But ElkY wasn't the only big-name player who missed the beginning of the WSOP this year. The GDAM event and ISPT Wembley both pulled players away from Las Vegas.
The PokerStars GuangDong Asia Millions' first prize of $4.4 million was the second-biggest poker prize ever awarded outside of Las Vegas and the ISPT guaranteed €1 million for first place.
After cashing in a GDAM side event for $166k ElkY headed to the World Series and sat down with PokerListings on a break to discuss his reasons behind making the trip.
PokerListings.com: How was the GDAM experience for you?
ElkY: The GDAM was a really great experience. It was the first time I’d been in Macau for such a big buy-in event; it was one of the biggest and a crazy field. The travel was difficult but the value was good.
Actually I think Macau is the future of poker. There are so many players and high rollers.
There is a bigger pool of players, especially for that kind of money in Macau, so I really want to go there as much as I can.
PL: Do you think it was worth missing some of the WSOP?
It was a really close decision but then I won my seat on PokerStars on the last weekend of SCOOP. I was debating between going or not. It was super-close as I was already in Vancouver and Vegas was close and it was kind of a long trip.
Clik here to view.

On a monetary value side it was definitely worth it but, as you know, I want to win a bracelet and I like the glory. There is much more glory in winning a World Series event!
PL: How do you cope with the travel and time differences?
I’m pretty good at that actually. I’m good at getting sleep on the plane and I try to stay up until a time that I need to.
I travel 24 hours and arrive at 5pm so I try to stay up until one and then I’m good the next day. I usually take caffeine pills to stay up and I also take Methionine if I need to sleep through.
Most of the time I’m okay though; I’m lucky like that compared to other people. That’s why the trip was more worth it for me, as I don’t really get jetlag. If it had of taken me three or four days to recover it would’ve been tough.
PL: How nice was it to get a six-figure score in the warm-up event out there after a relatively dry year for you up to that point?
It was really nice but it was also disappointing as I was chip leader and lost some sick hands but it was still nice anyway.
Overall I’m still staying positive and I’m really happy to be back in Vegas. All the tournaments are really close and you can play every day so it’s a lot easier to grind out results.
The score in Macau was a nice first score and hopefully it’s the start of a run.
PL: So you hope it can kick-start your year and relieve some pressure?
I definitely hope it kick-starts my year but I kind of like the pressure.
Everyone says you always play the same but you always play a little bit worse when you’re running bad and a little bit better when you’re running good.
Obviously, the better the player you are the less variance you’re going to have. I always to try to play my best but it’s inevitable that when you're running bad and losing in a lot in tournaments that you lose a lot of confidence and you play a little less good.
It’s good to have results, increase your confidence, and play better. That result might help me towards having a great World Series.
Follow Elky's progress and everything else that's happening at the WSOP with PokerListings.com's 2013 WSOP Live Coverage.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com