The 2023 World Series of Poker has not long kicked off its proceedings, ahead of a full summer of poker action inside The Horseshoe. With 95 bracelet events making up the schedule, there will certainly be some long sessions logged on the felt.

So, the 888poker ambassadors have given their top tips on preparing and staying focused for long poker sessions and tournaments.

Don’t Be Tired

“The most important thing for me to do before a session is not to be tired,” says ambassador Lucia Navarro. “If you sit and think you cannot concentrate or be focused, then I don’t think you should be playing.”

Avoid the Vegas Nightlife

Ambassador Vivian Saliba knows a thing or two about running deep in WSOP events, having made four WSOP final tables since 2019.

“I definitely wouldn’t recommend going to a party or having lots of drinks before playing a tournament or preparing yourself for a big series.” advises Saliba. “If you’re having a bad day and can choose to play on a different day, that’s probably the smartest thing to do.”

Have Energy

“All the sessions are long when you play tournaments, so you have to make sure you have energy, especially at the end of the session because more money is on the line.” reinforces ambassador Alexandre Mantovani.

Rest is Important

Kara Scott “If I’m going to be playing a long session, for me, that usually means I’m playing live. That’s not something I get to do every week, so I would make sure I was well-rested. I would actually do some training ahead of time as well, there are a ton of good training materials out there, and you should go into your training and sessions with a good attitude and have fun.”

“If I’m playing a live event, I usually prefer staying at a hotel just a little bit of a walk from the venue.” says Ian Simpson. When you’re a poker player, you can literally be indoors all the time and being able to get a little fresh air personally makes me feel a little more alive and a little more awake going into the session. - IS

Remember to Meal Prep and Have a Balanced Lifestyle

And with a host of online bracelet events in this year’s schedule, Montavani adds, “When I’m playing online, I like to have my meals ready as I have made this mistake way too many times. On my five-minute online break, I would run to the kitchen to get something ready, but the tables would be back, and then I ran back and forth from my office to the kitchen. You don’t want to do that.”

Scott then looks to the players at the top of the game and recommends mimicking their lifestyle. “You’ll look at some of the top players; no matter how old they are, they’re probably living really well,” says Scott. “They’re exercising, probably meditation, eating and sleeping well. These things are important now.”

Saliba then shares her routine of how to stay focused in long tournaments. “I try to get my eight hours of sleep, eat very clean, and work out every day,” she adds. “You’ll have to endure a lot of pressure when you play long sessions for a lot of money. These things do make a difference and affect how you’re going to react to the pressure.”

Simpson reiterates the points above and tells you how you can stay active, even if you’re not too bog on moving about. “I’m not very good at this, but a little light exercise is an extremely good idea to get some blood and endorphins going. It’s just good for you in general.”

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Editor & Live Reporter

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.

After a record-breaking event in 2022, the PokerNews Cup is returning to Golden Nugget Las Vegas this summer with anticipation of drawing another massive field for another memorable event.

The 2022 PokerNews Cup drew 1,245 entries to smash the $1 million guarantee and making it the largest poker tournament prize pool in Golden Nugget Las Vegas history. This year’s $1,100 buy-in PokerNews Cup will be played in a Mystery Bounty format with the same $1 million guarantee and bounties up to $100,000 up for grabs beginning on Day 2.

The 2023 PokerNews Cup will get underway on June 29 and will feature three starting flights before reaching a winner on July 3. It is again taking place at Golden Nugget Las Vegas, one of the most iconic Las Vegas poker destinations, and will once again feature live-streamed final table coverage and live reporting from the PokerNews team throughout.

What’s more, the PokerNews Cup is taking place as part of the Golden Nugget’s 15th annual Grand Poker Series running May 30-July 3 with guarantees exceeding $3 million and plenty of Pot-Limit Omaha, Big O, Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, Limit 2-7 Lowball, H.O.R.S.E. and Triple Stud events to choose from.

Read More About The Grand Poker Series!

2023 PokerNews Cup Schedule

Gelman Won Record-Breaking 2022 PokerNews Cup

Last year’s PokerNews Cup in downtown Las Vegas was truly an event to remember as 1,245 entries packed into the Golden Nugget in search of the six-figure top prize. While he was one of the shortest stacks to start the final day, New York’s Gary Gelman managed to run it up to win $202,725 after defeating heads-up opponent Daniel Hinh.

“This is definitely my biggest cash and this has been a long time coming,” he told PokerNews after the victory.

Other players who final tabled the record-breaking 2022 PokerNews Cup include Forrest Kollar (3rd - $92,095), Eoin Starr (4th - $68,185) and Patrick Caulfield (5th - $51,555).

2022 PokerNews Cup Final Table Results

Some PokerNews Cup History

The first-ever PokerNews Cup took place in Australia in 2007 and saw 428 entrants to generate a prize pool of $1.1 million. Australia native Dory Zayner became the first PokerNews Cup champion and took home $181,265 after defeating heads-up opponent Kenny Ng.

After two events in both 2008 and 2009, there was a break in the PokerNews Cup until it returned in 2015. That year, Daniel Can took down the event at King’s Casino Rozvadov for $17,898.

Other previous champions of the PokerNews Cup include Timur Caglan (2016 King’s Casino Rozvadov - $67,541), Ryan Van Sanford (2016 Borgata - $68,676) and Panagiotis Panagiotidis (2019 - $20,708).

A full list of PokerNews Cup Champions is available in the table below.

PokerNews Cup Champions

What is preventing you from learning how to play poker? Maybe you are worried about looking silly because you don’t fully know the rules and will invariably make a glaring mistake. If you are sitting nodding to any of those suggestions, you need the free-to-play WSOP App in your life.

The WSOP App is the official social gaming application of the World Series of Poker, the biggest brand and most trusted name in the poker world. The World Series of Poker has a reputation for being inclusive, and that shines through to the app because the WSOP App is for everyone, not only hardcore poker players.

See for yourself why the WSOP App is perfect for beginners

The WSOP App is a Global Product

For many, the prohibition of online poker is a deal breaker for new poker players. You fall at the first hurdle if you live in a country, state, or jurisdiction that does not allow its citizens to play poker online. However, the WSOP App is available worldwide because no gambling is involved; it is a social, free-to-play poker app.

The app works seamlessly on your computer, laptop, tablet, or favorite mobile device, allowing you to play poker for fun and win prizes and rewards wherever you can connect to the internet. Having the freedom to play poker online wherever you are, allows you to practice whenever you like and do so for free.

Learn the Basics of Poker for Free

Learning how to play poker can become expensive, even at the lowest stakes, if you are playing for real money. By their very nature, players that are complete beginners make more mistakes than seasoned grinders, and each of those mistakes cost money at a real-money gaming site. However, this is not the case with the WSOP App because it is 100% free to play.

Sure, there is the option to purchase more coins – the app’s in-game currency – but you are under no obligation to do so. In addition, the app gives you so many free coins that you will likely never need to purchase any!

“An Excuse to Get Back”: WSOP Thrill Team Brings Vanessa Selbst Back to the Felt

Not having the pressure of potentially losing money allows you to concentrate on learning the rules and strategy and being entertained. You can play ring games or tournament poker with no financial outlay, meaning it does not matter if you make mistakes, misread your hand, or simply want to play every hand the state-of-the-art software deals you. Get in there and enjoy playing poker for the sake of playing poker.

The WSOP App’s community and customer base are incredibly welcoming. They won’t ridicule you for making a bizarre or weird play at the tables.

Sharpen Your Skills Risk-Free

As your skills improve, you may pad your WSOP App balance with more coins than you know what to do with, so you can move up the various stakes. You will notice that although the amazing WSOP App community loves playing poker for fun, there are still plenty of highly-skilled players to test your skills against.

Enjoy an Authentic Poker Experience and Learn From the Pros

Just because the WSOP app is free-to-play does not mean you cannot enjoy an authentic poker experience. In fact, quite the opposite is true; the app brings real-life poker to your device.

The WSOP App has undergone dozens upon dozens of software updates over the years, each bringing new features and improvements to an already classy product. Play ring games and tournaments in No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha formats, and do so against poker players from all walks of life.

The random number generator (RNG) that deals the cards is highly complex and ensures that the games on the WSOP App are as random and true to life as their brick-and-mortar counterparts.

You can even learn some moves and strategies from elite-level poker pros because the seven-strong Thrill Team of WSOP App ambassadors frequent the app! Rub shoulders with and learn from such poker luminaries as Patrik Antonius, 2022 WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jorstad, Vanessa Selbst, and more while never risking a single cent of your hard-earned cash.

Ryan “dna2rna” Hughes and Shaun “fortnite” Deeb met up in the [Online] Event #3: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack each looking to add new hardware to their wrists.

For Hughes, it would be bracelet number three, for Deeb number six. Unfortunately for Deeb, by the time he reached Hughes, he had already cut a deep swath of destruction through the field. Hughes eliminated seven of the final twelve players on his way to building a massive, insurmountable chip lead.

Hughes built the chip lead through gutsy play, cagey trapping with premium hands, punishing short stacks, and maybe just a little sun-running. He ousted Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert with ace-king versus ace-queen, had his ace-queen hit a queen on the turn to crack Tony “FreddyFish” Miles‘ pocket eights, out-pipped Zachary “Kings702” Grech‘s ace-six with ace-ten, and made a call with queen-high to best Aram “X69Podheiser” Zobian.

Deeb attempted to gain some ground on Hughes’ 10-to-1 chip lead once they reached heads up, shoving all in with pocket fours, but Hughes’ queen-five found the climactic queen on the turn.

Hughes won $145,059 for first place and added a third bracelet to his treasure trove, joining the bracelets he won in Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better events in 2008 and 2009. Deeb’s 145th WSOP cash added $105,707 to his $8,858,911 career earnings.

Notable players that made deep runs included Landon “ActionDealer” Tice, 2014 WSOP Main Event Champion Martin “SexPestGreg” Jacobson and WSOP bracelet winners Giuseppe “Pantalette” Pantaleo, Maxx “Mc4chess” Coleman, and Joseph “biueberry” Cheong.

A total of 688 entries joined the action to create a prize pool of $888,300. The top 120 players took home a minimum cash of $2,664, but they all fell to juggernaut Hughes as he claimed his third bracelet and his first in 14 years.