I'm in

I registered today for my WSOP tournament. It will be event #24 (three-day, NLHE $1500 freezeout donkament, no rebuys, full tables), starting at noon on Thursday, June 11, 2009. I will be in the Amazon Blue Room at Table 26, Seat 4. Bleah. I hate Seat 4.

My final table will be Saturday, June 13. (HA!)

Registration was kind of a weird process. First, nothing on the WSOP web site indicates that you can actually complete the registration process in advance. Everything there speaks only of "preregistration." Of course, the web site is mainly set up for people doing it by mail. It informs these people that:

Pre-registered participants will need to present proof of identity
(passport, driver’s license, state identification card or military
identification card) in person at the Rio to complete the registration process
and obtain his or her table and seat assignment.

So clearly, if you do the pre-registration remotely, there is some amount of finalizing that you then have to do in person, presumably on the day of the tournament.

But the same page also tells us, "Event Pre-Registration is also available in person at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino." That's it. Nothing says that if you do it in person, you can finish the entire process, both pre-registration and registration at the same time. But it turns out that you can. The web page information just isn't written very clearly.

I did it in person (1) because I was going to be there today anyway, and (2) pulling cash out of the bank and taking it there was easier than the remote pre-registration options, which are limited to wire transfer or cashier's check. (I suppose that if you mailed them a wad of cash, they'd accept it, but I'd advise against trying that.)

The other kind of odd thing is that nothing on the web site tells you where in the Rio one might go. If you've never been there, it's an immense facility.* Do you sign up in the poker room? At the main cashier cage? Perhaps there's a special booth or room or something set up in the convention center area, in association with the satellites? Nothing tells the would-be registrant this rather important tidbit. Since I was entering near the poker room, I asked there, and was directed to the main cage. That would have been my first guess anyway, but why can't they be bothered to include that information on the web site?

The process at the cage seemed slow and awkward, taking at least ten minutes. It left just one cashier doing the regular transactions, and a long line formed. I sensed people snarling at me for taking so long, but it wasn't exactly my fault. As with many such things, one has to give the same pieces of information on more than one form, which seems inefficient and annoying.

But it's done, and I'm in. I was told that I need do nothing else except show up at the designated place and time--no other paperwork left to do. That's a relief. I would hate to have to arrive early enough to either stand in or avoid a long last-minute line.


* Actually, it's an immense facility even if you have been there. Caught myself in one of my linguistic pet peeves (of which there are too many to count). I hate it when, e.g., a radio talk show host says something like, "If you're just joining us, my guest today is __________." Uh, OK. If I've been listening to the whole show so that I'm not just joining you, then is your guest somebody different? Same thing I just did. Apologies.