitfalls to avoid and start running the other way should I start seeing the signs early on.
This years 2007 WPT Foxwoods Poker Tournament would be best described as the worst poker tournament I’ve ever attended in 17 years. To fully understand how excrutiating it really was, I am reminded of a popular TV show a few years back called “OZ” on HBO. Foxwoods is alot like the penitentiary they used to film the show in; it included many good actors (poker players), (in)experienced staff (armed guards), more rules than the detention facility game room and you have no where to go except your 4 X 10 cell (the tournament room was a bit bigger).
To understand the full experience of exactly what kind of racket they are running on the “island” of bad poker tournaments, I will list (in my next entry) some of the most ridiculous rules (of the dozens) I encountered and the related experience….it exhaust’s my patience just to think about them now…