Poker and Surfing Part Ii: Tournament Play
While Poker has the WSOP, surfing has its own prestigious ongoing tournament called the ASP. Poker has dozens of seasoned pros that continue to dominate tournaments such as Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chang, David Pham and Juan Carlos Mortensen while surfing boasts its own slew of living legends that continue to dominate surf contests such as Andy Irons, Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning. Getting to these tournaments for anybody is no easy feat and the competition for the contestants is always fierce. Part II will explore the similarities of these tournaments and the various strategies these gladiators must undertake in order to be true champions.
ASP
The Association of Surfing Professionals, most commonly referred to as the ASP, is widely regarded as the most prestigious surfing circuit in the world. Although many of the surf contests run by the ASP end up being battled out in sloppy three foot waves, they also score some of the most perfect and challenging waves in the world. When the conditions all come together spectators are given the treat of watching the absolute best surfers on the planet battle it out in some of the most incredible and dangerous waves the ocean has to offer.
The ASP began its road to creation in 1960s when structured competitions in surfing were just barely making their mark on the surfing world. During this decade surfers were competing purely because they were crazy about the sport and wanted to prove themselves to their peers. There were no sponsors and most definitely no surfing industry. In the early 1970s more and more structured competitions with monetary compensation began to emerge, and by the mid-1970s events started popping up all over the world. The loose agglomeration of tournaments was strung together in 1976 in what proved to be the embryonic stages of the ASP, and the rest is just history.
