Things to chew on

One of those eternal questions that always come up right around the start of the WSOP is: "would you go all in with pocket aces on the very first hand of the WSOP main event." In my mind, unless you were in the big blind and every single person in front of you had already shoved, you're a pussy if you say no. What part of "best starting hand in hold'em" don't you understand?

A situation that is much more likely to come up in your life is what happened to Terrence Chan during event 5 at this year's WSOP:
http://terrencechan.livejournal.com/246673.html

In summary, some guy keeled over during the tournament and a guy from Terrence's table who happened to be a doctor went to help out. Of course, while doing his good deed, the good doctor was also missing hands. Terrence proposed that the players give the doctor a walk in the park when it was his big blind. While his intentions were good, although technically collusion, I'm not sure I would be able to go along with his proposal. When (if) I ever go to the WSOP, my goal will be to win it. And I am going to do everything (legally) within my means to win. In the abstract, the gesture seems fine, and I'm sure I'd be inclined to throw away a marginal hand if it was the Doctor's BB, but what if I looked down to see Aces?

Also, Shane Schleger has a great post on how to act when at a tournament:
http://shaniaconline.blogspot.com/

Would you walk up to an NBA pro while they walked to the locker room at halftime and start asking them about plays they made or for advice on your jumper? Shane makes the point that for pros, a poker tournament is their job and not all of them want to hear your bad beat story or talk about chip stacks when they are on break. Good thing to keep in mind when (if) I go.