Twenty-third in the WPT Invitational
I finished 23rd (or 21st, depending on who you ask) out of 317 players in the WPT Invitational last night, and I was the last "celebrity" player left standing, so I won $10,000 for the City of Hope in Duarte. It was really weird when I did my exit interviews, and they kept trying to get me to say I was the best celebrity poker player. I told them that I was probably the only player in the entire field who hosts two poker tournaments a week at PokerStars, and I owed a lot of my success and confidence to honing my skills online, and discussing the game with the WPBT.
I'm working on a write-up of the event, but this has been a rather hectic morning and I doubt I'll get a chance to post anything in-depth until later on. Until then, I absolutely have to thank Ryan Kallberg, aka Absinthe, who sent me a Dannenman-esqe strategy sheet that seriously helped me out. In fact, I'm confident that I wouldn't have made it past the first level of the day without Ryan's advice and support. There's a reason he cashed five times in the LA Poker Classic, including a first place finish in event number one. Thanks, Ryan. I owe you several beers.
If you missed it yesterday, and you'd like to retroactively view the action, you can head over to Pauly's blog, and read the live-updates from last night.
(Photo Credit: Dr. Pauly)

Nice job Wil. I read through Pauly's updates this morning and was happy to see you staying in it.
Got a taste of your own medicine running into those aces though, eh?
Posted by:Tim | February 24, 2006 at 12:18 PM
Hey, Wil. Glad to hear you had fun. Love the picture. The monkey's cute! Anyway, since I don't know anything about poker, I'm gonna shut up now.
Shauna
Posted by:shauna | February 24, 2006 at 12:19 PM
Great showing! That's a damned respectable place to go out, though it can always burn a little to get so close to a final table.
Posted by:Michael Doss | February 24, 2006 at 12:35 PM
Oh My God Wil is that you? How handsome!
Posted by:Carolyn | February 24, 2006 at 12:39 PM
Hey Wil,
Love the monkey, it's a Think Geek monkey right? Hey, I would love to hear more audio blogs from you, they are always really fun and interesting too. Have a good one.
Tim
Posted by:jnt78 | February 24, 2006 at 12:56 PM
Way to represent the blogger faction, Wil! Congrats on the money for your charity, and I'll see you in the game on Tuesday.
Posted by:kaellinn18 | February 24, 2006 at 01:31 PM
Congratulations! I would never in a thousand years make it that far in a poker tournament; I am so awful at it. lol btw - LOVE the pictures. The monkey is cute, too.
Hate to go off topic, but I finally watched the CSI episode 'Compulsion'. It was on Spike TV a few days ago. I was impressed with your work. You pulled off the role really well. : )
Posted by:napoleondynamitefan | February 24, 2006 at 01:36 PM
Congratulations, Wil! I would never get that far in a poker tournament even if I tried. lol btw - LOVE the pictures. The monkey is cute, too.
Hate to go off topic, but I finally watched the CSI episode 'Compulsion'. It was on Spike TV a few days ago. I was impressed with your work. You pulled off the role really well. ; )
Posted by:napoleondynamitefan | February 24, 2006 at 01:39 PM
er. . . . . I so did not mean to post the same thing twice. My apologies!
Posted by:napoleondynamitefan | February 24, 2006 at 01:41 PM
Good job, that's awesome!
Posted by:Morgan | February 24, 2006 at 02:10 PM
Snappy picture, Wil. I'd hit it.
Posted by:gabrielwalker | February 24, 2006 at 02:23 PM
It was exciting to watch you go so deep into the tournament. And yeah, you looked good doing it! haha. Too bad you couldn't cash, but in a way you did, anyway.
Posted by:tim | February 24, 2006 at 02:26 PM
Congrats on a great effort at the tourney, Wil!
Now... how does one get a copy of Ryan Kallberg's strategy sheet???
[I only play live with friends. No online acct. Certainly, no live tourneys.]
Posted by:EdwoodCA | February 24, 2006 at 02:44 PM
Oh geez, massive tease. What were the Dannenman like strategy notes?
Posted by:Chris Kessel | February 24, 2006 at 03:11 PM
Congrats, Wil, that is an awesome accomplishment. I'm sure the City of Hope appreciates it very much too. See you soon on PokerStars!
Posted by:Dave Westbay | February 24, 2006 at 03:12 PM
Good job, Wil. Im not much of a poker guy (blackjack is more of my thing) but keep up the good work!
Posted by:Gamebrain | February 24, 2006 at 03:17 PM
Congratulations Wil! Excellent job going deep and nice reads. Always a pleasure to see you have success. PokerStars should be proud of you. When will the show air? See you on Tuesdays.
Posted by:BrainMc | February 24, 2006 at 04:56 PM
I see that the Monkey gets around. ;)
He's been a number of places, including these:
Where in the World is Monkey?
I love that he's been to the World Poker Tour as well. Go Monkey.
Would Dr. Pauly mind if I reposted the pics of Monkey on my site?
Posted by:joro | February 24, 2006 at 07:55 PM
Given your D&D background, I think you should try d20-Magic-Texas Hold 'Em. (After March 2, change "ffn.htm" to "ffn151.htm" in the link address.) I bet you'd be great at it!
Posted by:John Dalbec | February 24, 2006 at 09:04 PM
Ooooh, very handsome picture. Congrats on the charity win. That's awesome!
Rock on! \m/
Posted by:MiladyGreenEyes | February 24, 2006 at 09:23 PM
Good going Wil!!
Posted by:mikey | February 24, 2006 at 10:23 PM
Whoa! You've always had a nice face Wil, but Dude that pic is hot! Frame that one!! ^_~
Posted by:chosha | February 24, 2006 at 10:30 PM
Nice job Wil! Even better that a charity such as the one you chose benefited as well.
Posted by:DorsetBlue | February 25, 2006 at 02:17 AM
Glad to help, even if my advice ultimately may have boiled down to, "take coinflips - and win them!" And free advice is easy - execution is the hard part. You did us all proud.
I think it's technically City Of Hope that owes me several beers but I am rarely all that particular about the source of a beer.
Posted by:Absinthe | February 25, 2006 at 02:34 AM
Oh Wil Wheaton. You so sexy.
Also, congradulations on the poker and whatever. :p
Posted by:Laura | February 25, 2006 at 07:06 AM