Another day, another record-setting event in the WCOOP!

Today, we're in a $1000 No Limit Hold'Em contest. Currently, over 1550 players are preparing to duke it out for a prize pool of over 1.5 million dollars.

As I've done for each event so far, I will do my best Dr. Pauly impression, and live blog the action right here at CardSquad.

As always, if you'd like to sweat me, or any of your favorite players, grab the PokerStars Client, and head to tournament 10017954.

1:28 PM (all times are PDT) - I'm in seat 5 at table 161. There are two empty seats behind me. In the last few minutes, the field has grown to 1780 players.

1:30 PM - Cards are in the air. I'm the BB. It's a family pot, but no BB special for me. I fold. Seat 8 gets it all in against seat 2 with the board Jh-Th-Tc-3d-Qd. Seat two goes into the tank. The pot is 3880 while he thinks . . . he calls and they've both got 9-10o! They chop it. That was funny.

1:38 PM - Wow, there are a lot of chasers at this table. Twice now I've seen players stay all the way to fifth street on longshot draws with the wrong odds, only to get there at the end.

1:48 PM - I haven't opened a hand, yet. I thought about playing a suited ace-little in the cutoff with three limpers ahead of me, but when a huge raise came just before me, I decided to wait for a different spot. It was a good fold - the flop would have missed me completely.

The field ended up being 1790 players. First place will win $393,800. Today, I'm listening to Coldplay, Wilco, The Cure, Oingo Boingo, and Radiohead while I play. It's a little eclectic, but I'm letting iTunes play DJ. All further updates will be in extended.
 
1:52 PM - I finally opened a pot, and got no action. I guess I've got a little fold equity.

1:56 PM - 100 players have been eliminated. I just took down a small pot, and have 2550. Average is 2658.

1:59 PM - I have AJ in the SB. One limper, button raises to 100. I come back for 300, BB folds, limper folds, button goes all-in. He's got 2x my stack . . . so I decide not to put it all on the line now, and fold. The next hand, I get QJ on the button. It's folded to me, so I raise to 60. BB calls. 789 on the flop with two clubs. BB bets 20, so I raise him. He calls. Jack on the turn, he bets about 1/3 of the pot. My gut tells me I'm beat, but maybe I'm playing too tight? I call, we check the ace on the river, and he shows J-fucking-7 OFFSUIT! Are you kidding me? You call a raise with that bullshit? Oh well. It only cost me an extra 100, and I've still got lots of chips to play with.

2:04 PM - My dog, Ferris, is sleeping under my desk while I play. She's chasing a cat or something in her sleep. It's so cute, it stopped my steaming before it could get out of hand. Thanks, Ferris :)

2:10 PM - Pocket Kings in LP. I raise, no callers. I showed them. iTunes has decided to add Enoch Light to the playlist. That's jaunty! :)

2:15 PM - I've been moved to seat 8 of table 175. The guy in seat 8 has that weird red couds on fire" avatar that I see so often on PokerStars. Does anyone know WTF that is about?

2:17 PM - It would be so very nice if I could hit a flop. I'm down to 1745. Average is 2848. I'm the second-shortest stack at my table, but I'm within 600 or so of what my table's average should be.

2:21 PM - Kings were just cracked when AQ caught an A on the turn. Luckily, I wasn't in the hand.

2:23 PM - THE HAMMER in the SB. It was raised from the cutoff, though, so I couldn't even think about trying to drop it.

2:25 PM - Okay, there is no point in betting at little cards on the flop when I've got big over cards. Even when I raise pre-flop, I'm going to get called down by some guy with the J7, or the Q2, or the A4o, who beats me with the pair. Down to 1470 now. Average is 2967. I'm only in it now with group one or group two hands.

2:20 PM - Well, we're at the break. I've got 1500, and average is 3021. Blinds will be 50/100 when we come back, and I'll need to make a move within three or four rounds. I love to play poker, but  this hasn't been much fun, so far. I'm pretty sure I've made the "correct" play whenever I've been in it, but it's still frustrating to get beaten by guys who shouldn't have been in it in the first place. (I sound like Hellmuth, don't I?)

2:37 PM - It's a beautiful day here in Los Angeles, so I went for a quick walk on the break. There's an implied chill in the air, but the ground is soaking up the heat of the sun, and it felt really great underneath my feet as I walked.

2:40 PM - We're back. I started in the SB with a hand that could call to see the flop, but couldn't stand a big raise from the BB, which is what happened. The BB and a MP limp-caller saw it to the end, and I would have won it if I'd stayed in. It's important to be decision-oriented, rather than results-oriented, though, so I have to just suck it up and move on.

2:48 PM - A min-raise, a call, and I had a real hand in the BB. So I raised it back to 300, hoping one of them would call and I could get it all-in on the flop. I was very happy when they both called. The flop was just what I wanted, so I pushed. They both folded, and now I've got just over 2000. Average is 3240.


3:04 PM - After a few blinds and a fold to an all-in, I'm down to 1750. Average is 3515. 1273 players remain, and I am in 1060th place. It's unlucky to be superstitious, but I've brought out my cool 2005 WSOP PokerStars card protector . . . so look out, table 175.

3:12 PM - Fold. Fold. Fold. Think about it . . . fold.

3:15 PM - I just watched a guy call an all-in with KQo. I have no idea why he did it; he wasn't picking on a short stack (it was about 2200), and he had lots of chips to play with (over 5000). Of course, he was up against aces and doubled up the other guy to effectively trade chip-position with him. KQ is one of those hands that I try to never play unless I absolutely must. You're either completely crushed, or a coin-flip, especially pre-flop. I haven't played a hand in a long time. I wonder if I'm going to get any action when I do?

3:22 PM - KQo guy has been all-in twice in the last five hands, without any callers. I hope I can get into a pot with him before he gives his chips to someone else. The guy he doubled up just doubled up again when he rivered a boat to bust the guy in seat nine. Now he's got 10,500 and is one of the chip leaders!

3:31 PM - Of course. Of course. Of course. I have just over ten big blinds left, and I really need to make a move, because they're going to go up very quickly. So I raise it from the button with KQo . . . . anyone sense some poetic justice coming?

KQ guy calls me from the SB. Of course, and I have to call now. So I do, and he shows A2s. He catches an A on the flop to bury me, and I'm done. My stepson, Ryan, comes over and says, "Oh man! I'm sorry" Pause. Pause. Pause. "Can you take me to the Apple store, now?"

3:41 PM - I just checked in on Barry Greenstein, and saw him bust a guy who had KJ. Barry had KQ with a K on the board. I guess it's just not my day.

3:45 PM - Ryan is doing his homework on the iMac across the room from me. I just took a look at all the players who are still in, and it looks like I outlasted everyone on Team PokerStars.

"Hey, I outlasted everyone on Team PokerStars," I told him.

"See? You are a winner!" He said.

"Unless you're thinking in terms of the actually-having-something-to-show-for-it kind of way," I joked.

"Wil! When I played baseball, you always told me that no matter if I won or lost, I should always do my best and feel good about at least playing," He said. "So why can't you do that?"

"Holy shit. He was paying attention when I told him that stuff, and it made it into his sixteen year-old brains. I think I'm going to cry right now."

"You're right," I said. "Thank you for reminding me. I do feel like a winner."

But I didn't tell him why.

5:20 PM -  While I waited for Ryan to finish his homework, I played a $22 SNG. With four players left (on the bubble, in other words) I was down to one small blind, and . . . .

PokerStars Tournament #12444737, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $20.00/$2.00
9 players
Total Prize Pool: $180.00 
Tournament started - 2005/09/11 - 18:55:41 (ET)

Dear Wil Wheaton, 

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $90.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

It feels great to win . . . but the comeback was even sweeter. Because it's about the experience, not the result. (Which, I must admit, was also pretty nice)