The show was great. When we all walked backstage, we were happy and satisfied. Travis gave us all good constructive notes. This show is just going to keep getting better.
While I changed out of my costume and back into my regular clothes, Matt asked, “Are you coming next door for a drink?”
As I’ve written before, the esprit de corps I feel with the cast — the post-show bonding and goofing off — is the greatest reward I get for doing the show, but . . .
“Actually, I’m going to call Anne and Nolan and see if they’re awake. If they are, I’m going home to hang out with them.”
Matt is probably the only person in the cast who won’t tease me too much about ditching the them to be a family guy.
“Cool,” he said, “Maybe I’ll see you next door.”
“Maybe.” I finished changing and closed my locker.
I walked out the back door of the theater, and pulled my cellphone out of my pocket. When I opened it, Felix’s little face looked up at me.
“Hi The Bear,” I said, as I speed-dialed my house.
Anne picked up after one ring.
“Hi Puss,” she said, “How was your show?”
“I had fun,” I said. “The audience was a little weird, but I think we did a good performance anyway.”
“How were they weird?”
“There was this huge block of people who were ‘smilers’ rather than ‘laughers.’ I think they enjoyed themselves, but they were so quiet, it sort of sucked the energy out of the house.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Are you coming home?”
“That’s why I was calling. If you guys are awake, I’ll come home right now.”
“Yeah, Nolan and I are just up watching COPS.”
COPS is our full-on guilty pleasure. One time, several years ago, Anne and I had a COPS-a-thon. We invited all of our friends. None of them showed up, but we didn’t care, man. We watched four hours of COPS alone, and it was awesome.
“Do you think you guys will be awake in forty minutes or so?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she said.
“Then I’m coming home.”
“Oh boy!”
I smiled. “Yeah, it’s like that. See you in a little bit.”
“Okay. Drive carefully. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I hung up the phone, grabbed my stuff out of the dressing room, and walked out to my car. On the way, I passed through the bar where the entire cast was sitting together.
“Are you staying for a drink?” Margaret asked.
Margaret and I usually talk each other into staying out too late, having one more drink that we probably shouldn’t have, eating the junk food that’s been backstage for a week, but . . .
“No, I’m going home to hang out with my family,” I said. “Well, two thirds of my family. Ryan’s sleeping over at his friend’s house.”
“Tell Ferris I love her, and I hope she feels better,” Chris said, as I walked out of the bar.
“She knows. She keeps asking when you’re going to come visit her again,” I said.
I opened the door, and heard Chris tell Kurt, “His dog is the sweetest . . .” as I walked out into La Brea and got into my car.
I listened to The Drop on KCRW on the way home, and the drive was over before I knew it. I walked into my house around 11.
Riley met me at the front door. Ferris had surgery on her knee on Monday, so she won’t be meeting me at the door for at least five months.
I walked back to my bedroom, where my wife was sound asleep. Ferris was on the floor next to my side of the bed, wearing her “life of the party lampshade” cone.
“Hi Berris,” I whispered as I walked into the room. “Chris says he loves you and hopes you feel better.” She wagged her tail against the side of my bed and Anne opened her sleepy eyes.
“I think I fell asleep,” she said.
“I think you did,” I said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She rubbed her face and said, “Okay. I love you.”
“I love you too, honey.”
I walked around the side of our bed, and kissed her forehead. She smiled, and mooshed her head down into her pillow.
It always takes me a few hours to unwind after a show, and last night was no different. Though my house was asleep, and I was physically tired, my brain was still filled with adrenaline from performing. So I sat down in my office, and surfed The Internets.
After I read my e-mail and caught up on all my regular sites, it was only 11:30 . . . so I decided to hop onto PokerStars and play a tournament. You know, to unwind.
In these single-table games I don’t open without a super-premium hand, and I let the aggressive players beat the shit out of each other for the first few levels. Occasionally, I’ll pick up something to play with, but I’m primarily interested in establishing Fold Equity early on, and protecting my stack. Since I drew the 1 seat in this game, I got an entire round to watch the way my opponents played. It was pretty uneventful for the first level, but Seat 7 was one of the worst players I’ve ever seen: raising with draws, calling on the river when he was beat, always showing down when he got an opponent to fold . . . I thanked the poker gods for putting him at my table. I hadn’t played many pots. I opened a few times, but never really made a hand I could play after the flop. I was still about average, though, when I got into it with Seat 7:
PokerStars Game #161708xxxx: Tournament #750xxxx, Hold’em No Limit – Level II (15/30) – 2005/05/01 – 02:54:26 (ET)
Table ‘750xxxx 1’ Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: [Wil] (1110 in chips)
Seat 2: (1620 in chips)
Seat 3: (1270 in chips)
Seat 4: (2580 in chips)
Seat 5: (2650 in chips)
Seat 7: (460 in chips)
Seat 8: (2180 in chips)
Seat 9: (1630 in chips)
Seat 8: posts small blind 15
Seat 9: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to [Wil] [Ac Kh]
Hey! Big Slick under the gun. I hate this hand in early position, but I think I’ll raise here. I’ve got some Fold Equity, so I will probably just steal the blinds, which is fine with me. If someone plays back, at least I have some kind of hand.
[Wil]: raises 70 to 100
Seat 2: folds
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: folds
Seat 5: folds
Seat 6: raises 360 to 460 and is all-in
Seat 7: folds
Seat 8: folds
Easiest call I’ve made in days. This guy’s ready to pop, and something tells me this is an impatient short-stack push. He just lost a big hand, too, so maybe he’s steaming. He probably thinks I’m stealing, so I’ll gamble a little bit.
[Wil]: calls 360
He showed the Ad Qh. Well, I’m ahead, but just barely. And the AQ has been cockpunching me an awful lot lately . . .
*** FLOP *** [5c Tc Ah]
Okay, I’m still ahead. I wish I had one of those WPT percentage thingies in my head . . .
The turn was the 9 of spades.
Okay, this is a three-outer for him . . .
*** RIVER *** [5c Tc Ah 9s] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
[Wil]: shows [Ac Kh] (a pair of Aces)
Seat 6: shows [Ad Qh] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
Seat 6 collected 965 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 965 | Rake 0
Board [5c Tc Ah 9s Qs]
Oh fuck me. The goddamn AQo! Will I ever win a pot against that hand?! I took a deep breath, and let it go. “That’s poker,” I reminded myself. I settled down, focused, and I played well. Very few draws unless I could get in cheap and with position, and I stole blinds when I felt the time was right. Like TJ says, “Timing is everything.”
Fun fact: According to Doyle Brunson in Super System 2, if you play in Texas, the AQ is called “The Doyle Brunson,” because, he says, he tries to never play that hand. Additional, Less-fun Fact: I really wish they’d put the / back into the title, so it’d be called Super/System 2.
I played my tight/aggressive raise-or-fold game, knocked a couple guys out, and found myself in at least third place. The big stack was about T10000, I was about T3000, and the short stack was Broomcorned down to T280. He pushed against me when I held the . . . wait for it . . . Ace of Clubs and Queen of Spades in the Small Blind. I pushed all-in, so I wouldn’t have to worry about the leader getting in cheaply to make some bullshit freak set or something, and he folded. The short stack showed the other, better-known, Doyle Brunson: 10-2.
The flop came Kc 3h Js, and I had myself an open ended straight draw.
The turn brought one of my three outs: the 10s, and I had Broadway. The river was the 2 of spades, and I was heads up!
The big stack was a very loose-aggressive player. After I busted Broomcorn’s Uncle, I had T3500 while he sat behind T10000. I knew I was only one all-in bet away from seriously challenging him, and the blinds were only 100/200, so I had a little bit of time — not much, but a little — to pick my spot. I had a perfect read on this guy: he was using his big stack to call everything, then betting at every flop. He’d taken just about all of Broomcorn’s stack playing this way, so it was likely that he’d play the same way against me. I don’t usually trap, but I knew that if I flopped a big hand, I’d easily make him pay me off.
We went back and forth for a while, and he played exactly the way I expected. He stole lots of blinds, but I stayed on my game. I made a few little moves when I figured he missed the flop, and I was lucky enough to be correct each time. I won a few small pots without having to showdown, and worked my way back to about even with him. I stayed patient: If I got the opportunity to use the rope-a-dope, I could probably bust him.
PokerStars Game #161728xxxx: Tournament #750xxxx, Hold’em No Limit – Level VII (100/200) – 2005/05/01 – 03:53:16 (ET)
Table ‘750xxxx 1’ Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: [Wil] (6825 in chips)
Seat 3: (6675 in chips)
[Wil]: posts the ante 25
Seat 3: posts the ante 25
Seat 3: posts small blind 100
[Wil]: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to [Wil] [6s 6d]
Okay, I think I can raise here. He’ll play back at me, but I can afford to come back and at least see a flop.
Seat 3: raises 200 to 400
[Wil]: raises 800 to 1200
Seat 3: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [6h 7s 7h]
Yahtzee.
[Wil]: checks
Seat 3: bets 200
[Wil]: calls 200
*** TURN *** [6h 7s 7h] [3c]
[Wil]: checks
Seat 3: bets 2200
[Wil]: raises 3200 to 5400 and is all-in
Seat 3: folds
[Wil] collected 7250 from pot
Awesome. Possum. If I don’t screw this up, that could be the hand where he lost.
Seat 1: [Wil] (10450 in chips)
Seat 3: (3050 in chips)
Dude. I must admit: I felt like was out-playing this guy. I’d clearly read him as an aggressive (bordering on maniac) player, so I was able to adjust enough to stay alive, and wait for that moment when eventually he’d try to push me out when I held the nuts. (Yeah, I know that I can’t always sit back and wait for the nuts to make a play, but I got some luck when I needed it.)
We traded blinds for the next three hands. On the fourth hand, he moved all-in against me pre-flop. I had the Ace and Ten of hearts. It felt like a loose call, but I figured it was a stronger-than-average hand heads up. I guess I should figure out for sure if it is or not, right? I’ll probably have to make this decision again in the future . . . Anyway, it was a good chance to send him home, and if he won, I still had enough of a stack to keep going.
He showed the Ace of clubs and the 4 of diamonds. My heart started to beat a little faster.
The flop came Ks, Qd, 9s. It’s not quite “w00t” time, but I’ll at least take a deep breath.
The turn was the 9c. I’m still in the lead.
In the chat window, my opponent said, “gg.”
“Dude, *fantastic* game,” I typed back.
The river was the Kh.
Aw, fuck. We both made two pair, Kings and Nines. Our aces played, and we chopped.
“luck,” he said.
Is he talking about me or him? No time to worry about that. The cards were out. I had the 6d and the 3c. He pushed, I folded. He may be tilting, but there’s no way I’m calling with that trash.
On the next hand, I was the small blind.
Dealt to [Wil] [Ah Qh]
[Wil]: raises 800 to 1200
Seat 3: raises 3350 to 4550 and is all-in
Maybe the damn AQ will break my way this time.
[Wil]: calls 3350
He showed a King and a Jack, both of spades. Excuse me while I don’t get excited.
*** FLOP *** [7h Jh 5d]
Of course. Of. Fucking. Course. It was 12:56 in the morning. Riley was asleep at my feet. My office door was open, and any sound I made would certainly travel straight down the hallway and into my bedroom, where my slumbering wife’s sleep cocoon was the only thing which separated me from The Wrath.
In spite of myself, I said, out loud, “A Jack?! Motherfucker! Why does Ace Queen hate me so much?”
Wait. Are there two hearts on the board? Holy crap, there are two hearts on the board! I’ve got a four flush!
I quickly looked over my shoulder at the open door, then back to my computer. “Come on, Heart! Give me a Heart! Daddy needs a Heart!” You’d think I was at the final table of the WSOP.
After a long moment, the turn card came out
*** TURN *** [7h Jh 5d] [3h]
I shot my arms up into the air, and shouted “Yes! Flush, baby!”
Riley jumped up from under my desk and cocked her head at me. From my bedroom, I heard Ferris’ tail thump thump thump against the floor. I listened for The Wrath, but my outburst apparently failed to pierce Anne’s veil of sleep. When I get lucky, I really get lucky!
Seat 3 said, “gg,” as the River card came: the King of Clubs.
I won. Oh my god, I won! I stuck to my guns. I never lost focus, played my game, and I won.
I sat back in my chair, and smiled to myself. My console beeped that I had mail. I clicked into my desktop called teh mail and saw it
PokerStars Tournament #750xxxx, No Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50
9 players
Total Prize Pool: $45.00
Tournament started – 2005/05/01 – 02:43:29 (ET)
Dear [Wil],
You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $22.50 award has been credited to your Real Money account.
Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.
I’m often asked why poker is so popular right now. Is it because it’s on television all the time? Is it because guys like Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, and Daniel Negreanu are young, and seem like rock stars? Is it because anyone can buy into an event and have an opportunity to compete with the best in the world, something you just can’t do in any other sport?
Maybe it’s all of those things, but I think it has a lot more to do with the awesome rush I felt when I made my flush on fourth street. Yeah, I had only risked five bucks, and I only won 22 . . . but when the little window popped up and said “Congratulations! You’re the winner!” I felt like I’d taken home a bracelet.
Now, I needed to unwind from my unwinding . . . so I grabbed a Newcastle from the fridge, parked it on the couch, and watched SportsCenter. In all, not a bad way to spend an evening. Not bad at all.
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Wil-
This is the perfect read for me as I play a 30 dollar tourny on Hollywoodpoker.com. Nice work!
w00t! AQ finally came through, eh? (I think I just felt a disturbance in the Force.)
Congrats on the schweet win at long last! ^_^
Nice job.
We didn’t end up hitting Hollywood Park until midnight, and I ended up losing two buy-ins playing the $100 NL games. River beats both times. Damn.
Very cool!
At least now you won’t be thinking that AQ has it out for you. 🙂
By the way, put me down for a Dancing Barefoot DVD.
Nice read. Even though I can’t understand all the poker expressions I still feel the excitement as I read, and that can’t be bad. Keep it up, Wil. When you’re cheering, I’m cheering.
Congrats on the win, and thanks for the replay of how it went down. I haven’t played too well recently, but reading how your game went makes me want to get back into one soon. I still only play for cyber bucks, but I’m almost ready to try opening a real money account, if only to get some decent opponents. Some of these fake money players are really frustrating to play against. I had pocket aces cracked last night by somebody who stayed in with Q4o and paired both of them, the 4 on the turn. One thing I have found about low limit play money poker: there is no such thing as “raising to thin the field.” Ah well, such is poker.
Didnt understand most of that blog entry being honest. Poker isnt big in ireland at all.
In Ireland were just intrested mainly in Soccer, Rugby and GAA Hurling (cross between hockey and football) and GAA Football (cross between Soccer, rugby and american football.
Go check it out the links above if your intrested in field games. Hurling is offically the fastest ball game on earth.
Man, is COPS still on TV? I remember in the 90’s looking at that and “unsolved mysteries” every saturday night.
Oh, I know exactly what you mean, Wil. I started playing Hold’em about 10 weeks ago. It started when I played for the first time at a friends house and I won against six or so others. The rush when you win is absolutely amazing, it’s like a high. Ever since then, I’ve been playing at my grandma’s once a week, I can’t ever get over that rush, it’s just amazing.
I would absolutely love to play you on PokerStars sometime, Wil. Is your avatar Wil or did you just put that for the blog? I’ll look you up sometime when my main comp gets back up (video card b0rked). Cheers on a great win, Wil.
-cory
I shudder just to think about the amount of Poker-related spam that you must be getting these days.
My husband likes to go to the neighborhood amusement arcade and play with the poker machine there. He won $20 today!! Woo hoo!!
NICE WIN, Wil.
all you need is another $17.50 and you’re up there with Moneymaker and Raymer. 😀
Nice playin’ Wil. Too bad you couldn’t win with AT. AQ is called the Doyle Brunson; the AT is called the Johnny Moss. You were in good company last night. 🙂
Wil, I really like reading your journal, but Holy smoly…not to be rude or anything but must you write SOOOO long ?! – People over at Livejournal have to scroll all the way down your entry to read other journals.
Over at Livejournal – we cut tag stuff if our journal entry is going to be really LONG. Yes I am aware that this is your journal but please for the sanity of others – cut tag it.
jewelsoflife: This isn’t directed at you, specifically, but you happened to make the comment that broke my back.
I’m happy that there are so many LJ readers who pick up the feed (which I didn’t create, and have no control over, by the way), but I write my blog for this site. That means that I write long. I write short. Occasionally, I write in-between. In other words, I write however I feel like writing, and my only concern is how the entries display here.
I’m getting real tired of complaints from people who read this via Live Journal, as if Live Journal readers are somehow entitled to something. Well. When my cats died, and I was grieving, guess where all the heartless cruelty came from? One hint: It rhymes with Live Journal. Who posted some bullshit passive/aggressive “I’m going to whine about Wil because he didn’t do what I wanted him to do, and his explaination wasn’t good enough for me? Wil owes me something because . . . oh! Because I said so.” It rhymes with a Live Journaler. So you know who is pretty much at the bottom of my list of people I need to suck up to? No hints on this one; you’ll have to figure it out yourself.
I know it’s a huge pain in the ass to make a book mark, or click a link, or subscribe to an RSS feed in any one of a billion readers. I know it’s the hardest thing in the world to find some other way to come here and read WWdN, but I’ve had it with complaints from people who are upset that this little diversion along the Internets known as WWdN isn’t exactly the way they want it to be.
So, to sum up: If you don’t like the length of the entries, don’t read my blog through LJ.
If you’d like to issue any further complaints, please direct them to that brick wall over there.
For crying out loud, if you don’t like the length of the blog dont freakin read it. If the biggest complaint in the world that you have is soley that wil’s blog isnt the right length for you, then you are one lucky person. Most people (including wil) have bigger probs than to bitch bout minor things like that.
As a wise man once said if you cant say nice things to people, dont say them at all.
Im not sucking up to wil, but that kinda smart ass crap pisses me off.
Wh-hoo!! yeah Wil! thanx for taking the time to post that. i was looking for some good reading tonight and that hit the spot. you know its good when you find yourself leaning into the computer screen, oblivious to everything else! 🙂 take care man!
arg, I have a thing about Live Journal. doesn’t surprise me they’d complain (I totally don’t see the point of those ‘friends’ pages where entries show up, anyway… why not just a collection of friends’ links, or just the first few lines of an entry, linked up??). I have a LJ journal, but only because I had to sign up in order to be able to comment on a friend’s blog. if I actually posted to my LJ blog I’m sure people would seriously *hate my guts*, because I’m rarely less than long-winded when I write anything. hmm… actually, sounds like fun if I ever need a diversion :D.
ANYhoo… I’m poker-challenged so I have no idea what all that poker talk means, but it’s fun to read about the game. congrats on the win :).
just a side note. since posting the above i actually read the comments immidiately above mine own, and the good reading i was reffering to was the poker tourney. Further, as someone who’s here nearly everyday, i apreciate the long entries! thanks for taking the time Wil!
Poker popular? As popular as 80’s wrestling? If one poker player can star in a flick as good as “Hell Comes to Frogtown” then you can say poker has truly arrived.
Great story, Wil. I’m excited for my June trip to Vegas for some grad school research on poker tourism and the WSOP. I hope you decide to make a weekend trip up there while I’m in town 🙂
Also, make your posts as long as you want. Screw those losers who can’t put up with it.
Mmmmmm…Newcastle Brown Ale…God’s gift to man. 🙂
*First Comment Dance*
Plant a flag in Pokerstars and claim it for Wheatonia! The man has won, and with the conquest of the AQ as seasoning on the victory, as well. Well done, but beware turning your back on the fickle AQ for it will harm thee should you let it. 🙂
Dan
Seriously, your game recaps are so awesome. Please write a poker adventure novel.
Woohoo, poker! You know one of the reasons I learned to play poker was so I could understand it when you talk poker. Now I love poker. And you won! Yay! And yay for long posts!
great read wil, i might have to start checking out this poker “stuff” lol. i’ve been a blackjack man all my life…loved your reply to the lj readers. speedy recovery to your dog there.
take care, john
Wil, congrats on your win. I hope next time it’s bigger and better. Have a great day.
Hugs from Lesley
Hi Wil,
I read you through my LJ but PLEASE don’t hold that against me! 😀 People who compain about the length of someone’s JOURNAL entry kill me. It’s like saying, “Yes, please tell me your life story, but can you cut it down to 5 lines because I have a short attention span and I really don’t care that much. Besides, I really want to get to all of those useless quizzes that tell me all about myself.” Blech. That being said, I can get to the point of my comment:
Wow! Congrats on the game! I loved that your post was so long because I only scrolled up line by line to keep the suspense. 🙂 I was bitten by the online Hold ‘Em bug about 6 months ago and finally played a live game about two months ago. In my very first live game, I won! SUCH EXTREME EXHILARATION!!! And it was especially great that I was the only woman playing against 6 chauvinistic men. 😉 I lost the next time, but I hung in for a solid 5 hours before going out. It just wasn’t my night.
Oops, sorry, rambling. Last thing: I totally 2nd djak on the poker adventure. 🙂
Un-freakin-believable about the LJ thing. As if you absolutely NEED them to read your blog or you’ll just curl up and die, so you’d better do it they way they want you to or ELSE, dammit. There are some “celebrity” blogs that I swear are posted simply because the writer really does need to have ass-kissing, deifying, “you’re my inspiration to keep living” comments to make themselves feel better. Or more important. Or superior. Probably all of the above and then some. I like what you write because it’s interesting, intelligent, funny, entertaining and it’s not full of self-righteousness. You never make the reader feel “less-than” or less worthy.
This particular entry pretty much proves that point. You make it clear that what’s the most important to you is your family, including your furry family…not so different from the rest of us. You lurk about on the internet, play games online, blog, email etc., just like the rest of us. (although I admit I still don’t get the whole encryption thing. Gotta get the hub to clue me in on that) You just have a more high profile job than most of us.
Oh, and our full-on guilty pleasure is American Idol. I sing for a living, so I can’t help it. I’m addicted!!
Ok, done rambling. I enjoyed your entry, long or not. Makes no difference to me.
Long entry! shoot I feel lucky when you post 2 days in a row (any length)…We true readers (the ones who have a favorites link to WWDN, that we check every day) love it when you ramble, make us feel like we are a part of your life, a friend-one who would show for a COPS marathon……..*waiting for invite*
Would it be weird to say that the joys of a flush on the turn and a cold Newky-brown are about equal, and way up there on my list?
I hope you travel with your group, 3000miles is just a bit too far for me to go see a show. But if I ever end up on the West Coast, I will make sure to drop in.
And I hope you get on Celebrity Poker, you seem to know the game and your quick wit will make for a great show. Good Luck.
Now you’ve done it, Wil…after reading this, I got the jones and had to go fire up World Championship Poker last night. I got into a three-handed SNG in which I knocked out one player, then went heads-up against the other guy for half an hour before I pushed all-in on him with a pair of aces, sensing weakness, only to find out he’d made his spade flush on the river. Well, second place still put me in the money, so I wasn’t too disappointed, but I need to work on my heads-up play. (After that game, I didn’t know if I could top that in one evening, so I put in Halo 2 instead and shot at people for awhile.)Glad you finally managed to conquer Big Chick. Hope you pick up a monster pot with it again soon.
Wil
Congrats on the tourney! Have yet to make it into the money games myself (little things like my budget and my wife keep me from it somehow), but play with regularity on Party. I third the suggestion for the acceleration of the release of the poker book.
About the LJ whiners – I have an LJ account, but I come here to read your entries. I am amazed that people would be brazen enough to ask an artist to change their work to fit their convenience. That being said, Pearls before Swine nets you dirty pearls – flaming swine only gets you roasted pork.
Wait! I like that. Flame away, and I’ll bring the beer.
Wil, I think your second to last para was right on the spot. Yes, the Chris Moneymakers of the world are nice rags-to-riches tales. But really, it’s that moment when you have played the way you want to play, and the hand broke like you expected, and you know you did the right thing and you get the pot – that’s golden. It’s gotten so I don’t mind bad beats too much (okay, that’s exaggerating, but I avoid tiltage) as long as I know I made a good call. Some jackass wants to play 63o against me cause he had a feeling and ends up rivering out trips to my KK – well, his money will not be his for long.
Poker is all about that feeling you get when it all works. I love that feeling, whether on a 0.25/0.50 game or at some higher level. It’s not about the money. It’s knowing you did it right.
Wow – you said all that much more eloquently than me. Guess that’s why you write and I read.
I agree with Heather. I feel lucky if you post 2 days in a row! I check WWdN every morning first thing for updates. I read your post for your writing, to get sucked into whatever story you are telling. The length of that story is not important to me, the quality is what matters, and quality is ALWAYS there. Thanks for including us in your life!!
Sandra
I know Chris H is pestering you, but the WPBT is calling your name. 🙂
Liza Richardson has a little bit of awesomness going on there with THE DROP, and she’s an awesome person too. I’ve talked with her several times, but haven’t heard the show in a few months. BAD me.. don’t tell her.
BTW, you lost me on all the poker stuff.. the letters just sort of ran together and slid off the monitor in a very dyslexic sort of way, but I have been reading the blog and enjoying for some time now, expecially when it comes to the furry kids. Fifteen years married, and that’s all my wife and I have are a couple of kitties.
Someday I’ll tell you about this friend of mine who was on ONE episode of TNG in the first season, and after 40 plus years of stage, THAT’S what people remember him by. I’m sure you know how that goes and the frustration that ensues.
Hey! That’s great work Wil. Now you have some profit to display when you are asked why you waste your time there.
I felt my heart beating from your writing. And don’t mind the LJ problems. Not all of us are assholes. But there are some really insensitive people over there. Just let it go.
People are people. Never gonna change.
You lost me with the Poker talk but bailing out early to be with the family? I’m with you on that one. Even if they are asleep by the time you get there.
Heh… I totally grok the Cops/guilty pleasure thing. My freshman year of college, my roomate and I had an anciant beast of a TV. It actually had the turn-dials to change the channel.
We only got 2 stations. Fox, and the weather channel.
Cops became our guilty pleasure for study breaks. You never realize how much they play it till its the only channel you get worth watching (unless your into tornados that way, which is just kinky).
and yay on the win! Slowly with your blogs and some online guides and espn poker coverage, I actually starting to understand what your talking about. Now if I could just find people to play with.
ahem… gut shot straight draw – not open ended…
but you were just seeing if we were paying attention 😉
-kytyn (of the black hat – Austin)
I was just going to post the same thing about the straight. If you have AKQJ, only a 10 can make the straight, so it’s not opened-ended. Good story regardless. Grats.
Nicely played, Wil. I know what you mean about AQ, though. It’s one of those hands that looks absolutely gorgeous when I pick it up, but I *never* seem to hit with the gorramn thing or if I do hit, I’m up against Mister Slick. Hard to fault the play when you flopped the devil boat, though. As Vince Van Patten would say, “the star-spangled banner was going off in his head”. I flopped kings-full heads-up at our home game last Saturday and I pushed with a reverse-bluff (It’s so phony, he has to call if he has a king). He, of course, folded and I was busted about ten hands after that. Damned hindsight.
PS: I absolutely ‘love’ your poker blogs. Reading a pros blog is one thing, but reading someone like myself who is working on their game while they play for enjoyment, not because they won’t make rent if they lose is something else altogether. (That being said, I don’t know if you’ve checked out Daniel Negreanu’s blog, but it’s pretty good)
kytyn, Buzzman: Whoops. You’re right. Guess I was even luckier to make that hand than I thought. 🙂
Will, when will you have your podcast going? You might even offer your “shows” for download (at a price of course)
There has to be satellite tournaments out there which for a small entry of $20 or so, you can get an automatic entry into a higher tournament. What are some good satellite tournaments to start in?
Congrats, Wil! The rush of competition and good luck is the payoff. Not the money. [Well, unless it’s “serious” money, lol.]
Great to read that you’d endure any teasing [non given it appears… nice co-workers.] to have a few moments hanging out with your family. Now, there’s a guy with his priorities in order.
Oh, and for the people that have the nerve to ask [read: bitch/complain] A WRITER to format his work??? You’ve got to kidding me??!!
Do you [yeah, you LiveJournal compainers] ask painters to resize their canvases? Automakers to shrink their sedans to better fit in your garages? Your man, Bubba, to shrink his hard-on to better fit up your butts???
Killer post!
Funny you should mention the 10-2 Doyle Brunson. Last game I played, I had that very hand and, pre-flop, two players went all-in against my big stack. Feeling weird, I called them. The boss showed a pair of bullets, and the cook had AKo. My ten-deuce seemed like nothing, but the flop came out *-2-*, and I was still alive. After a quick mumble session consisting of “come on baby” and a few other choice words, the turn fell down. Deuce. I had a set. The river was a 5 or something, and I had taken down AKo and AA with the good old DB.
The haul was quite nice, that night, too. $300 cash money, baby.
That’s Poker 😀