For the first time I’m starting to look towards the end of poker. I’m sure every poker player that frequents this blog will either have thought of quitting or had to suffer their friends threatening to quit during nasty downswings. I suppose the way I know this is for real is that it’s coming in the middle of a decent winning run. At 21 I feel I have to make a life choice soon, decide to play poker for ever or start to look at college applications (as I’m qualified for absolutely nothing right now).
Although poker can be a fun way to earn a decent living, I can’t consider it a future. I still have a desire to be the best player I possibly can but I find myself depressed way too often. Depressed that I’m essentially nocturnal, depressed that I never get to see the people that I love (or meet new ones), and certainly depressed that I can’t handle the insane monetary swings as well as I would like.
I had been loosely planning to go to uni next September, and have been completing my application in the last few weeks, but I’ve firmly decided that I won’t play poker in the time I’m at there. If four years down the line I decide I want to play again for a living then so be it.
My plan is to grind hard online until the end March, earning 10k VPPs per month, which should be enough to make supernova and the $4k Bonus with the FPPs I already have as well as hopefully $20k+ in expectation (which as I’ve hopefully explained in my blog over the past 2 years is not a sure thing). After March I’ll find something to do for a few months (probably travelling) and then likely do Vegas, festivals and more travelling in the summer before hopefully going off to a uni in September 2011. Obviously this could all be scuppered if nowhere accepts me (a possibility looking at the current situation), but if that’s the case I’ll have to reassess my plans.
With that said, my plan in the next five months is to stick to only online poker, as live poker is both a colossal waste of time and energy and is part of the reason my sleeping pattern is so messed up (and I’m sure partly contributing to my increased mood swings). I’ll try to spend my extra time in this time doing productive things, be it exercising, learning or simply having fun with my friends.
I’m sorry I’ve been a bit of an awful blogger, but I am truly thankful that so many people take the time to read it give me feedback or encouragement. I hope you’ll all see that this isn’t meant in a moaning nature, but an excited one; in fact I’m getting quite excited at the thought of life after poker having just written it down.
Monday 25 October 2010
Monday 13 September 2010
Tough times
Obviously no-one wants to hear a poker player bitching and moaning about how bad he's running, so I won't bore you with that. What I do think is worthy of discussion is how we, as poker players actually manage to function under these extreme swings. Online I've lost around $6k playing tournaments in the last two weeks. I understand that considering my average buy in (around $50) this is a natural swing and I can expect this downswing to get much much worse before it gets better.
The main problems with living off playing multi-table tournaments is;
a) You have no idea when your current downswing will end. Obviously it would be good if Stars could pay each reg their tournament equity at the end of each month, but for the most part it's something everyone has to deal with.
b) Confidence. Those of you who know me well will know that I am not someone who suffers from confidence issues. I also pride myself on being level-headed and not delusional; something that turns out to be something of a two-edged sword. I naturally question every negative (and positive) result I have. Are you + EV in these tournaments or cash games? Was that the correct play? I know deep down that I'm a winning player in these games, but each losing session slowly chips away at that.
c) The extra high variance towards the end of tournaments. Let's face it, not everyone runs as well in the end-game, as none of us have a meaningful sample size. No matter how many flips, coolers or suckouts I win in a session, all of my equity will eventually come down to a range flip. In the last week I've come 9th in the fuper; cashed for $2k, first was $25k, I came 11th in the $20r; cashed for $450, first was 9k, and 18th in the $50r for $400, first was 8k. As well as this I've had all manner of deep runs in other tournaments. The point I'm trying to make is that if we're not Shaun Deeb, we only have a certain amount of end games to actually leave our mark.
I'm not exactly sure what me writing this will do, perhaps the honesty of publicly admitting that I'm struggling will do me good, perhaps I'm just wasting my time writing when I should be studying the game itself (something everyone should always be doing no matter how good they are). Hopefully it may give someone who's just starting MTTs an accurate portrayal into what playing them for a living is actually like.
All I know is to keep on grinding, keep a level head and try to play well. There are a lot of WCOOPs left and I'm not going to win any of them if I sit around feeling sorry for myself.
Away from poker my post-vegas summer was amazing. France was blissfully peaceful, Edinburgh was hilarious and great fun and Creamfields rekindled one of my favourite types of music with some amazing people.
Love all of you lots
xoxo
The main problems with living off playing multi-table tournaments is;
a) You have no idea when your current downswing will end. Obviously it would be good if Stars could pay each reg their tournament equity at the end of each month, but for the most part it's something everyone has to deal with.
b) Confidence. Those of you who know me well will know that I am not someone who suffers from confidence issues. I also pride myself on being level-headed and not delusional; something that turns out to be something of a two-edged sword. I naturally question every negative (and positive) result I have. Are you + EV in these tournaments or cash games? Was that the correct play? I know deep down that I'm a winning player in these games, but each losing session slowly chips away at that.
c) The extra high variance towards the end of tournaments. Let's face it, not everyone runs as well in the end-game, as none of us have a meaningful sample size. No matter how many flips, coolers or suckouts I win in a session, all of my equity will eventually come down to a range flip. In the last week I've come 9th in the fuper; cashed for $2k, first was $25k, I came 11th in the $20r; cashed for $450, first was 9k, and 18th in the $50r for $400, first was 8k. As well as this I've had all manner of deep runs in other tournaments. The point I'm trying to make is that if we're not Shaun Deeb, we only have a certain amount of end games to actually leave our mark.
I'm not exactly sure what me writing this will do, perhaps the honesty of publicly admitting that I'm struggling will do me good, perhaps I'm just wasting my time writing when I should be studying the game itself (something everyone should always be doing no matter how good they are). Hopefully it may give someone who's just starting MTTs an accurate portrayal into what playing them for a living is actually like.
All I know is to keep on grinding, keep a level head and try to play well. There are a lot of WCOOPs left and I'm not going to win any of them if I sit around feeling sorry for myself.
Away from poker my post-vegas summer was amazing. France was blissfully peaceful, Edinburgh was hilarious and great fun and Creamfields rekindled one of my favourite types of music with some amazing people.
Love all of you lots
xoxo
Saturday 3 July 2010
Vegas part 1
I've just woken up at 11:22, and I'm sitting next to an absolute legend. But we'll have more on that later.
Vegas has been so fun, despite the fact that I've managed less than 7 hours of poker in 5 days. The weather has been over 100 every day, so it's either been a day of lazing by the pool and playing playstation or going into the strip and tasting each casino's range of strawberry daiquiris (Ed is quite the connoisseur unsurprisingly). I'll try to paint some kind of a picture of what's happening, but seeing as I have to keep this blog somewhat safe for work (and believe me, there's a lot of NSFW content), i'll have to tell a lot of stories in person.
Thursday night was pretty insane, we got a limo from our place to Stoney's, which is a modern country and western club, so we all got our line dancing on while chilling out in the VIP section with the county sheriff (who sung and danced every word to Baby Got Back flawlessly). One of our number who shall remain nameless managed to get with a woman who could well have been 3 times his age and as such as earned legendary status.
Cashgames have been going ok, I lost $600 on the first day and had been posting small winners up until last night where I was up about $600 in a 2/5 PLO game and lost a $1500 pot with 5432 vs T764ddxx on 853ddx. It was kind of sick, after he made a huge repot, he showed his hand to the guy next to him which seems like it can just never ever be a made hand so I made a light call hoping to see a wheel wrap with a flushdraw rather than the hand he had. We ran it twice and he obviously got there both times.
I'm about to head off to the 2p2 party which should be a lot of fun, then watch the UFC with the guys in the evening. I will try and blog again in a few days.
Later taters xxx
Vegas has been so fun, despite the fact that I've managed less than 7 hours of poker in 5 days. The weather has been over 100 every day, so it's either been a day of lazing by the pool and playing playstation or going into the strip and tasting each casino's range of strawberry daiquiris (Ed is quite the connoisseur unsurprisingly). I'll try to paint some kind of a picture of what's happening, but seeing as I have to keep this blog somewhat safe for work (and believe me, there's a lot of NSFW content), i'll have to tell a lot of stories in person.
Thursday night was pretty insane, we got a limo from our place to Stoney's, which is a modern country and western club, so we all got our line dancing on while chilling out in the VIP section with the county sheriff (who sung and danced every word to Baby Got Back flawlessly). One of our number who shall remain nameless managed to get with a woman who could well have been 3 times his age and as such as earned legendary status.
Cashgames have been going ok, I lost $600 on the first day and had been posting small winners up until last night where I was up about $600 in a 2/5 PLO game and lost a $1500 pot with 5432 vs T764ddxx on 853ddx. It was kind of sick, after he made a huge repot, he showed his hand to the guy next to him which seems like it can just never ever be a made hand so I made a light call hoping to see a wheel wrap with a flushdraw rather than the hand he had. We ran it twice and he obviously got there both times.
I'm about to head off to the 2p2 party which should be a lot of fun, then watch the UFC with the guys in the evening. I will try and blog again in a few days.
Later taters xxx
Thursday 24 June 2010
Some binkage, boredom and goodbye to lovely Brighton
I had some minor shippage last week! I chopped the £250 ISSOP in London last week for a smidgen over £6k. Thank you to everyone who railed on the gutshot site and for saying such nice things on facebook/forums.
I was talking to Sam G about it a few nights ago, and it really seemed that as long as I ran halfway decent there was a really good chance I was going do well. The bubble was very interesting; there were 100 runners, paying 9 places, 9th receiving £1000 which is a pretty huge bubble. Obviously I dropped a few subtle comments like 'wow that's a huge bubble' and proceeded to be the most active player 10 handed. It's a pretty interesting ICM spot, because the bubble was so huge, but the next 4 payouts were all less than £1k extra so taking a bunch of stupid risks to try and win the tourney certainly seemed to be the order of the day, everything from there was basically me running pretty good. As soon as I got heads up with Demetri, we decided quickly to chop it. He seemed pretty good and if I had any edge on him heads up it certainly seemed negligible. We decided to leave a tiny bit of cash and the trophy to play for; which I won in about 4 hands, getting it in with A5o on a T3T5 board in a 3bet pot when he check raised all in on the turn against his A7o. It feels pretty great to win something, and definitely gives me some breathing room just before Vegas.
Lizzie was away for the last four or so days leaving me in Brighton pretty much on my own, which was cool but I certainly have noticed a few things that occur when you live on your own;
1)I have absolutely no need to actually get dressed. I did flirt with the idea of throwing a dressing gown on to walk to the shop to buy some wine gums, but decided it was too much effort.
2)I go absolutely insane and start talking to myself
3)My music taste becomes much more outgoing and unashamed. I'm pretty sure that I legitimately like Taylor Swift at the moment (see my second point).
4)Listening to The Who on full volume while doing Townsend-esq guitar swings around the house is totally acceptable.
To be honest, I have actually appreciated some time alone, especially as I'm going to be in a guys house in Vegas from Monday for about 3 weeks. I'm planning to take it pretty easy to start with; play some 2/5 and a few tourneys and see where things go from there. I'm so stoked for the trip, i'm roughly as excited as 12 year old fat Joe got when you mentioned ice cream. I don't want to jinx anything but I feel so confident in my game at the moment, and my ability to play live more than ever. I'll try and keep my blog much more regular while I'm in Vegas and post my wins and losses.
I suppose that's about it from me, I'm going to run back to Watford on Friday and that'll be all she wrote from lovely Brighton for now. It's a really lovely place and I could certainly live here later in life. If anyone is around London on Friday/Saturday/Sunday then give me a shout if you want a drink.
Later taters xoxo
I was talking to Sam G about it a few nights ago, and it really seemed that as long as I ran halfway decent there was a really good chance I was going do well. The bubble was very interesting; there were 100 runners, paying 9 places, 9th receiving £1000 which is a pretty huge bubble. Obviously I dropped a few subtle comments like 'wow that's a huge bubble' and proceeded to be the most active player 10 handed. It's a pretty interesting ICM spot, because the bubble was so huge, but the next 4 payouts were all less than £1k extra so taking a bunch of stupid risks to try and win the tourney certainly seemed to be the order of the day, everything from there was basically me running pretty good. As soon as I got heads up with Demetri, we decided quickly to chop it. He seemed pretty good and if I had any edge on him heads up it certainly seemed negligible. We decided to leave a tiny bit of cash and the trophy to play for; which I won in about 4 hands, getting it in with A5o on a T3T5 board in a 3bet pot when he check raised all in on the turn against his A7o. It feels pretty great to win something, and definitely gives me some breathing room just before Vegas.
Lizzie was away for the last four or so days leaving me in Brighton pretty much on my own, which was cool but I certainly have noticed a few things that occur when you live on your own;
1)I have absolutely no need to actually get dressed. I did flirt with the idea of throwing a dressing gown on to walk to the shop to buy some wine gums, but decided it was too much effort.
2)I go absolutely insane and start talking to myself
3)My music taste becomes much more outgoing and unashamed. I'm pretty sure that I legitimately like Taylor Swift at the moment (see my second point).
4)Listening to The Who on full volume while doing Townsend-esq guitar swings around the house is totally acceptable.
To be honest, I have actually appreciated some time alone, especially as I'm going to be in a guys house in Vegas from Monday for about 3 weeks. I'm planning to take it pretty easy to start with; play some 2/5 and a few tourneys and see where things go from there. I'm so stoked for the trip, i'm roughly as excited as 12 year old fat Joe got when you mentioned ice cream. I don't want to jinx anything but I feel so confident in my game at the moment, and my ability to play live more than ever. I'll try and keep my blog much more regular while I'm in Vegas and post my wins and losses.
I suppose that's about it from me, I'm going to run back to Watford on Friday and that'll be all she wrote from lovely Brighton for now. It's a really lovely place and I could certainly live here later in life. If anyone is around London on Friday/Saturday/Sunday then give me a shout if you want a drink.
Later taters xoxo
Friday 28 May 2010
A May without a lot of poker
Sorry about my hiatus from the world of blogging; my excuses this time are twofold. Firstly I've had such little time for poker in the last few weeks (other than a trip up to Nottingham for the UKIPT which i'll touch on later). The second reason is that May was one long breakeven month, I'm writing this on the 28th up approximately $2.5k online and up about £1k live. Apart from bricking a lot of SCOOPs, there isn't really much to report on.
I did manage a trip up the M1 to Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham two weeks ago for the fourth leg of the UKIPT, managing to brick the £560, £330, £150 and £55. Despite not doing well in tournaments I feel that my play was very good over the weekend, and I feel very aggrieved at how tough my main event table was when I was hearing about an incredibly soft field from my friends. Although the poker was disappointing, I caught up with Steph and went out drinking and had an awesome time, which is certainly more fun than slowly losing money to lots of bad live poker players.
Although I've not blogged about it, I'm sure most of you are aware that my Mum did not win Watford, but came a close second (increasing her vote from the last election) to the Conservative Richard Harrington. I've certainly lost a lot of faith in UK politics after May 6th (despite predicting the election result some time ago). I suppose it's now down to Mr Cameron and Clegg to show us all that they can make positive change that they were both promising on the campaign trail.
My last week has been a lot of fun, without playing much poker. Steph decided to take a revision break and come and visit for a few days which was very cool, we distracted Lizzie from her last exam (which she has literally just come home from and I hear went well). For my guilt I played about 110 tournaments last night and won about £2.2k-which is pretty much May's entire profit-playing 180s. I just sharkscoped myself for yesterday and I was running at an incredibly sustainable 269% ROI in 12/180s.
I'm going to Watford tomorrow to see Elton John with my parents (which I am so freaking stoaked for!) and then hitting up Cambridge for some Monday night fezzage. Be there or be square!
later taters
xoxoxo
I did manage a trip up the M1 to Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham two weeks ago for the fourth leg of the UKIPT, managing to brick the £560, £330, £150 and £55. Despite not doing well in tournaments I feel that my play was very good over the weekend, and I feel very aggrieved at how tough my main event table was when I was hearing about an incredibly soft field from my friends. Although the poker was disappointing, I caught up with Steph and went out drinking and had an awesome time, which is certainly more fun than slowly losing money to lots of bad live poker players.
Although I've not blogged about it, I'm sure most of you are aware that my Mum did not win Watford, but came a close second (increasing her vote from the last election) to the Conservative Richard Harrington. I've certainly lost a lot of faith in UK politics after May 6th (despite predicting the election result some time ago). I suppose it's now down to Mr Cameron and Clegg to show us all that they can make positive change that they were both promising on the campaign trail.
My last week has been a lot of fun, without playing much poker. Steph decided to take a revision break and come and visit for a few days which was very cool, we distracted Lizzie from her last exam (which she has literally just come home from and I hear went well). For my guilt I played about 110 tournaments last night and won about £2.2k-which is pretty much May's entire profit-playing 180s. I just sharkscoped myself for yesterday and I was running at an incredibly sustainable 269% ROI in 12/180s.
I'm going to Watford tomorrow to see Elton John with my parents (which I am so freaking stoaked for!) and then hitting up Cambridge for some Monday night fezzage. Be there or be square!
later taters
xoxoxo
Monday 3 May 2010
I feel that apologising for the punctuality of my weekly blog has become a regular occurrence; and lord knows I hate to be inconsistent. I don't have much of an excuse this time except that I've been busy settling in Brighton and have obviously been playing a lot of poker with the FTOPS and SCOOP well underway.
April is well and truly in the books, it was a very good month for me both live and online, although it did get off to a great start and started to turn sour towards the end, which so far has carried over to the first two days of may. I've turned in 5 losing 180 man sessions in a row now, and I've had deep runs in numerous tournaments in which I've finished in very disappointing positions. I'm currently on a 2k downswing at 180s (that's 166 buyins), over about 600 games. Although I'm mentally tough when it comes to downers, it certainly starts to eat at you when you play 600 tourneys and cannot come top2 in any of them (with about a zillion 10th places as well). Obviously the answer is to put in a good amount of volume to turn this rut around; which is exactly what I'm going to do. Expect to see this run turned around in the near future!
Aside from poker the last few weeks have been really fun, I've gone out in Brighton a few times, as well as a few trips up to London. I'm going to be going back to Watford for a few days to vote (and celebrate with Mum) this week. The good thing about downswings in poker is that it helps you realise what's really important in life.
Well that's all from me, got to hit the 180 tables and turn this bad boy around.
xoxo
April is well and truly in the books, it was a very good month for me both live and online, although it did get off to a great start and started to turn sour towards the end, which so far has carried over to the first two days of may. I've turned in 5 losing 180 man sessions in a row now, and I've had deep runs in numerous tournaments in which I've finished in very disappointing positions. I'm currently on a 2k downswing at 180s (that's 166 buyins), over about 600 games. Although I'm mentally tough when it comes to downers, it certainly starts to eat at you when you play 600 tourneys and cannot come top2 in any of them (with about a zillion 10th places as well). Obviously the answer is to put in a good amount of volume to turn this rut around; which is exactly what I'm going to do. Expect to see this run turned around in the near future!
Aside from poker the last few weeks have been really fun, I've gone out in Brighton a few times, as well as a few trips up to London. I'm going to be going back to Watford for a few days to vote (and celebrate with Mum) this week. The good thing about downswings in poker is that it helps you realise what's really important in life.
Well that's all from me, got to hit the 180 tables and turn this bad boy around.
xoxo
Thursday 15 April 2010
A great start to April and live poker trip report
I should start by apologising for the extremely annoyed rants in my last blog. Although I obviously have a very opinionated view of music, it's not my place to bash artists who are out there doing their thing (even if it is completely shit).
April has been really great poker-wise, I'm up about about $8k playing 180 mans on stars. It's not just the winning that feels great, but playing well (while maintaining supernova pace) and being rewarded by running well really helps to get you out of bed in the morning instead of living my usual lazy lifestyle.
On top of that I'm up about £5k playing live poker from 2 visits to the International. The slight sour note is that I came 13th in the Cash Race final for £750 having had the chiplead with 13 left (cue standard JoeJoe tournament blowup story). I did however swap 10% with Mike Piper who won the whole thing for £15k. The Saturday after I decided to play the £150 (or the Guper as I'm christening it) and ended up chopping it heads up for £2.6k.
Despite running really well live over the last two visits, my taste for it was very much spoiled and I don't know if I'll be playing many live tourneys with less than a £300 buyin in the foreseeable future. Firstly, upon my arrival on Saturday a friend told me that someone who I considered at the very least a well wisher had gone around telling people that I had intentionally dumped chips to Mike P in the Cash Race final. Despite how absurd the idea of me dumping my chips to someone who I have 10% of is, it's also a very serious allegation to be making and even entertaining the idea is highly insulting.
The other situation came up at the final table of the Guper (I'm going to keep on calling it the Guper until it sticks by the way), in which I was berated by 4 players for completely nonsensical things. Firstly, when I refused the ridiculous 'let's do a deal for 10th place' notion, 4 middle aged men started having a go at me. The pick of the insults was, 'You look like the sort of person that wouldn't give a starving man food!'. The second instance was from one of these middle aged guys, who seemed to be really upset after I raised 22 in MP1 then called his 8bb HJ shove. Apparently deuces is not a 'calling all in hand'. I tried to calm myself, try my Angelo-Esq breathing exercises, but he kept on berating. Eventually I couldn't help myself and said in my nicest possible voice, 'You know sir, it's very bad business of you to educate the fish. I'd carry on letting me make these terrible mistakes if I were you.' Obviously that didn't stop him, and in retrospect I should have kept my mouth shut, I don't want to be the sort of person who takes satisfaction from making someone else look a fool.
The fact that they didn't let their points go and kept on having a go really irked me but I've learned in my 5 years of poker to deal with the fact that people cannot think logically when it comes to money. However unpleasant the situation was, it truly means that if I want to, I'll be able to make a living from these kinds of people for the rest of my days.
Life is pretty great away from poker at the moment. I'm moving to Brighton on Monday (I had to push it back a week because I got ill and Hannah offered me a lift) for about 3 months before Vegas. Although I'm really grateful that my parents put me up; or put up with me for so long, I'm really grateful that I am getting out on my own.
I'm probably going to take tomorrow off poker, as I've got Chess with Tautvydas at 5 then Mum is having loads of Lib Dem friends and colleagues over to watch the Prime Minister's debate.
Laters tater
xoxox
April has been really great poker-wise, I'm up about about $8k playing 180 mans on stars. It's not just the winning that feels great, but playing well (while maintaining supernova pace) and being rewarded by running well really helps to get you out of bed in the morning instead of living my usual lazy lifestyle.
On top of that I'm up about £5k playing live poker from 2 visits to the International. The slight sour note is that I came 13th in the Cash Race final for £750 having had the chiplead with 13 left (cue standard JoeJoe tournament blowup story). I did however swap 10% with Mike Piper who won the whole thing for £15k. The Saturday after I decided to play the £150 (or the Guper as I'm christening it) and ended up chopping it heads up for £2.6k.
Despite running really well live over the last two visits, my taste for it was very much spoiled and I don't know if I'll be playing many live tourneys with less than a £300 buyin in the foreseeable future. Firstly, upon my arrival on Saturday a friend told me that someone who I considered at the very least a well wisher had gone around telling people that I had intentionally dumped chips to Mike P in the Cash Race final. Despite how absurd the idea of me dumping my chips to someone who I have 10% of is, it's also a very serious allegation to be making and even entertaining the idea is highly insulting.
The other situation came up at the final table of the Guper (I'm going to keep on calling it the Guper until it sticks by the way), in which I was berated by 4 players for completely nonsensical things. Firstly, when I refused the ridiculous 'let's do a deal for 10th place' notion, 4 middle aged men started having a go at me. The pick of the insults was, 'You look like the sort of person that wouldn't give a starving man food!'. The second instance was from one of these middle aged guys, who seemed to be really upset after I raised 22 in MP1 then called his 8bb HJ shove. Apparently deuces is not a 'calling all in hand'. I tried to calm myself, try my Angelo-Esq breathing exercises, but he kept on berating. Eventually I couldn't help myself and said in my nicest possible voice, 'You know sir, it's very bad business of you to educate the fish. I'd carry on letting me make these terrible mistakes if I were you.' Obviously that didn't stop him, and in retrospect I should have kept my mouth shut, I don't want to be the sort of person who takes satisfaction from making someone else look a fool.
The fact that they didn't let their points go and kept on having a go really irked me but I've learned in my 5 years of poker to deal with the fact that people cannot think logically when it comes to money. However unpleasant the situation was, it truly means that if I want to, I'll be able to make a living from these kinds of people for the rest of my days.
Life is pretty great away from poker at the moment. I'm moving to Brighton on Monday (I had to push it back a week because I got ill and Hannah offered me a lift) for about 3 months before Vegas. Although I'm really grateful that my parents put me up; or put up with me for so long, I'm really grateful that I am getting out on my own.
I'm probably going to take tomorrow off poker, as I've got Chess with Tautvydas at 5 then Mum is having loads of Lib Dem friends and colleagues over to watch the Prime Minister's debate.
Laters tater
xoxox
Monday 5 April 2010
A completely non poker related rant
So I just watched 'the greatest songs of the noughties' and I can't help feeling incredibly disappointed. Apart from it obviously being a very poor decade musically, the list of songs that the channel 4 viewers decided topped the last ten years left a very sour taste. For those of you who missed it;
20. Leave Right Now- Will Young
19. Ruby- Kaiser Chiefs
18. Valerie- Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse
17. Viva La Vida- Coldplay
16. Take Me Out- Franz Ferdinand
15. Mercy- Duffy
14. Patience- Take That
13. Stan- Eminem
12. I Don't Feel Like Dancing- Scissor Sisters
11. Hey Ya!- Outkast
10. You're Beautiful- James Blunt
9. Can't Get You Out Of My Head- Kylie Minouge
8. Crazy In Love- Beyonce
7. Rule The World- Take That
6. Crazy- Gnarls Barkley
5. Rehab- Amy Winehouse
4. Sex On Fire- Kings Of Leon
3. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor- Arctic Monkeys
2. Mr. Brightside- The Killers
1. Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol
To be fair I completely agree with songs 9, 6,4, 3 and 2 being included in the list because apart from all being decent songs in my humble (lol) opinion, they were huge in the charts (especially Kylie, Gnarls Barkley and the Arctic Monkeys).
I wasn't exactly expecting a spectacle of all the songs I like released by far and away the best and most interesting artists of the decade simply because most of those bands haven't had much success in the singles department. I was shocked to see a list this bad though.
If you're a pop fan, would you not have expected something more like Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, or Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid20, perhaps Where Is The Love by the Black Eyed Peas?
Possibly you're a hip hop fan, and while I'm the first to admit that I don't know my Puff from my Diddy, one Eminem song probably does not fit your description of a fully musically representative poll. From the more commercial side of things perhaps 99 Problems by Jay Z would have fit in this list nicely or maybe you liked Dry Your Eyes by The Streets.
I think the biggest injustice in this poll is that somehow very average bands like Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs as well as a simply awful contribution from James Blunt when Jonny Cash's cover of Hurt lies in no-mans-land.
It strikes me that unless you're a Snow Patrol fan(and let's face it, who really is?)you're unlikely to be satisfied with the contribution that the great British public has provided us. Instead of mourning this list, lets remember that this decade wasn't a complete waste of time; Radiohead released four world class records, as did Muse. Pink Floyd reunited for an amazing gig at Live8 and music lovers in the UK showed Simon Cowell that he can't buy the Christmas number one anymore, he has to actually put out decent artists from now on.
Thank you for listening to my rant. All feedback is appreciated.
xoxox
20. Leave Right Now- Will Young
19. Ruby- Kaiser Chiefs
18. Valerie- Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse
17. Viva La Vida- Coldplay
16. Take Me Out- Franz Ferdinand
15. Mercy- Duffy
14. Patience- Take That
13. Stan- Eminem
12. I Don't Feel Like Dancing- Scissor Sisters
11. Hey Ya!- Outkast
10. You're Beautiful- James Blunt
9. Can't Get You Out Of My Head- Kylie Minouge
8. Crazy In Love- Beyonce
7. Rule The World- Take That
6. Crazy- Gnarls Barkley
5. Rehab- Amy Winehouse
4. Sex On Fire- Kings Of Leon
3. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor- Arctic Monkeys
2. Mr. Brightside- The Killers
1. Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol
To be fair I completely agree with songs 9, 6,4, 3 and 2 being included in the list because apart from all being decent songs in my humble (lol) opinion, they were huge in the charts (especially Kylie, Gnarls Barkley and the Arctic Monkeys).
I wasn't exactly expecting a spectacle of all the songs I like released by far and away the best and most interesting artists of the decade simply because most of those bands haven't had much success in the singles department. I was shocked to see a list this bad though.
If you're a pop fan, would you not have expected something more like Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, or Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid20, perhaps Where Is The Love by the Black Eyed Peas?
Possibly you're a hip hop fan, and while I'm the first to admit that I don't know my Puff from my Diddy, one Eminem song probably does not fit your description of a fully musically representative poll. From the more commercial side of things perhaps 99 Problems by Jay Z would have fit in this list nicely or maybe you liked Dry Your Eyes by The Streets.
I think the biggest injustice in this poll is that somehow very average bands like Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs as well as a simply awful contribution from James Blunt when Jonny Cash's cover of Hurt lies in no-mans-land.
It strikes me that unless you're a Snow Patrol fan(and let's face it, who really is?)you're unlikely to be satisfied with the contribution that the great British public has provided us. Instead of mourning this list, lets remember that this decade wasn't a complete waste of time; Radiohead released four world class records, as did Muse. Pink Floyd reunited for an amazing gig at Live8 and music lovers in the UK showed Simon Cowell that he can't buy the Christmas number one anymore, he has to actually put out decent artists from now on.
Thank you for listening to my rant. All feedback is appreciated.
xoxox
Thursday 1 April 2010
Failure and new oppertunities...
Well it's certainly been a bit of a hectic month, and not all for good reasons I'm afraid. I'm very sorry I haven't been able to blog to update my challenge, but to be honest it's because it's been so far from my mind.
Basically the challenge was going swimmingly, I was up to $1200 after about 10 days, which is more than on course to reach my target, then I had a personal issue (which i'm afraid I can't really discuss on the internets), and I had to take a week off, essentially making the challenge impossible. In the time since then I've made about $3k playing sngs but I'm still well short of the 10k. Obviously i'm upset that I decided to put my mind to something and I couldn't complete it, but occasionally life throws banana skins. To be honest when push comes to shove, we play poker so we can live our lives more easily, we don't live simply to play poker. All of my bets have been payed and I hope you'll give me the pleasure of booking some action the next time I try something this crazy.
For those of you who don't know about my family, my Mum (who literally just turned 55, happy birthday Ma!) is standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Watford in the UK general election in just over a month, so it's safe to say that things have been manic for her and my Dad. I'm trying to remain as non politically affiliated for as long as possible, not because I don't think the Lib Dems are the best of the three major parties but because I have issues with the populist ways all three do business.
The only other major piece of news is that I'm going to be moving out of Watford in about 2 weeks to go and live with Lizzie in Brighton for a few months until Vegas. It's primarily to help one of her flatmates out, but I think it'll be a super fun experience, that is if Lizzie doesn't kill me in her pre-exam hysteria or I don't TC myself to death in the haze of post-exam celebration.
That's just about it for now, sorry for being such a shit blogger.
Loves and hugs
xoxoxo
Basically the challenge was going swimmingly, I was up to $1200 after about 10 days, which is more than on course to reach my target, then I had a personal issue (which i'm afraid I can't really discuss on the internets), and I had to take a week off, essentially making the challenge impossible. In the time since then I've made about $3k playing sngs but I'm still well short of the 10k. Obviously i'm upset that I decided to put my mind to something and I couldn't complete it, but occasionally life throws banana skins. To be honest when push comes to shove, we play poker so we can live our lives more easily, we don't live simply to play poker. All of my bets have been payed and I hope you'll give me the pleasure of booking some action the next time I try something this crazy.
For those of you who don't know about my family, my Mum (who literally just turned 55, happy birthday Ma!) is standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Watford in the UK general election in just over a month, so it's safe to say that things have been manic for her and my Dad. I'm trying to remain as non politically affiliated for as long as possible, not because I don't think the Lib Dems are the best of the three major parties but because I have issues with the populist ways all three do business.
The only other major piece of news is that I'm going to be moving out of Watford in about 2 weeks to go and live with Lizzie in Brighton for a few months until Vegas. It's primarily to help one of her flatmates out, but I think it'll be a super fun experience, that is if Lizzie doesn't kill me in her pre-exam hysteria or I don't TC myself to death in the haze of post-exam celebration.
That's just about it for now, sorry for being such a shit blogger.
Loves and hugs
xoxoxo
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Bet update 02/03
I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you another quickie (another reason you can call me Joejoe 'quicker than the speed of light' Whittaker...)
It's been a really good 5 days (even though I've only actually played for four), I'm currently at $726 and feeling very good about having this bad boy done by the end of March. I've played about 1036 sngs in that time and I'm not really feeling the burnout yet; perhaps because I've only had one losing day. I suspect that the real test of character will come in when I have a few losing days in a row.
I've played 3 London Poker masters events, the £300 NL, £200 NL and £100 HORSE, not cashing in any of them. I was pretty happy with my play in all 3, except my exit hand from the £300 in which I had completely misread the situation and tried to squeeze in a spot where I had much less fold equity than I thought.
Bet update;
Sngs played; 1036
Roll; 726.26
Profit; 526.26
It's been a really good 5 days (even though I've only actually played for four), I'm currently at $726 and feeling very good about having this bad boy done by the end of March. I've played about 1036 sngs in that time and I'm not really feeling the burnout yet; perhaps because I've only had one losing day. I suspect that the real test of character will come in when I have a few losing days in a row.
I've played 3 London Poker masters events, the £300 NL, £200 NL and £100 HORSE, not cashing in any of them. I was pretty happy with my play in all 3, except my exit hand from the £300 in which I had completely misread the situation and tried to squeeze in a spot where I had much less fold equity than I thought.
Bet update;
Sngs played; 1036
Roll; 726.26
Profit; 526.26
Friday 26 February 2010
Quick update
Okie dokie, it's been tiring and frustrating but things have started to fall into place (I hope).
Sngs played; 573
Account balance; 265.61
59.6 buyins up from 573 sngs, comes to about 9.71 roi which is obviously well below expectation, I have started to hit a bit of a boomswitch after 2 days of breaking even. Hopefully I won't be at this level for more than 4/5 more days of grinding. I feel that the land of the 2/180 will be a utopia.
Hopefully I'll get a good 250 in tomorrow before playing the £300 on Saturday.
Love you all and good luck to me xoxo
Sngs played; 573
Account balance; 265.61
59.6 buyins up from 573 sngs, comes to about 9.71 roi which is obviously well below expectation, I have started to hit a bit of a boomswitch after 2 days of breaking even. Hopefully I won't be at this level for more than 4/5 more days of grinding. I feel that the land of the 2/180 will be a utopia.
Hopefully I'll get a good 250 in tomorrow before playing the £300 on Saturday.
Love you all and good luck to me xoxo
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Time to get my grind on
Short blog post coming up. I've decided that Feb was a complete shambles on my part in terms of volume. I'm at 3300 VPP with little hope of getting to 7500 before the end of the month. So I've decided on a decent punishment/motivational challenge that certainly fits the crime. I've withdrawn all but $200 from my stars account and I'm going to try and Boku it up to $10k. I'm not planning on doing this as a prop bet (although if anyone wants to put any money on this then I'd be glad to take up to $5k's worth of action). If I manage to keep myself busy and determined I should be at 10k about a month from tomorrow 24th March.
The kicker for me is that aside from the 4 live tournaments at the London Poker masters which I've already committed myself to, I shan't be playing any other form of poker until this is completed. If I do, I'm going to instantly ship $1k to charity.
Here's a screenshot of my cashier now with the bankroll guidelines I've set myself. I'm going to be starting tomorrow so good luck me.
The kicker for me is that aside from the 4 live tournaments at the London Poker masters which I've already committed myself to, I shan't be playing any other form of poker until this is completed. If I do, I'm going to instantly ship $1k to charity.
Here's a screenshot of my cashier now with the bankroll guidelines I've set myself. I'm going to be starting tomorrow so good luck me.
Friday 19 February 2010
I'm a lazy lazy man
Good afternoon, I'm joejoe, the guy that pretends to blog here on a weekly basis.
If it makes any difference, I've been really lazy in every aspect of my life this month, let alone blogging. I'm currently sitting at 2100 VPPs for the month, which means if I want to maintain Supernova then I'll have to put a major volume push through next week. I really don't feel like it, but I think future Joe will be really mad if I undo all the good work I did last year and forfeit a lot of money in rakeback just because i'm feeling lazy now.
Poker is going pretty well in general since we last spoke, I won the £300 freeze at the international for £7k, then came 2nd in the £100 the week after for £1500 and on Wednesday came 5th in the new £100 for £500. Cash has been so so, I won about 1k on Wednesday before and after the tourney, but had a nightmare -2k session Monday.
I was taking an online pummelling at the start of the month; which is obviously part of the reason I was avoiding playing. I didn't cash in a 12/180 in about 3 sessions (which is about 150 $12s, 20 $36s and 5 $60s) but luckily on monday I managed to win and come 2nd in two $36s to reverse most of that bad run.
Life has been very good away from poker, have been going out a lot and just chilling when not playing. I imagine that I'll probably make it up to Cambridge sometime in March to party on down.
Currently just browsing Vegas flights for summer, I'll probably book all that jazz soon because the prices seem to be going up a lot.
loves and hugs xx
If it makes any difference, I've been really lazy in every aspect of my life this month, let alone blogging. I'm currently sitting at 2100 VPPs for the month, which means if I want to maintain Supernova then I'll have to put a major volume push through next week. I really don't feel like it, but I think future Joe will be really mad if I undo all the good work I did last year and forfeit a lot of money in rakeback just because i'm feeling lazy now.
Poker is going pretty well in general since we last spoke, I won the £300 freeze at the international for £7k, then came 2nd in the £100 the week after for £1500 and on Wednesday came 5th in the new £100 for £500. Cash has been so so, I won about 1k on Wednesday before and after the tourney, but had a nightmare -2k session Monday.
I was taking an online pummelling at the start of the month; which is obviously part of the reason I was avoiding playing. I didn't cash in a 12/180 in about 3 sessions (which is about 150 $12s, 20 $36s and 5 $60s) but luckily on monday I managed to win and come 2nd in two $36s to reverse most of that bad run.
Life has been very good away from poker, have been going out a lot and just chilling when not playing. I imagine that I'll probably make it up to Cambridge sometime in March to party on down.
Currently just browsing Vegas flights for summer, I'll probably book all that jazz soon because the prices seem to be going up a lot.
loves and hugs xx
Friday 15 January 2010
Can't grind. Won't Grind
I think I made one fatal error in my last blog post about how I'm going to be an amazing SNG and MTT grinder this year. I failed to take into account that the very reason I am who I am is because I am in the front running for the laziest man in the world competition. At about the 2 week mark I've played about 5 days, although to be fair I've put in a lot of volume those days and am sitting at about 5500 VPP (which is on pace with my targets). I think of up somewhere in the region of $2k, although it's hard to break down properly at the moment because I played some cash game and MTT sessions to help mix it up.
Speaking of cash sessions I just returned from a nightmare of a cash session live, dropped £2k at £1/3 9max. I'm actually fairly mad at myself for how badly I played, it wasn't so much that I was tilting out of my mind (which I used to do and learned to either remedy it or quit the game), but because I was at a table of droolers I thought I'd be the durrrr-esq big man, playing every hand, finding 3bet and river raises that really didn't merit it, and got myself into some really stupid spots. I suppose I've got to learn that the only way you can beat 9max holdem is by playing somewhere close to 10/8; which is obviously really boring.
The flip side is that after the game broke, 6 of us played the most epic game of Legs I've ever been a part of. We had a £1 running ante and the biggest game ended with a £78 pot. It really cheered my spirits up despite being stuck £300-500 for most of the game, just because of the sheer enjoyment of the awesome game. For those of you who don't know the game (which I'd expect would be just about everyone) I'm going to try and get Simon H to write an official Wiki for the rules, because it's without a doubt the best gambling game i've ever seen.
Not too much non-pokering news this week, except the fact that I'm really missing going out and having the amazing times I had in December. If you guys could all finish your exams quicker, that'd be dandy.
Loves and hugs xxx
Speaking of cash sessions I just returned from a nightmare of a cash session live, dropped £2k at £1/3 9max. I'm actually fairly mad at myself for how badly I played, it wasn't so much that I was tilting out of my mind (which I used to do and learned to either remedy it or quit the game), but because I was at a table of droolers I thought I'd be the durrrr-esq big man, playing every hand, finding 3bet and river raises that really didn't merit it, and got myself into some really stupid spots. I suppose I've got to learn that the only way you can beat 9max holdem is by playing somewhere close to 10/8; which is obviously really boring.
The flip side is that after the game broke, 6 of us played the most epic game of Legs I've ever been a part of. We had a £1 running ante and the biggest game ended with a £78 pot. It really cheered my spirits up despite being stuck £300-500 for most of the game, just because of the sheer enjoyment of the awesome game. For those of you who don't know the game (which I'd expect would be just about everyone) I'm going to try and get Simon H to write an official Wiki for the rules, because it's without a doubt the best gambling game i've ever seen.
Not too much non-pokering news this week, except the fact that I'm really missing going out and having the amazing times I had in December. If you guys could all finish your exams quicker, that'd be dandy.
Loves and hugs xxx
Wednesday 6 January 2010
I love all of you very much
I should start off by apologising yet again for being such a terrible blogger, I do appreciate that you guys take an active interest in what I do and I shall try and post more (and hopefully more interesting things).
The first and most important thing I should get into is that I made the top 200 of the Pokerstars December tournament leader board, meaning I won a seat into a very juicy freeroll with 5, 3 and 2 stamp passports as top three prizes (as well as cash prizes for 4-18 as well). For the non poker literate of you (and the cash game players), a Passport is essentially entry to the number of Pokerstars sponsored live tournaments that the 'stamp' is equivalent to. A 5 stamp is worth roughly 70k, a 3 stamp 42k and a 2 stamp 28k. I suppose the hard part is already done, as December was a very sick grind. Now all I need to do is win a tournament with 200 of the best players in the world, just looking at the Lobby with all the players registered, its choc-a-block with superstars (and D1rtyR1v3r lol). I suppose I should also give a huge shout out and well done to Aprilsfool, who at the start of 2009 I was grinding Hyper Turbos with, who put in a monster grind in the second half of the year to win the Yearly TLB and take down a 6 Stamp for himself. Well done kiddo, you're a sicko.
Part of the reason I've been such a terrible blogger is that my birthday, Christmas and New years were 11 days apart, so aside from the insane grind I spent a long time getting heavily intoxicated. I really enjoyed my birthday celebrations in the bridge with all of my lovely friends, followed by a quiet family Christmas in Watford, then an awesome night out with Lizzie in Brighton with her uni friends. Part of the beginnings of the new year is remembering how awesome you have it, and how much you complain about everything because you have a stressful job. This holiday period I really remembered how amazing my friends and family are, and how nothing would really be worth it without them.
To the future! The short term goals are mostly poker related. I've set myself the task of 10k VPP/month for every month this year, which is fairly easy if I dedicate myself. In fact, Ken and I have a $500 failure-to-grind penalty for each month, so I'll have to make sure I'm as dedicated as I know I can be. I've started off January by playing MTT Sit and Goes, mostly the $12/180 mans and whatever $36/180s that run. Two days in and the grind is firmly on, and I'm actually enjoying myself (something must be wrong?!) My current stats look something like this;
All very pleasing so far, but I'll admit that I did win a $36/180 about an hour ago for $1700, so my stats would look much more soul-crushing without that. My other goal is Vegas related, which I'm about 90% sure I'm going to do. All I need to do now is take the plunge and actually buy the plane ticket.
My non poker goals seem to be going well too. Firstly, I want to swim 3 times a week. Since I've swum both yesterday and today, I'm one day away from freerolling the rest of the week. I'm not sure how long this will last, but we can't keep all our resolutions can we? The second is to be up and awake by 11AM each day. I've decided to keep this one quite lax, since I should probably be allowed a lay-in if I go deep in a tournament, or stay up to watch the playoffs that start on Saturday (which I am STOKED about by the way).
Aside from being a boring online geek, I managed to sample some fine live poker already, road tripping up to Nottingham on Saturday/Sunday for Dusk Till Dawn's monthly £300 with Dave, Phil, Ric and Luc. Although I only lasted until level 3 of the tournament, I had a few decent cash game sessions and ended a small winner for the weekend (although I did remember how much I hate full ring cash holdem). I do really love the venue and will certainly be heading up next month for the same tournament, hopefully it can sort out it's financial problems and stay afloat because it really is the center of live poker in the UK.
Sorry for the long ramble this week, but I had a lot to say.
Loves and hugs xxx
The first and most important thing I should get into is that I made the top 200 of the Pokerstars December tournament leader board, meaning I won a seat into a very juicy freeroll with 5, 3 and 2 stamp passports as top three prizes (as well as cash prizes for 4-18 as well). For the non poker literate of you (and the cash game players), a Passport is essentially entry to the number of Pokerstars sponsored live tournaments that the 'stamp' is equivalent to. A 5 stamp is worth roughly 70k, a 3 stamp 42k and a 2 stamp 28k. I suppose the hard part is already done, as December was a very sick grind. Now all I need to do is win a tournament with 200 of the best players in the world, just looking at the Lobby with all the players registered, its choc-a-block with superstars (and D1rtyR1v3r lol). I suppose I should also give a huge shout out and well done to Aprilsfool, who at the start of 2009 I was grinding Hyper Turbos with, who put in a monster grind in the second half of the year to win the Yearly TLB and take down a 6 Stamp for himself. Well done kiddo, you're a sicko.
Part of the reason I've been such a terrible blogger is that my birthday, Christmas and New years were 11 days apart, so aside from the insane grind I spent a long time getting heavily intoxicated. I really enjoyed my birthday celebrations in the bridge with all of my lovely friends, followed by a quiet family Christmas in Watford, then an awesome night out with Lizzie in Brighton with her uni friends. Part of the beginnings of the new year is remembering how awesome you have it, and how much you complain about everything because you have a stressful job. This holiday period I really remembered how amazing my friends and family are, and how nothing would really be worth it without them.
To the future! The short term goals are mostly poker related. I've set myself the task of 10k VPP/month for every month this year, which is fairly easy if I dedicate myself. In fact, Ken and I have a $500 failure-to-grind penalty for each month, so I'll have to make sure I'm as dedicated as I know I can be. I've started off January by playing MTT Sit and Goes, mostly the $12/180 mans and whatever $36/180s that run. Two days in and the grind is firmly on, and I'm actually enjoying myself (something must be wrong?!) My current stats look something like this;
$12/180s; 338
$38/180s; 35
$60/90s; 2
About 25 MTTs ranging from $11 to $55
net; +$1045
2349.41 VPPs
8222.93 FPPs
All very pleasing so far, but I'll admit that I did win a $36/180 about an hour ago for $1700, so my stats would look much more soul-crushing without that. My other goal is Vegas related, which I'm about 90% sure I'm going to do. All I need to do now is take the plunge and actually buy the plane ticket.
My non poker goals seem to be going well too. Firstly, I want to swim 3 times a week. Since I've swum both yesterday and today, I'm one day away from freerolling the rest of the week. I'm not sure how long this will last, but we can't keep all our resolutions can we? The second is to be up and awake by 11AM each day. I've decided to keep this one quite lax, since I should probably be allowed a lay-in if I go deep in a tournament, or stay up to watch the playoffs that start on Saturday (which I am STOKED about by the way).
Aside from being a boring online geek, I managed to sample some fine live poker already, road tripping up to Nottingham on Saturday/Sunday for Dusk Till Dawn's monthly £300 with Dave, Phil, Ric and Luc. Although I only lasted until level 3 of the tournament, I had a few decent cash game sessions and ended a small winner for the weekend (although I did remember how much I hate full ring cash holdem). I do really love the venue and will certainly be heading up next month for the same tournament, hopefully it can sort out it's financial problems and stay afloat because it really is the center of live poker in the UK.
Sorry for the long ramble this week, but I had a lot to say.
Loves and hugs xxx
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