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WPT Boot Camp Shows Tough Love

Crispin Leyser wasn't joking when he said that wrists will be slapped at his poker table. Leyser is one of the four instructors at the wpt Boot Camp at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashatucket, Conn.. The 90-minute lectures focus on two key No-Limit Hold'em Tournament lessons:

1. If you are the first person to enter a pot, always raise. 2. Never play weak hands in early position.

The first hand of the following lecture, one player in first position called with an ace and a six, and earner himself a slap on the wrist by breaking both of Leyser's rules.

"We call it Boot Camp because we really do try to ram it home when people are making mistakes again and again and again," Leyser says. "We're not going to stand for it, and we take it kind of personally."

Leyser continued with the tough love for the remainder of the camp. Bridgeport's Bill Delaney was eventually named the winner of the camp's $1,000 satellite tournament entry fee. Delaney however kidded that his hands were bloody because of Leyser's slapping everytime he lifted his cards off the table.

While the lessons being taught at the poker boot camp are not secrets, what players can get from it are the immediate feedback and criticism for the players' decision that books don't offer.

"Not everyone learns the same way," says Ron Rubens, co-creator of the WPT Boot Camps. "Some people can listen to a lecture or read a book and get the concepts completely, but most people need to have multiple simulations; they need to see it, watch it, touch it. They need to have someone look at them and tell them 'No-no-no-no-no! Don't ever play that hand in that position.'"

While the player who got slapped on the first session won the pot, Leyser says that eventually, the odds will catch up with the undisciplined player.

11/08/2006, Wednesday
Matthew Dorst

WPT Boot Camp Shows Tough Love

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