Quote:
Originally Posted by njguy
Sort of a random question.
I really want to play one of the Wsop events, something like the marathon or monster stack, maybe the main event. But, none of my friends are big poker players. I feel odd going over to Vegas from NJ by myself for a week or so, but is that pretty normal? Are many rec players by themselves?
All my other trips to Vegas has been with friends. Even if I do convince a couple of friends to go, I would essentially be by myself anyway 90% of the time since they won't be playing poker.
It depends on your priorities. If you just want to go for the experience (I assume you have never been to Vegas for the WSOP), then you might want to invite your friends... it would be an experience for them too. As long as they're cool with the possibility that they might not be able to hang out with you a whole lot and your schedule will be very much up in the air, then there's no reason the group of you can't have a great time. And if your budget only allows for one ~$1500 tourney while you are out there for a week, then having friends around wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. You will either only be playing for a day or two, and would therefore have the rest of your time with your friends, or you'll have a really deep run, in which case I'm sure it would be exciting for both you and your friends.
However, if you are going out there for more than just the experience, or if your budget will allow for playing more than one tourney, then you might consider treating it more like a business trip. That doesn't mean you can't have any fun, but you'll be looking at it more from a competition standpoint than from an entertainment standpoint. Having non poker-playing friends around for things like that is doable, its just more difficult IMO, and can take your focus away from where it should be. There are so many great tournaments of all buy-in levels going on during the WSOP, at the Rio, Venetian, Wynn, PH, Aria, downtown, elsewhere, that you could certainly play poker virtually every day if you wanted to. And those kinds of trips are not typically conducive to hanging out with friends.
And to answer your question, I think the majority of "rec" players do go out to Vegas more or less by themselves. But even rec players will meet and/or recognize others in Vegas during that timeframe, so its not like you will be completely alone.