Every Sunday, 1983 World Series of Poker champion and respected author Tom McEvoy plays a heads up poker match with the weekly tournament leader at PokerStars.
From time to time, Tom isn’t able to play, so someone else from Team PokerStars is called up off the bench to play, and this week, it’s me!
So if you’ve ever wanted to “watch” me play poker, you’ll have a chance Sunday the 24th at 2pm EDT. Just login to PokerStars, and search for player “Wil Wheaton” to find the table.
I’m playing against the Dutch sensation Noah Boeken, who goes by “Exclusive” on PokerStars. He’s got impressive credentials, and the scouting reports all include the word notorious(!) . . . so it should be a great match (or a quick and bloody evisceration of yours truly. 😉
Update: Going into this match, all I wanted to do was play good poker, not make any huge donkey moves, represent Team PokerStars honorably, and feel proud of myself when I was done, win or lose. There were a couple of hands where I think I messed up, but luckily they didn’t cost me too much, and I’m very happy with the way I played. I didn’t feel like I was playing scared, I got lucky when I needed it — which was a nice change of pace.
We played for 190 hands . . . and somehow, I won the match. Holy. Shit. I was seriously on the ropes for a bit, and I managed to battle my way back against a very good, solid opponent who played a fantastic game.
Thank you to everyone who watched and cheered me on. That was really fun 🙂
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Wil,
Well let’s just say I opened an account just 15 min before it started, so naturally I didn’t get to post in progress 😉
Anyhow, it was a fun game to watch and you made a great comeback just before the break, now if I can just learn how to speak pokereese, I’ll be all set!
And tell me, is that the typical chat you have to put up with whne people realize that it’s ‘you’ they are playing/observing? If it is, my hat’s off to ya for putting up with so much bull, ‘course you do have many a supporter as well so I guess it all balances out in the end 😉
Keep up the good work!!
Hey, that’s great news Wil!
What a nice way to represent PokerStars by defeating such a worthy opponent!
“All you need is a little success, and I think it will suit you.” –Monique, the French love interest from the movie “Better Off Dead” (1985)
This should boost your poker confidence! Good for you!
Congrats on the win, Wil. I wish I could have been there to see it. Maybe you will get the call for the Sunday Heads-Up Match again, now that you have shown your mastery.
That’s very kind, Dave, but I wouldn’t call it “mastery.” 🙂
I’m happy with my play, but I was *way* behind on the last hand until the turn. It could have easily gone the other way.
Also, I told Anne when I called all-in with my nines, “I’m either the smartest player in the world, or I’m making the worst call of my life right now.” Luckily, my read was right, and he didn’t catch any of his outs on that hand.
I’m thrilled with the win, but I don’t want to start overestimating my skills, or break my arm patting myself on the back.
Well done you!
holy smokes, congrats on the win! I wish I could’ve watched, but I was slaving away until late hours at work.
congrats again. 🙂
i watched the whole thing, LOts of F-tards in chat, I couldnt say anything, my chat would not function so I couldnt support you against those that would trample your being.
Great Game, UP down UP down, UP and BLAMMO!!!! You did to him what so many have done to you.
Well done.
Hope we get to see more of you in Pokerstars.
Rawk ON!!!!!
i just took a quiz and YOU are my “famous blogging twin”! feel special!
congrats, wil! man, it’s awesome you won. you’ve been a great sport through the games and definitely deserve a moment in the spotlight. thanks for keeping an amazing blog up to date for us curious onlookers :). you’re really becoming a hero to lots of people. take good care.
Space Nerd Wil Wheaton defeats Magic Nerd Broken Noah Boeken, and just plain old Nerd um, me, rejoices!
I’m a recent fan, Wil, and signed up to congratulate you here. As always, thank you for everything.
Cripes this blog has been reduced to another boring poker blog. . Moving on to a more interesting blog…
Hey craig, no one is forcing you to read this.
And wil, don’t sell yourself short on the last hand. When the money went into the pot, you were a favorite (albeit slight). And frankly, you were NEVER behind on the hand… you just weren’t favored after the flop.
Congratulations, you poker player, you.
Congratumalations on the win, Wil! I knew you could do it!
Okay, I didn’t really know. But I was rootin’ for ya anyways! 🙂
Congrats Wil! Way to go and represent PS! Keep up the success.
Wil wrote:
>That’s very kind, Dave, but I wouldn’t call it “mastery.” 🙂
I almost put a smiley after “mastery” in my comment, but I didn’t want to detract from the compliment. 🙂 I know that you are well aware of your strengths and weaknesses at poker, and that it takes luck as well as skill to win at the game. Still, you should rightfully feel good about your win. Success breeds confidence, and confidence breeds success, you know. You may not be a master now, but your improvement is something to be proud of.
You were right Will, a lot of senseless chat during the match. Congrats on your win.
Hi Wil,
Congrats on your win Wil. I admit to watching the World Poker Tour on TV but have no idea in heck what is going on.
Glad to see your confidence is much better and will only get better after more wins!
XOXO
R
Congratulations on the win! On a side note, have you considered sending a different picture to Team Pokerstars? The current one looks a little… Corey Feldman. Sorry.
WAY TO GO WIL! WAHOO! Congratulations! You played a really great game. Cool under pressure baby! I don’t know a lot about Poker, but I really enjoyed watching you play. Hope I get to see you play again soon.
Hey Wil, congrats on winning! You deserved it! You surfed the luck plane and came out on top of a beautiful wave of slack.
I hate to have to change the subject especially after such a great story, but this one I know you must be made aware of and would be outraged at after hearing.
Chip Salzenberg went to his superiors at Health Market Science in King of Prussia, PA. HMS uses computer programs to hijack people’s computers for the purpose of harvesting e-mail addresses and consumer information.
In response to his letter to his superiors that told them HMS was commiting TENS OF THOUSANDS of violations of Pennsyhlvania law in regard to hacking of an open proxy, HMS responded by having all of Chip’s computer equipment, wireless router and cable modem, CD’s and DVD and even his paper files.
The police seized all this after HMS convinced a judge that Chip had been accessing information illegally and stealing trade secrets , even though Chip had worked as an administrator at HMS for more than two years and was allowed by his managers and superiors to access the information remotely from his home.
The whole story of Chip Salzenberg can be read on http://geeksunite.net/ – To all the readers of WWdN, please share this with as many people as you can.
Wil, again I apologize for my breach of Nettiquette in posting this to what should be your blog of triumph and victory for Team PokerStars. If you can, please cut this posting to the blog out so you can post it as a seperate blog entry.
Everyone should go read CJ (http://www.upforanything.net/poker/) because he’s got some of the best/worst comments from the chat. My favourite was :
AcecardZ [observer]: can’t play yoda in a sit n go… he’d FORCE you to fold
Onyx_Hokie [observer]: “This is not the flop you’re looking for.”
good job wil. I have been so busy packing, as we will be moving closer to our beloved ratboy soon, so I missed this til just now and thus missed seeing you win the match although I am sure it was an interesting game.
as you can tell I lost my anonymity, as it seems I have lost the password to my normal acct.. that or it is just glitched beyond repair.. no idea.
sigh.
still me though
You’re link to Tom McEvoy is off. I think you added an extra “.
If you have a computer running 10.4.x, and this thread interests you, I think you’ll dig this widget:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/scenariopoker.html
Got an ace-high straight on my first hand after installing it and won 630 chips. Guess you could call me hooked.
I think you look totally Sesame Street…………One of these things is not like the other………….
I don’t think Wil does Macs much anymore with the problems he’s had with them recently. I’m sure he still has an iBook for keeping up his blog and his e-mail but that’s about all he’d use it for now. I tried to get on PokerStars.com but they DON’T have any downloads for Mac.
OFF TOPIC, but wanted at the top
GOD SPEED DISCOVERY……Eileen Collins is a SFnH…….
hullo wil!
i only just found this site of yours (watching all the st:tng dvds lately, decided to play around online and see what had happened to ya), so unfortunately, i could not watch your poker match! but that’s okay, i’m having a blast reading your posts and interviews etc etc 😀 if your books are anything like those, i’m definitely gonna hafta get me a copy or two! 😉
congrats on the game!
~maiko
I’m not a huge fan of that picture either, it’s the same one that’s on imdb but it’s cropped. I think the one pokerstars uses and the one at the top of the page look way better.
Being a Magic geek this is my favorite quote that’s posted over at http://www.upforanything.net/poker/:
(wil pulls out his Magic trash talk. Noah is a world-class Magic: The Gathering player.)
Wil Wheaton: you wanna blow this off and play magic instead?
Wil Wheaton: i’ve got a great black and blue deck
I’ll tell ya what Will…I’ll play you in poker if you’ll play me in Magic. 😉
Just wanted to add my words of congratulations, Wil. You were down pretty far (more than 4:1) more than once, and managed to do the 3 things you need to do to win any tournament: (1) play well, (2) get lucky and (3) not get unlucky. Well done!
…dan
Dan Goldman
Vice President of Marketing
PokerStars.com
Hey Dan,
I would love to play on PokerStars.com also but there aren’t any downloads available for Macintosh users. Will PokerStars.com have something available for Mac OSX in the near future?Thanks!
Congratulations and everything… But enough with the poker journal entries. I’m telling you this for your own good, damnit.
Geez, and I though “Poker” was either a rude encouragement shouted to friends at a smokey bar, or a type of dance that old people try to teach to the young…
Was I wrong.
Good going Wil!
I’m amazed that people think it’s appropriate to tell Wil what he can and can’t write about in his own blog. He happens to like poker; why shouldn’t he write about it?
Besides, he has to finish the WSOP story.
get a sense of humor nyarl. i’m obviously just poking fun about all the poker-related entries. 😉
If it came off sounding rude then i’m sorry.
Just thought i would stop by and say i just bought just a geek. I enjoyed it a lot. So thank you, and keep it up. Sending a little mojo your way…
Congratulations on your win. I wish I could have watched, but it’s illegal in Indiana to gamble online. I don’t know if it’s illegal to open the account, but I’m a chicken and don’t want to find out the hard way that it is.
Wil, greetings from a long time ST:TNG fan and now poker aficionado. Congrats on your addition to the PokerStars team, and your win in place of Tom. I’ve been playing NL Hold’em now for 2 years and loving every minute of it! We hold a weekly Monday game of up to 16 people here in LA(for fun of course, no money involved, that would be illegal…) and it’s the greatest. One in our group played in the 2005 WSOP $2000 Limit event and took out Daniel Negreanu before going out in 24th place. Another in our group is now (as of a few months ago) the agent of Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, and (hopefully) is sharing in the prize for Matusow’s 9th place/final table finish in the 2005 WSOP Main Event. Keep up the good work, and I’ll be sure to check back more frequently. And should ever want some friendly poker action here in LA…
Been a long time sci-fi fan. thought it was great someone close to my age was actually on the show. Been on pokerstars for about a year now.. though i don’t play for real money.. maybe i am a coward or a sly guy for not losing any. But i think it is cool. I saw the link to your site from pokerstars.. checked it out.. very cool. kind of mixed because of the loss of Mr. Doohan.. but cool to find out that you like poker too.. my name is amccaul1976 on there if you ever need the practice I’ll probably be on the play money tables or tourniments.. good luck with whatever your doing… oh ya don’t worry about that hooter’s girl. Just get a better agent and just one primo movie your back bigger than ever.. not that any of us really think you left.