Jason Kirk is a fellow writer, poker player, and poker blogger. Last Friday, he interviewed me for PokerMagazine.com:
JK: You've already alluded to your history with pocket Kings in no-limit holdem. What goes through your mind today when you look down and find them?
WW: "Oh no, not again." (laughs)
I've also learned not to talk to the poker gods. Of all the gods in the world -- a lot of gods derive their power from being acknowledged -- the poker gods are the fundamental opposite. They're kind of like Fight Club: You don't talk about them.At the same time, when I'm playing with people who know me and my history with Kings, I'm really happy to go broke with them because it creates a good story.
JK: The semi-private WilWheaton.Net weekly tournaments on PokerStars have been a pretty big hit since they started. Someone called them the "world's biggest home game." Did you expect such a response when you held the first one?
WW: No. Sort of like Benny Binion in 1972, I hoped someday my tournament would have 50 participants.
JK: What do you think has made them so successful?
WW: I think people enjoy the company. I know that's why I like to play. It's the hardest $10 tourney I've ever played in. If I wanted to play in an easier field, the $22 180-man sit-and-go's on PokerStars are way softer. With the Thursday and Friday games, if I can make it into the money I'm thrilled -- I get giddy like a schoolgirl. And my hourly return if I make the money is about $2. I made more than that in a $.01/.02 blogger no-limit side game last week!
It was a fun interview. I talked with Jason while I walked around my neighborhood on an impossibly beautiful and warm afternoon, and because he's a fellow poker blogger and we've played together several times in WPBT events and WWdN tourneys at PokerStars, I felt like I was talking with a peer who I could trust to get the story right.
