The WSOP Europe event is about to begin again. It seems like only yesterday that Annette Obrestad won her first bracelet as an 18-year-old, beating a field of some of the best players in the world to win over $2M. The events start on Sept 19 and end on October 2. Online poker rooms are offering different satellites that could get you there; here’s what Bodog poker has scheduled.

You can qualify for a quarterfinal satellite for as little as $1+$0. You still need to climb the levels to the finals. These cheap satellites run every day at 11:15am. You can get to that same quarterfinal by finishing deep enough in a 100-point tournament. Straight entry into the quarterfinal is $54+$4, or $22+$2 re-buy event. The big one is the $500+$40 semi-final qualifier, with two players winning an all-inclusive package to the main event.

Well it’s that time of year again when I have to start to get creative if I want to make it to the WSOP. Coming up with an extra $12,000 or so isn’t exactly an easy feat to pull off. I would sell my car, but I’m leasing it, so that wouldn’t work for very long. I would need to go deep into the event and win enough money to cover my legal cost once the bank finds out what I did.

I need to find a way to hack into the WSOP pre-registration website and get in free. There’s always the chance that I could get a big-name pro to fund me for 70% of the take. It’s not fair, but it’s better than nothing. If I can come up with a good enough sob story, maybe a pro with a big heart will give me a chance.

You can still win a seat to the WSOP. Here’s how.

Upcoming poker tournaments start with the WSOP Circuit Event on April 29th. The main event will be a $5000+$150 buy in, and it’s being held at Caesars in Las Vegas. The tournament started on the 20th and will run until May 1st.

The LAPT (Latin American Poker Tour) will have a $2500+$200 event on May 3rd. It will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The New Zealand Poker Championships will be held from May 4th – 11th and will have its $2500 main event from the 8th to the 11th.

The Deep Stack Poker Tournament at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City will be on May 4th.

River Rock Casino will be the spot for the Coast to Coast Poker Championships in Richmond, BC, Canada. The $2800 main event will be on May 8th, but events will run from May 5th to the 11th.

1. When playing Omaha Hi/Low Split your starting hand selection should have high hand and low hand possibilities, or you should muck them.

2. When playing seven card stud make sure you can beat what your opponents are showing on the board. You can also look to see if your outs are already in play. That will make draw decisions a little easier.

3. Take advantage of the plentiful satellite tournament action available online. Getting into a big tournament via a cheap satellite can make you rich, just ask the last six WSOP champions.

4. Only play starting hands where both hole cards are eight or less when playing Razz. You need a base to build a good hand in this game, so start with good cards.

5. Don’t get drunk and play poker. The same goes for pot or any mind-altering drugs. Intoxication always leads to going broke.

A poker face can take on many forms. It can be much more than just an emotionless stare or a head buried under a hood. Card sharks will pick up on any slight difference in action displayed by an opponent, so inexperienced players are better off sitting still and making their moves with the same time interval in between each play. Try not to act strong when you’re weak, and vice versa.

The best poker faces are active ones which tell you lies and confuse the hell out of you so you make the wrong decisions. Guys like Tony Guoga and Scotty Nguyen are masters at misleading an opponent who is trying to pick up a tell on them. Scotty Nguyen won the WSOP Main Event when he said to opponent Kevin McBride, “You call this one and it’s all over, baby.” McBride called and indeed it was all over, baby.

It takes more than just a love for the game to become a professional poker player. It takes dedication, commitment, smarts…and time. you don’t become a pro overnight. So the first question you need to ask yourself is — how much time are you prepared to invest in this pursuit? A good second question might be — are you prepared to make the change?

The pros of turning pro

Let’s say you’ve been playing poker online for a number of years now and you’ve created quite a name and a reputation for yourself. You’re ready to take your game to a new level — beyond the perimeters of your monitor and into the “real world” of poker. You’re thinking the World Poker Tour or maybe the World Series of Poker. But are you ready? Do you have a specialty?

Most poker pros have one form of the game that they specialize in and in which they make most of their money from. So rather than trying to master all forms of the game pick one and make that your specialty. For example, let’s say Texas Holdem is your game…do you prefer to play cash games, tournaments or heads up Texas Holdem? And then there’s the level of the game to consider: do you prefer to play low limit or high limit Texas Holdem? Here are a few other questions to consider:

Are your poker skills up to par? Are you confident that you can go up against and beat other pros?
Are you prepared financially to take this up full time or is this a part-time gig?

The lifestyle of a poker pro may sound posh to some (the money, the glitzy surroundings, the jet setting and all that poker!), but the reality of the matter may be quite different. I’ve got a poker pro friend who complains about the long hours spent traveling and the loneliness that comes with staying in strange hotel rooms. Unless you’re accustomed to spending most of your time alone becoming a poker pro may not suit your extroverted and social lifestyle.

Do you hear Vegas calling your name? Once you’ve come to grips with what’s at stake — giving up your old life and leaving the comforts of home behind — you can make the leap and try your hand at becoming a pro!

The cons of becoming a poker pro

Poker is not a very social activity, especially if you’ve been playing poker online full time. Taking your game into the poker rooms at the Bellagio, for example, will expand upon your world but don’t let the chatter and clatter fool you — not everyone you meet will want to become your friend. Plus, another factor to consider? Poker can become very monotonous. Hand after hand…table after table…hotel room after hotel room…it all begins to look the same. And because you’re likely to stick to one type of poker game, even that can become boring after awhile.

Having said all that, if you think you’re ready to turn pro — then be bold and make the move! A word of caution: maybe start off by taking a short “leave” from your day job until you’ve built a nice nest egg with your winnings.