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
Thursday, 15 April 2010
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
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