WIL WHEATON dot NET: Where is my mind?: look honest when you're telling a lie

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April 19, 2005

look honest when you're telling a lie

Eating antacids like they're Skittles. Taste the rainbow of anxiety.

Spent about an hour with Lee Jones yesterday afternoon, got some excellent coaching on NLHE strategy. I like Lee. He's a good guy and knows poker. Nerves settled a little bit, traded antacids for a Zantac.

Had dinner with Greg Raymer last night, (he ate real food, I ate pickled ginger, steamed tofu and rice) before heading to Aladdin to play the hundred dollar 1-2 NLHE game with Lee. Fossilman is the nicest guy in the world, but I hope I don't ever have to play against him. I hear that he was the chip leader for much of yesterday afternoon.

Wind nearly blew me off my feet getting to Aladdin, finally walked into the Poker Room around 10:30. Sat down and played with people from the WPT crew and production staff. Only opened a few pots: early on with pocket tens. The flop came 10-6-7, guy ahead of me makes it 75, I call all-in, he shows 8-9h for the straight. Misread him. Thought he was over-betting to push me out. Luckily, he liked to tell everyone why he did what he did, so I figured him out pretty quickly and he only got five bucks from me the rest of the night. Still tilted from the huge loss early on, though, and never fully recovered.

Bought back in, played the tightest I've ever played in my life. Eventually made it 10 to go UTG when I found pocket kings, no callers except the button. Flop is A-A-x. I check, he checks. Turn is another baby card, I check, he checks. River is also a blank, he bets 10. I rase it to 25, he folds. I want so badly to show my cowboys but I don't. That's proably the most I was going to get on that hand, because I would have folded to a set of aces if he'd played back on fourth street. Only made about 30 bucks on the hand.

Folded for two hours, made a little stab with A-10 of Diamonds in the BB, threw it away when the flop paired, completely missed me, and UTG made it 20 to go. Good fold: he had a set. Nerves finally relaxed. Though I didn't make lots of money, my bets were appropriate, and my instincts proved to be right on every hand until the last I played.

Eventually got all my money in with KJ. I hate KJ. For whatever reason, it just never holds up for me. I almost threw it away when my pre-flop 10 was called, but it was late, I was tired, and Bad Wil (with apologies to McManus) said, "Come on, man, double up or go home broke. Who loves you, baby?" Moved in for about 80, called by AJ, jack on the flop, no king. Went home broke.

Finally got into bed around 2, stared at the ceiling for what felt like an hour, but was probably about ten minutes. Woke up on my own around 9:30.

Waiting for room service to bring breakfast. Need coffee and a waffle. Sitting down in seat 4 at table 37 in two hours.

Holy Shit. Taste the rainbow.

Posted by wil at April 19, 2005 09:38 AM

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Tracked on April 20, 2005 09:01 AM

Comments

Fellow heartburn suffers, unite, though I've never popped Tums like Skittles or played poker in Vegas.

Posted by: DPJ2005

at April 19, 2005 10:20 AM

Updates:
After play today, an update will, I imagine, be posted here with chip counts. Mondays results are already posted.

http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/

-Jason

Posted by: JasonR

at April 19, 2005 10:21 AM

It's a roller coaster... Enjoy the ride!

I wish you... ummm rockets on the flop? oh wait... break a leg?

Posted by: Wendy May

at April 19, 2005 10:33 AM

Wil,
hey man, here's hoping some of my mojo will help you out! i'm really enjoying your look into WPT.

Posted by: Ryan E

at April 19, 2005 10:37 AM

Oh yeah, KJ sucks, even suited. But hey, nobody plays perfectly, and if you only played a couple of bad hands in one night, you are way ahead of a lot of people.

Good luck in the tournament, and make sure The Writer takes good notes without getting in The Player's way. :-)

Posted by: Dave Westbay

at April 19, 2005 10:41 AM

I was just in Vegas the weekend before last, it was nice, that monorail rules!
I'm not good enough at hold 'em to play there though, but I'm looking to improve.

Best of luck!

Posted by: joy

at April 19, 2005 11:01 AM

Ok...just to verify that I'm on top of things here...

The game you just described was you playing last night, with money, to sort of get warmed up. It wasn't a part of the tournament, right?

In an hour, you'll be starting in the tournament, which means that at every table, you have to be the top person (or maybe to two or three or something) at the table to advance to the next round. Right? Or is there some point system or something?

Good luck Wil!

Posted by: Craig Steffen

at April 19, 2005 11:09 AM

Didn't KJ get you in trouble on the Hollywood homegame? Fold Ving.

Posted by: BadBlood

at April 19, 2005 11:19 AM

Did you enjoy playing at the Aladdin? I think it's a really nice poker room, and Edna is one of the best poker room managers in Vegas.

Of course, that's where our WPBT live event will be on June 4th. (Head to Up For Poker for details) I'll keep hounding you until you say yes ;-)

Posted by: CJ

at April 19, 2005 11:35 AM

Good luck man. Can't wait to hear how you did or are doing.

Posted by: st0ney

at April 19, 2005 11:37 AM

Oh Waiter???.... I'll have what Wil's having.. :)

hehehe

Posted by: Keith L. Dick

at April 19, 2005 11:46 AM

I told you: All in on a pair of 8's... pre-flop preferrably. 8's!! Not 10's.

Oh well, you're in the thick of it now. Good luck.

Posted by: Thomas

at April 19, 2005 12:14 PM

One of these days, you'll have to translate this for the poker challenged. Sounds like you did pretty well, so congratulations.

Posted by: Kass

at April 19, 2005 01:08 PM

Aiee! Nasty beat on those tens...I've been caught by that myself in a couple of WCP hands. Good play on the cowboys though; if I'd been the button on that hand, I'd have been tempted to represent the set and play that for all it was worth. (I think he tried on the river, but lost his nerve when you came over the top on him.) Probably would've been tough convincing you to lay 'em down though.

Here's hoping you're doing better in today's real tournament play. And remember what T.J. (or was it Doyle?) says: either raise or fold, don't call.

Posted by: Erbo

at April 19, 2005 01:29 PM

Man, you talk PRESSURE!! You're giving me acid spurts right now with all this poker talk! Never tried Zantac, but now looking into it.

Posted by: Greggy

at April 19, 2005 02:08 PM

Dude, all that poker talk is Greek to me but I can relate with the Tums; I ate them like they were going out of style during my first pregnancy. Feel the burn!

Posted by: warcrygirl

at April 19, 2005 03:49 PM

Wil, you sound like a "Poker Geek" !!!

I have trouble enough with Blackjack. Poker is like Klingon to me.

When I go to the casino and tried to play Video Poker, I got confused. LOL! No wonder the computer kicked my ass.

Did you go over to the Hilton yet? My favorite "artifact" at the Trek Museum is the Ressikan Flute Pickard played when he was scanned by that probe. When I was in Vegas in January I had to get a picture of it. (I sound like a geek).

I still say you should go over there and freak out some tourists.

:) Kel

Posted by: kelsquatch

at April 19, 2005 05:18 PM

You should stop by NAB while you're in town. It's all non-linear these days...

I sent you a phonecam picture of Kiki Stockhammer for old times sake.

Posted by: Cruftbox

at April 19, 2005 06:35 PM

Seek the Joy. Let go of winning for just a second - and feel the Joy. THEN you'll stomp their fuzzy butts. But get the Joy first. CONGRATS ON BEING THERE!!!

Posted by: doog

at April 19, 2005 07:36 PM

PokerPages.com has sent a blogger to cover the event and he tells me that "Will" (sigh) is doing well and that he is writing in his diary. Also, Wil says that he needs to get to 56K so he can go back to his show. I think the first day will end in about 10 minutes.

Posted by: Zarate

at April 19, 2005 09:04 PM

Hey Wil!

Being as I work at Keeneland (horse race track in Lexington, Kentucky) - I believe I can help you hit a Daily Double (winner of the 1st and 2nd race) tomorrow

Go to the Aladdin Sports Book before 10:15 am tomorrow (first post 1:15 PM EDT) - ask for Keeneland Race 1, $2 Daily Double wheel

3, 5, 6 with 3 ($6 ticket)

and another ticket

3 with 2, 3, 6 ($6 ticket)

Just $12 to bet, that's all. a total freak bet.

Good luck in Vegas, Wil!

Posted by: Governor Rocknar

at April 19, 2005 11:31 PM

Wil's beloved Apple product broke and he can't update the blog; on his instructions, I lead you to his audioblog message: http://www.audioblogger.com/media/5496/176529.mp3

Also, the current chip counts are here: http://www.pokerpages.com/tournament/result10012.htm

This just in, Wil is better than Howard Lederer and Gus Hansen...combined!

Posted by: machlooney

at April 20, 2005 01:58 AM

hi wil,
good luck today! i'm sending you the mojo!!! can't wait to read about it! i love your poker stories!
take care
rach

Posted by: rach

at April 20, 2005 01:59 AM

Good luck tomorrow!

Posted by: StudioGlyphic

at April 20, 2005 03:16 AM

Okay, just listened to the audioblog entry.

Dude, going from iBook to Powerbook might not be the solution...

Congrats on the comeback, double good luck in the next level, and make the goddamn money!

Posted by: StudioGlyphic

at April 20, 2005 03:22 AM

From http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/

Wil returns to play another day!

Rank Chips Tab Chair
272 Will Wheaton 37,375 50 5

Good luck and keep on keepin' on.

Posted by: Harry

at April 20, 2005 05:25 AM

Made the feature in PokerPlayer paper, man! Way to go, keep muckin' until you get the nuts, then make 'em bleed.
"Players returning to play on Wednesday include Daniel Negreanu, James Van Alstyne, Johnny Chan, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman, Josh Arieh, Dan Alspach, Andy Bloch, Barry Greenstein, Andy Furlong, Juha Helppi, Gabriel Thaler, Devilfish Ulliott, Chris Ferguson, Hilbert Shirey, Max Pescatori, Phil Gorden, Annie Duke, Jesse Jones, Huck Seed, TJ Cloutier, Tobey Maquire, Mickey Appleman, Tom McEvoy, Phil Hellmuth, **Wil Wheaton** , Kathy Liebert, Mimi Tran, Ted Forrest, Men "Master" Nguyen, Paul Wolfe, Kenna James, Howard Lederer and Charlie Shoten, just to name a few."

Posted by: sparky1234

at April 20, 2005 05:54 AM

Well, better keep the rainbow of antacids coming, Wil. Just read the table assignments for day 3 - the good news is the short stack for the tournament is there (with about $9k chips) - the not so good news is Eric Lindgren and Jennifer Harmon are both there. Nice people by most accounts, but huge fins in the water, man. Maybe your friend Daniel (and theirs) can ask them to take it easy on you. ;)
Peace and good cards to you!

Posted by: sparky1234

at April 20, 2005 06:19 AM

Sounds like you're hanging in there, Wil. Oh, and if you see Tobey Maguire tell him I said hello.

Okay, so don't then. It's a running joke I have with my cousin (who lives in Vegas). And each time I tell him I have to tell him who Tobey is.

Dork.

Good luck today, Wil!

Posted by: warcrygirl

at April 20, 2005 06:34 AM

Wil's laptop is broken again.He posted an audblog about his day at the tables.

Posted by: mcsey

at April 20, 2005 06:50 AM

Okay, now once more in English, please? Seriously, I have no idea what most of that meant, but good luck Wil, and have fun!