The idea of a boot camp didn't sit well with me. The chance of a trainee sweating profusely while screaming was low on my to-do list. But when they threw out the word poker, my ears perked up. Poker has long been a part of my life, playing with my high school friends every weekend and having a beer. It couldn't escape my attention as an editor of a game-related publication, and it took the country by storm. So, when I got the call if I wanted to go Foxwood to the weekend's WPT poker boot camp, I was pleasantly surprised.
This is my first time in Foxwood, too. My family sobbed and cried when we came to this emerald city in a sea of trees. The view of the green glass hotel tower was quite impressive. We dug our way into the self-parking area one by one, and got a sense of how popular the casino was.
After being checked in by a friendly and efficient staff member, we went up to our rooms. The rooms at the Grand Pequot Tower are stunning with beautiful furniture and stunning views of the surrounding trees. It's a much different experience than Las Vegas, where you have to curtain your room to get a good night's sleep. 슬롯머신
The next morning I went down to the convention center where the boot camp was taking place. After signing, I received a two-day schedule and a bag filled with great stuff for poker players (poker simulator software, Mike Sexton's book, DVDs about the WPT Ladies Tour, cards, etc.). And for the next eight hours, I also received the breakfast I needed to consider poker non-stop.
The WPT Poker Boot Camp was the brainchild of Ron Rubens and Steve Berman from Florida, who previously ran the Information Technology Boot Camp. Last year, as Ron says, he and Steve were sitting on the board of a local synagogue together, and while they were dozing off, Ron wrote "Poker Boot Camp?" On paper. Shortly after, his heart beat, and he got a call. One of them was a pleasant call to Rylee Berman, president of the World Poker Tour Committee. Rylee is one of the best poker players in the world, and he knows a thing or two about poker that he joined the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002. It wasn't long before Rylee called back with good news. He suggested to Rubens and Berman that the World Poker Tour create a boot camp and sign Mike Sexton, a top professional and commentator on WPT's TV show Travel Channel.
Things took an turn for the better in the summer of 2004, and a licensing agreement was reached in November. Poker history was created from Jan. 26-27 with the premiere of WPT Boot Camp at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Mike Sexton and Alex Outhred were the instructors for the first event, which was a huge success.
As a beginner, I didn't know what to expect from the boot camp experience. I knew I wouldn't get lost in the crowd because boot camp is limited to 50 people, but I was wondering how much knowledge you needed to catch up. The instructors at the camp were Clooney Gowen, winner of WPT's "Ladies Night" tournament, and former professional Rick Fuller, who finished seventh in the Reno Hilton World Poker Challenge.
Clooney started by telling us her background. What I'm saying is, if you're going to be sitting in boot camp for two days, you can't do much better than standing in front of someone as charming and smart as Clooney Gowen. Clooney is an abbreviation for Cyclona, which is chosen after a particularly strong storm left an impression on her father. She started playing blackjack and poker with her boyfriend's family as a teenager, and after graduating from high school, she set herself on fire in Las Vegas to test her luck as a blackjack pro. Without finding such a pungent blackjack, she found herself playing poker with a group wearing gray vests. "I risked the stakes of 10 cents and bought seven stud games for $40. I lost my money and was devastated, but I was fascinated," she told us. Since then, it has been love.
The enthusiasm that Clooney and Rick had for the game was evident from the moment they began their education. This wasn't a number presentation. It was full of quick information and anecdotes that got me involved in the first place. The foundation was settled within the first 15 minutes. If you're planning on attending, by now there's one thing you should have learned: the order of the winners. Anything else is included. Technological aspects, tournament strategies, table images and talks, like buttons and blinds, up, calling, checking, opening hands by location, real and implied port odds. Clooney also gave women in the camp some insight into how to play against men, and the men gave them ideas about the pitfalls women could lay for them.
On both days, we had a lab after class. The lab gave us a chance to test out what we learned from the poker game with expert feedback. The group was divided into two tables, with some students playing the game and others observing. We handled the same hands that came out of a real poker game on the WPT tour, and we were all on our own about what to do. Once we played the game ourselves, we saw a real WPT video of poker experts doing the same thing. Not only was this a great tool for learning and discussion, but it was quite fun. It was in the lab that we had an inkling of how complex game poker could be. Even with the same hands, the tables had different bets and results. Clooney and Rick criticized the play, and we could see what was missing and what was right.
The two days of class flowed very quickly to me, and I absorbed a lot of useful information about poker strategies and techniques. At the end of the second day, it was time to test my knowledge at the Texas Holdum Tournament for all students. Had I done that, the last table would have been on the casino floor to give the audience a feel. Despite everything I learned in the two days, it was a rookie's mistake to knock me out pretty early. I would just say that if the opponent was playing early on, he would usually play great. Trust me.
The weekend kicker was that the winner of the Bootcamp tournament was a poker novice. Not only that, but he was also a journalist and part of media coverage working for the New Haven Register. Pat Ferrucci, who wrote a great article about his experience, played brilliantly for over seven hours with every lesson he learned in mind. He didn't deserve to retain the top prize, which is the entry of the Foxwoods satellite tournament, because he was a journalist, but he was a hero for us to relearn this great match.