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July 16, 2005
play poker for a good cause this sunday
The final table of the 2005 World Series of Poker started at 4pm yesterday afternoon, and wasn't finished until just after 7am today. I'm not sure, but I think that's a record. I'd call Pauly to be sure, but something tells me he's crashed out until at least Sunday.
Two qualifiers from PokerStars made the final table, and one guy, who qualified using free play points, made it to the final two tables, finished in 13th place, and won $400,000. Not bad for a freeroll!
Speaking of Pauly and PokerStars, we're doing a charity tournament on Sunday in memory of Pauly's friend Charlie Tuttle:
Charlie is from Clarksville, Tennessee and he's a twenty-six year old music enthusiast who loves hanging out and playing poker with his friends. Charlie was dealt a bad hand in life when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, which he has been battling this past year. A couple of weekends ago, he was hospitalized because two tumors in his chest pressed up against his lungs, causing him breathing problems. I don't have to tell you how serious his condition was.Felicia Lee, who is fighting her own battle with cancer, knows several top professional poker players, so she got several of her friends to call Charlie: John Juanda, Marcel Luske, Max Pescatori, and Barry Greenstein to name a few. In fact, when Barry Greenstein won his bracelet in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event, he dedicated it to Charlie.
As Pauly wrote:
Situations like this one make you reassess what's really important in life. Las Vegas is a city built on greed. Poker is a game that often attracts some of the lowest forms of life. However, in the past two weeks, there has been a small group of professional poker players who have earned my respect and admiration. Amidst all the darkness and debauchery, I have caught a few glimpses of the bright side of humanity. The hearts of some of the biggest sharks in Las Vegas are filled with compassion.Charlie passed away on June 22 and his friends have organized a charity poker tournament this Sunday at PokerStars. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I hope to see lots of WWdN readers there.Thank you, Charlie, for inspiring us all. We'll never forget you.
Details:
SUNDAY, JULY 17th
18:00 EDT (15:00 PDT)
PokerStars
Buy-in is $20 — all of it goes to charity.
"WPBT Charlie Tournament" under Tourneys -> Private tab in the lobby
That's cool.
Posted by: adamnut![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.wilwheaton.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 16, 2005 10:45 AM
I'm such a lousy poker player it would probably be better just to tell me where to send the $20.
I was pulling for Fossilman in the WSOP -- he's from CT and so am I, but he didn't even make the final table.
Wil, I've enjoyed reading all about your experiences in the WSOP and other events. Please keep the stories coming!
Posted by: fgw_three at July 16, 2005 10:57 AM
I had already signed up for this tourney, but it's good to know that you'll be there, Wil. I know what to do if we're heads up, and I peek at my cards to find K4o looking up at me...all-in! It's like Wheaton kryptonite!
Posted by: Marty McSuperFly at July 16, 2005 11:52 AM
mmmmm.....Wheatonite.
Posted by: Marty McSuperFly at July 16, 2005 11:52 AM
Man, I would so love to play in this tourney. Sadly, I am not 18 and don't have my own credit card and my dad wont let me use his. This is such a great cause and I think it is awesome that it is getting so much advertisment.
Cheers Guys.
Wheatonite. heh.
Posted by: Cory at July 16, 2005 01:56 PM
Wil,
How about you use your *STAR POWER* to entice people to join the Charlie poker tournement? Donate some of that sweet SWAG, or perhaps a signed book or two to the top finishers. The money should all go to Charity, but that would give the players something to play for. I bet that would take the signup from 85 to hundreds!
Hmmm.... is illegal online gambling for charity tax deductable?
PS, could you post your PS id? I think you did once before, but maybe it changed, cause I can't find it. You would have lots of "online railbirds".
Write On.
at July 16, 2005 04:20 PM
Thanks for signing up Wil! We're hoping we can round up at least 200 people to play, and are sitting just shy of half that with less than 12 hours to go. Oh, and if you are planning to root Wil on, you should sign up and play instead. Stars accepts minimum deposits of $25, and this is for a great cause - the cancer clinic at Vanderbilt University where Charlie received his treatment.
Come on out and play!
Posted by: HeyKidsItsBG at July 17, 2005 06:10 AM
So I found your blog while looking for WSOP coverage, along with Dr Paulie's. Loved them both - was a tough break for you at WSOP, but you'll get there yet!
I did'nt know this Charlie guy, but I've held (live) charity poker events over here in the UK for a local Hospice that provides fantastic care for very ill patients.
Theres a group of us who have played home games for a few years now and one of our group was ill with cancer during that time. As his condition got worse, he stayed at the hospice where he passed away as peacefully as possible about a year ago.
So, anyway, I see the post about Charlie and think "we'll, its a good cause, how much did I have in my pokerstars account?" I knew I had left it low after a bad run at limit HE.
I checked
"you have $4.98 in your account"
Oh crap, thats not the $20 I need to enter this tourney.
Ok, off to the $0.10 / 0.25 NLHE tables
"you have insufficient funds to play at this table"
:|
Ok, nickel and dime it is! off to the $0.05 / 0.10 NLHE. Just over an hour later, I leave with $43.75 - woot!
So then I look at the start time of the tourney.
At this point I should restate - Im from the UK, which is 8 hours ahead of LA so the tourney is
11PM GMT, before I start work at 7AM GMT on Monday .... DOH!
Ok, well the $20 is yours anyway. I dont think I'll be there actually playing as 'bobcoops'.
If you find yourself at my table you should all fold around to my big blind! lol
Good luck to you and have a good tourney. I'm sure the memory of charlie is well honoured and the proceeds well spent.
Posted by: Rob Cooper at July 17, 2005 08:32 AM
Just to be clear here, the tournament starts at 10 pm GMT.
Posted by: Kalas at July 17, 2005 10:41 AM
Hey Wil -
Charlie was my best friend. I never expected when I asked Pauly to help me get Marcel to call Charlie that things would go this far. If he could see all this he'd get a real kick out of it.
Thanks for signing up and pimping the tournament to your legions of readers. You're doing a really good thing.
Posted by: Jason Kirk at July 17, 2005 10:53 AM
Come on people, get on board... we're only up to a little more than 100 players. Let's hit 500 and make a $10,000 donation!
Wouldn't that rock?
Posted by: CJ at July 17, 2005 12:58 PM
Well my real money isn't going to be ready yet, (I know. I know, but the last time I had a credit card...), so unfortunately, I won't be playing, but I see that 122 are all ready registered.
I'd also like to echo the first poster's request. Can we get an addy to send snail money too?
Well, I'll stop by the tourney an hour or two in to see what's happening.
Good luck to everyone playing. Everyone playing responds, "It's poker. It's not about luck."
/me folds...
edit from a few seconds later:
address for memorial donations according to 2idiots.com (from Wil's link up there):
Gift Records
VU Station B#357727
Nashville, TN 37235
at July 17, 2005 02:13 PM
Wil, Thanks so much for taking part in the tournament. It has been unreal what the blogger community has accomplished and we thank you all so much. Tonight was fun. Charlie would have been extremely proud.
Thanks again, Karen (Charlie's mom)
Posted by: Karen at July 17, 2005 08:05 PM
Had a great time Wil.
I got hurt early on when my AA got beat by JJ. But I was able to fight my way back and eventually got knocked out at the #10 spot - just one short of the final table. :(
Maybe next time I'll actually get to sit at your table.
Good cause, good fun.
thanks
at July 17, 2005 08:18 PM
Poker - I love this game and would not mind playing for charity. It is the people that play and loose their homes to gambling that worry me. The great news about celebrity poker is that they get to play with someone elses money.
Another note - Who watches Amazing race? they are running first episode re-runs right now and I just cant miss a single show - I TEVO it!!! Enjoyed the BLOG. chat another time bye.
Posted by: AquaDuckie.com at July 17, 2005 09:05 PM
I'm not usually one to complain about bad beats, but jeez louise. I had about 2200 in chips when the average was about 3500-4000, and so I was looking for opportunities to increase my stack. I look down to find AA, and after some spirited betting, find myself all-in against...wait for it...87d. So some observer (and there were plenty of you, since Wil was at my table at that time) said "suckout" and I'll be damned if that jackass didn't hit a straight on the turn. So there I was, out 43rd instead of doubled up and back in contention.
Am I bad man for calling someone else in a charity tournament a jackass? I can't be...only a jackass would put 2200 in the pot with a small suited conmnector.
at July 18, 2005 05:24 AM
Even if I'd heard about it in time, I couldn't have played since I'm working nights these days and sleeping during the days. Hope it raised lots of money though!
I just started playing these Sit n Go No Limit tournaments at Pokerstars, since I first concentrated on learning the limit game. Happily I just won a $6 + $0.50 45 player tournament, my first win! If you set up another charity game, I'll happily donate a good portion of the winnings.
BTW Marty, your pocket rockets are only slightly better than a 3:1 favorite against suited connectors like that. AA will lose that one with more regularity than you'd think. I'd much rather see AK against my AA, which is almost a lock. I'm not sure but I think the middle suited connectors are the best hand to go up against AA (other than another pair of aces, of course).
at July 18, 2005 05:54 AM
Dr. Greg,
Yeah, I know, and I never complain when the long shots hit me favorably, but still....3:1 is a 75% chance for me, and that beat stings. I can't remember the sequence of betting, exactly, but I'm pretty sure the pot wasn't offering him 3:1 on his money, anyway, so I stand by my belief that he was a jackass. To be fair, I will admit to having been that jackass in other tournaments, so it's not a bitter personal thing.
I won the money back later in a $10 sit n go, but it's the principle of the matter, dagnabit.
at July 18, 2005 08:02 AM
OK, because I had to check my hand history...
Blinds are 100/200
Everyone folds to jackass in MP, who raises to 600
Everyone folds to me, right of the button, I go all-in, raising 1445
Everyone folds to jackass, who calls 1445 for a 2945 pot (which is 2:1), with 7d 8d
Flop comes Qh 6h 9d
Turn comes 5c
Out goes Marty.
I guess everyone needs a bad beat story to tell.
Posted by: Marty McSuperFly at July 18, 2005 08:14 AM
It was fun playing with you again. :)
at July 19, 2005 04:57 PM
I look down to find AA, and after some spirited betting, find myself all-in against...wait for it...87d. So some observer (and there were plenty of you, since Wil was at my table at that time) said "suckout" and I'll be damned if that jackass didn't hit a straight on the turn. So there I was, out 43rd instead of doubled up and back in contention.
Posted by: Flag at July 21, 2005 07:47 PM
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