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)

Comments

[Tim]

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?

[shauna]

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

[Michael Doss]

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.

[Carolyn]

Oh My God Wil is that you? How handsome!

[jnt78]

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

[kaellinn18]

Way to represent the blogger faction, Wil! Congrats on the money for your charity, and I'll see you in the game on Tuesday.

[napoleondynamitefan]

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. : )

[napoleondynamitefan]

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. ; )

[napoleondynamitefan]

er. . . . . I so did not mean to post the same thing twice. My apologies!

[Morgan]

Good job, that's awesome!

[gabrielwalker]

Snappy picture, Wil. I'd hit it.

[tim]

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.

[EdwoodCA]

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.]

[Chris Kessel]

Oh geez, massive tease. What were the Dannenman like strategy notes?

[Dave Westbay]

Congrats, Wil, that is an awesome accomplishment. I'm sure the City of Hope appreciates it very much too. See you soon on PokerStars!

[Gamebrain]

Good job, Wil. Im not much of a poker guy (blackjack is more of my thing) but keep up the good work!

[BrainMc]

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.

[joro]

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?

[John Dalbec]

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!

[MiladyGreenEyes]

Ooooh, very handsome picture. Congrats on the charity win. That's awesome!

Rock on! \m/

[mikey]

Good going Wil!!

[chosha]

Whoa! You've always had a nice face Wil, but Dude that pic is hot! Frame that one!! ^_~

[DorsetBlue]

Nice job Wil! Even better that a charity such as the one you chose benefited as well.

[Absinthe]

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.

[Laura]

Oh Wil Wheaton. You so sexy.
Also, congradulations on the poker and whatever. :p