Out of my depth

Hi

I need some advice. I am out of my depth.

I am a small stakes online poker player, normally the 5c 10c tables. I've only been playing for 5 months.

Recently I entered a tournament. I didn't really understand what I was entering. I won it, it was a satellite tournament to another satellite tournament. I went and won that.

Now I've won a free seat worth $10000 to the WSOP. I hadn't heard of this and I've looked it up. It looks fun for a holiday but I'm not too interested in playing the tournament. I'll have no chance, this thing is full of high stakes pros. So I tried to cancel it or get a deal for a percentage of the money but I wasn't allowed.

So I have to go. I've never played live before. I don't really earn enough money to practice high stakes, hence why I was playing the babies tables.

Can anyone give me any advice at all on how the hell to survive or shall I just treat it as an experience and admit my chances are zilch?

Thanks
Tommo

Try to hit up a few live tournaments before you go. Actually make it your business, just for things like how to bet correctly, string bets etc etc. There are plenty of sites out there giving you advise, id just stick to your game dont change the way you play because of the event. The field is gonna be MASSIVE so the chances of you running into the big pros are slim

Which site did you win it at? Most sites will allow you not to take the trip and get the equivilant in cash. For them not to allow you to cancel and get the money sounds like a bogus site.

The world series isn't allowing people to satellite in this year, am I right? That is why all of the sites are giving you money equivelant to the tourney buy-in + travel. You should be able to get the money for it.

That was my understanding,too. You should be able to cash out, if that's what you want to do. Take the trip, anyway, it'll be a GAS.

WSOP has not allowed third party poker registration for a few years, but that has NOT stopped sites from getting people in (see 8,000+ last year).

There have been no changes in the rule from last year, just changes in the reporting of the rule, which is leading to some people's panic over getting in and/or size of the event(s).

OP: what was the site? A bit more specifics on what the site said might get you better advice.
Are you claiming you "accidentally" won two tournaments in a row without knowing anything about tournament play? Perhaps you are then next Chris Moneymaker...

Good luck. Oh, btw, a single over sized denomination chip is a CALL, not a raise if you don't make a verbal declaration of your intention.

What state are you in? I know playing some live games is not an option for many unless you can travel.

IF you must travel and play in this event then you need to get used to live play. YOu must play a few live tourneys.

You need to get the reality of actually playing cards as opposed to playing virtual cards if you get what i mean.

You must get used to
(1) guestimating what is in the pot & how many chips your opponents(chipstacks) have,
(2) when it is your turn,
(3) that you must state a raise verbally b4 it is taken as a raise and not a call,
(5) how to protect your cards against being mucked by the dealer by mistake
(6) The atmosphere of a casino although it will never compare to the WSOP
(7) how to handle your chips
(8) Moving from table to table with your chips quickly


I can if you want send you a link to some good live play articles that i read that may help but nothing will prepare you better than playing some live tourneys.
Im sure there are a million other factors/nuances that separate live play from online play as alot of the above is taken for granted on computer but they were just a few that came into my head.

If you are good enough to win both sattelites then who knows you might do ok.

As the other posters said though there must be a way of taking the money.