Poker and Surfing Part II: Play Tournament While the WSOP Poker, surfing has its own prestigious tournament being called ASP. Poker has dozens of seasoned professionals who continue to dominate the tournaments such as Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chang, David Pham and Juan Carlos Mortensen surfing has its own slew of legends that continue to dominate the contest surf like Andy Irons, Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning. How to get to these tournaments for anyone who is not easy and the competition for competitors is always fierce. Part II explore the similarities of these tournaments and the different strategies of these gladiators must take to be true champions.
ASP
The Association of Surfing Professionals, more commonly known as ESL, is widely regarded as the circuit's most prestigious surfing world. Although many surf competitions run by the ASP end up being beaten in three waves sloppy foot, they are also more some of the most perfect waves and difficult world. When conditions meet all the spectators are given the treatment to watch absolute best surfers on the planet, he fought in some of the most incredible waves and dangerous ocean has to offer.
The ASP has started its way to the creation in the 1960s when the surfing competitions were structured just made their mark on the world of surfing. During this decade, surfers were competing just because they were mad about the sport and wanted to prove to their peers. There were no sponsors and certainly not the surf industry. In the early 1970s more and more structured competitions with monetary compensation has begun to emerge, and by the mid-1970s, the events began to appear around the world. The agglomeration of losing tournaments were strung in 1976 in what proved to be the embryonic stage of the ASP and the rest is just history.
Like the WSOP, there are dozens of routes to get to the ASP. Almost all the people you see competing in the ASP tour began as young surfers compete when they were small eyelets (surfer slang for a surfer child) in tournaments at home or abroad for more privileged. They keep earning their stripes until they are old enough (or well enough) to participate in the prestigious WQS (World Qualifying Series) circuit. The WQS is the place where the world's best surfers to come and spray each other for a chance to earn a spot in the ASP. Some of the best surfers in the world never make it on the WQS and the ASP, not because they are not surfers, but also because they can not work under the added pressure of competition surfing .
For example Dave Rastovich - considered by many to be one of the best and most stylish surfers in the world - chose not to even try to participate in tournaments. He earns his living as a single FreeSurfer. Bruce Irons is an excellent example of a world class surfer who is struggling to stay in the ASP: Bruce's brother Andy Irons is an absolute animal in the water, known for pulling in some depth in barrels of the most dangerous and shallow in the business. Yet, for reasons of poor performance incredible Bruce Irons constantly in almost every competition he enters alone.
The reason is that it takes a very special type of surfer to win contests that are essentially at the highest level. There are fewer than 50 surfers who travel around the world each year and is still winning ASP among the best surfers in the world is not easy. There is a degree of mental alertness and competitiveness as a user must have to maintain these investments consistently.
WSOP
Anyone with a television these days has heard of the World Series of Poker - one can hardly turn on the TV.
Posted on April 26, 2010.
