Very Josie

I have a silk blouse that is lavender, perhaps a shade lighter than this background, which I've probably worn twice before.  Why?  Because it's always a bit too snug to wear!  So because I can never wear it, it's sitting in the closet, freshly cleaned and ready to go. This morning I tried it on and it was positively loose! (that's GOOD)   So I wore it to work, obv, and a few people complimented me on my "new" blouse.  Yay!  Plus the silk feels kinda silky and nice, which is a bonus. Cut to lunch time.............. There's a lunch presentation going on, complete with free lunches that include mammoth sized sandwiches and mammoth sized desserts.  I opt to skip fattening lunch and instead have my Weight Watchers frozen meal.  I should lose like 10 lbs for that reason alone!  For some reason "free" is far too tempting for me yet I resisted. As I'm eating my frozen meal, a huge gob of sauce falls from my fork and lands both on my blou...

I'm in work, eating my lunch and journaling a bit about goals and such.  As I'm writing, I'm thinking about the games I played last night and how I need to change from the types of games I've been playing for the past few months, when I see this comment come in from Drizz: Drizz said: If you want to reach your goal online I'd suggest something different than heads-up matches. The rake eats up a lot of your winnings. Rush poker is VERY good for get in a ton of hands without spending all night waiting for decent cards/bad players. How weird that he and I wrote pretty much the exact thing about changing games? Now truth be told, the majority of my game isn't heads up matches, although I do enjoy them.  They feel more like a chess match to me, which is another game I enjoy.  But Drizz is so right about changing my games.  I haven't had much success lately, but looking back to previous online successes, most of my cash has come from (90) person games and...

Saturday afternoon 1:30pm deep stack tourney.  $100 buyin, 15k in starting chips. On the ride to NH Gary and I go over our deal.  Deal is to split NET winnings (profit) up to $100 (the buyin).  That way if one of us wins a decent amount, then no one loses. A little insurance on the buy in and we are off! While we wait for the game to start, I mention to Gary my modest goals for this tourney.  If you know me at all, you know I like to chip up early.  And alot.  Fuck who doesn't, right?  But instead of the usual, I want to play this deep stack long term.  I tell him my goal is to be over the 15K starting stack by the first break.  That's all .  By 2nd break, goal is to be at 30k.  At each break I count my chips to see where I'm at and to ensure no "mistakes" are made when dealers are coloring in small chips. We're at separate tables and we're off.  There are 2 very tight women at the table that I've...

The Crafty Southpaw and I are heading to The Seabrook Poker Room in New Hampshire tomorrow for a deep stack tournament.  Starting chips are 15,000 instead of the usual 7,000 with 30 minute blinds (instead of the usual 20 min).  You can read about it HERE.   The tournament starts at 1:30.  xkm or Pokah Dave, shoot me an email if the deep stack tourney interests you.  I have a feeling we'll be there all day/night. Mmmmm live poker.  It ain't Vegas but I can cash more here. Play smart. Josie

I've just been annihilated.  Heads up.  Over and over.  First at PLO and then good ole NLHE.  Yeah there were some bad beats that I don't wanna bore you with.  Bottom line, we played 5 games and I won ONE.  Now I knew I was going to lose the PLO games but thought for sure I'd make up for it when we switched to holdem but not so. Very well done.  I'm impressed and I don't say that or feel that very often. Then Drizz bestowed some free advice on me.  He told me to play post flop and not jam so much pre.  Great.  Except that advice is the polar opposite of the advice I'd been given.  Play smart, like Drizz. Josie

I am fucking depressed.  I was on the cusp and just got shoved over.  Why you ask?  Hurricane Mikey has stopped blogging! I have always loved reading anything Mikey wrote.  Shopping lists, chicken salad recipes, poker stories, but especially his epic posts.  And no you can't access them anymore either. If you want to read all the reasons, they are HERE .  And they're all valid reasons.  Hell he certainly doesn't need to give any reasons to do what he wants to do.  His life has certainly changed since his move from Vegas, and his health scare.  People change.  I get that.  But it doesn't make me less sad. Mikey was the one who gave me a shot.  He let me be a guest blogger on his site and write a poker story.  And then I was hooked.  Without Mikey, there'd be no Very Josie.  I've probably been reading him for over 4 years - way longer than all you guys :) and I don't take to change very well.  Really, ...

The Very Josie was last night and there was a record 20 players!  Woot!  Maybe that was due to the bounty put on me by Lightning Bug .  Lightning Bug has a post up called "Josie Sucks".  Know why?  Because after bragging that he'd be taking my ass out of my own tournament , I felted him .  Yes, you read that right.  And that's after dominating him heads up.  I own that guy. We'd been playing for about an hour and a half and I had Light on my right.  Both of us were pretty short stacked for the longest time, and he'd jammed all in on my blind one or twice before.  Then he did it again when I had Jack Ten.  Yes, my favorite hand!  So I had to call him!  It wasn't pretty as I was up against A-J but the mighty JT did what it does and I got trip 10s on the river.  gg Lightning! Now who else was threatening to bust me out?  Ahhhh that's be Pancake Boy Waffles !  He didn't even want the bounty!  Just t...

Wednesday night at 9pm ET on Full Tilt is....... The Very Josie! Now listen to Auntie Josie for a minute.  You should really play because the winner gets a Very Josie T-shirt.  It's the height of fashion and the only way to get one is to WIN one.  Plus you get a $2 bounty for each person you knock out. Speaking of bounties, that mean old man LIGHTNING has put a bounty on me, the hostess with the mostest.  If you should be lucky enough or skillful enough to take me out of my own tourney, Lightning will ship you $11.  Free money!  But be warned.  I have a bit of a hot temper.  If you do knock me out with your damned luck, expect some verbal abuse. (and alot of 4 letter words)  Full Tilt has given me a time out more than once for using profanity.  The fuckers!  I mean seriously, kids aren't playing this game yet they don't allow me to type in "shit" or "fucker" or "dickhead".  Now I can understand the time out if someone...

Oh Captain (my FAVORITE blogger) had the forethought to get a group photo of all us degenerate bloggers/poker players before the start of WPBT.  How cool is this? Click on photo for a better look. It's a priceless picture.  All those happy shining faces anticpating a win.  Mind you, this is the most hungover I was for the entire trip.  But it was totally worth it.  Friday night ROCKED....um, at least I think so.  Alot of it seems kind of foggy now. So anyway, I scan the photo looking for me (natch) and I find myself easily enough.  You know why? Because I am the shortest person in the damn photo!  Fuck, I am short!  In fact, I'm so short, I make Waffles look kinda tall! (no easy feat)  Good thing I was in the front row or you wouldn't see me at all. Thank you Oh Captain!  for an awesome souvenir. Speaking of Oh Captain, yesterday's clown picture was courtesy of him as well. Speaking of clowns....I still haven't had ...

I got a couple of comments today on previous posts, which pleased me to no end.  First there was one from Grange, who I met in Vegas.  I cannot believe that I didn't get a photo of him (it was the damn booze) but I found an image on Google that will suffice. Grange-ish Grange said:  Josie, please forgive me, I was on the road when this was posted, and I marked it for commenting later, then forgot about it. Anyway, it was amazing to meet you at MGM! You are one hot, funny gal, and if I were straight, I might have bought you a drink ... Looking forward to seeing you next WPBT. I demand lunch! LOL Thank you Grange!  I just didn't spend enough time with Grange but I KNOW that if/when I do, it'll be a blast.  And Grange honey, regardless of your orientation you are still going to buy me a drink.  I must say I LOVE a demanding man.  :)  Being easy on the eyes doesn't hurt either. I also got a comment from this guy: Bow chicka bow wow Drizz ...

1st Place for the year I won and it wasn't even close.  *yawn* I just noticed that it says "Don't let Josie win!" at the top of this page and every other league page for that matter.  Dunno if commissioner just put that there or if it's been there all season.  Natch I won! :) Mama's won a little money - time for a visit to New Hampshire! Play smart. Josie PS.  Just got home from visiting my Mom who said "What did you do to you hair?  You put shoe polish on it?  Mama mia that's a black.  You're hair looks like Auntie Teresa's!" Hmmmm

Ahhh, I love football season This is the last week of the regular season, hence it's the final week in my football league.  I am sooooo excited.  I am in first place by 10 points but I know anything can happen.  Well....if history repeats itself them Imma gonna win. This is my 4th year in this league and I've taken first place for the past 3 years, but let me give you a little history.  The league's been run by a friend of a friend (of a friend) so the first year I play, all these guys are on me, like white on rice.  All wanting side bets, not knowing who they were up against.  It was my most profitable year.  I had guys paying my weekly entry via side bets and of course I went onto win it. Year 2 was a repeat, except perhaps a bit less enthusiasm about going against me heads up, and yeah, I won for the year again, in addition to winning more than a few weekly prizes. Year 3 the commissioner decides that we don't need any year end grand prizes...

I love having a new year, a fresh slate, and I am really excited about this year.  I've never done this before, but this year I've written down a series of goals that I have and things I can do that can get me there.  My road map for 2011! You don't want to know about my personal and professional goals, but how bout my poker goals?  I have alot of those. Have a profitable 2011 (obv).  End Goal is to win $2,000 profit by July.  In order to make that kind of profit I have to do the following: * Commit to tracking all of my poker winnings and losses.  I usually do this for the first couple of weeks in January and then let it slide.  My plan is to track it all; live, online, and league. * Play more often live in New Hampshire.  That seems to be where I make the most money.  In the 50 peep tournaments. * Learn to fold more with the 2nd best hand.  Focus on throwing that shit away, particularly in t...

Okay, so I ventured into the land of PLO heads up, with a few key rules that I followed.  I am not posting the rules here, as I don't want to give Drizz any help with his PLO game.  :) Anyway, I played 3 games and won 2 of them!  Yay!  Not alot of winnings as they were a $2 game and a $5 game. Synergy baby! Almost synergy?  I really liked the flop.  :) PLO is fun! Play smart. Josie

Today's word of the day is........ Synergy:  •The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. •Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect. I like this word.  Someone who knows things , told me that I could play PLO heads up against Drizz  (even without skill) so long as I kept synergy of my hand in mind.  I got a few other tips too.  :) So Dizzy Drizzy, lemme try this against a random donk, and if it works, I will give it a chance against you. Play smart with SYNERGY. Josie

Sung to the tune of Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of poker is gone Say Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of poker is gone Little Ditty 'bout Josie and Heffman 2 American kids living in blogger land Heffy's gonna be a poker star Josie's debutante in Vegas didn't go far Heffy sits back collects his thoughts for the moment Scratches his head and then he shoves all in Well you know Josie, she's gonna call here Josie says "Baby, you ain't gonna win." Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of poker is gone Say Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of poker is gone Gonna let it rock, let it roll Let the donkeys come and steal my steal my soul Hold onto aces as long as you can Suffering those bad beats makes us women and men. Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of poker is gone Say Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of poker is gone A little ditty bout Heffmike...

  I will break U Heff - Just not tonight. Tonight was my Heads Up Challenge with Heff Mike.  We hooked up about 9pm and the plan was for me to join a game and he'd follow.  Well as soon as I joined a game, someone else named Claudia did too.  So I had to play him/her first.  Luckily she sucked.  I kept raising and she kept folding, and 10 minutes into it I had my first win under my belt.  Onto Heff Mike! Heff Mike has a great (and factual recap) on his post which I just stole and copied below.  Please enjoy! Cliffs: Very Josie HU challenge ends up 2-2. Best results for a challenger so far, sounds good to me. Game 1 - back and forth for about 50 hands, I limp KQo at 20/40 down a bit, we see a 987 all spade flop, I have the Ks, and I check/call a pot bet. Turn's a blank, I check/shove into Josie's T6s, no spade - only the flopped second nut straight. I do not get there on the river. Down 0-1. Game 2 - much quicker, four hands in, I raise AA to...

Work. It's what I do.  I enjoy it to a certain extent but I certainly don't have the most exciting job.  I do the same thing month after month, year after year and take very little time off.  Repeat. Except I took a week off this December for the WPBT and more recently had 5 days off in a row for the Christmas holiday.  Very unusual for me.  And it's not like I missed work while I was home/away.  Far from it.  I was reveling in the fact that I didn't have to get up quite so early, my time was my own, but the most curious thing happened when I got back to work this week. I settled into doing some mundane tasks; things that usually bore the crap out of me, yet they were oddly comforting.  Ahhh back to my old routine.  Have coffee, do this, that, the other, solve a few problems, have lunch. More work, more coffee, help some colleagues out, then home. I don't know why it feels so "right" to be in work.  Perhaps because I do my job wel...

Snow Storm in Gloucester MA The lovely photo above was taken by one of the architects I work with.  He designed and lives in that beautiful house, which is right on the ocean's edge.  And the house is even cooler inside.  It's is a susstainable zero energy house.  That means it doesn't use any energy from fossil fuels and the like.  Solar powered baby! Also Gloucester 12/27/10 (Snow) So I showed you the snow.  Natch, I am the Ho, and now for the show.............. Tonight at 9pm ET on Full Tilt Poker.......It's my Heads Up Challenge against HeffMike!   It's going to be AWESOME.  Let's do a little recap on the HU challenges, shall we? First, Lightning was up.  Two matches and he was down for the count.  Kicked his ass in record time, then we went on to chat for an hour or so. Second, Waffles.  Aloooooot of matches and they were all a struggle, but in the end I prevailed and got me some Waffles money.  Let's just say the c...

It's warm inside though.  :) Foooootball:  Below are my picks - you can click on it if you actually want to read it, but the bottom line is I am in 4th place for the week at the moment.  However, if my picks for the next two games win, I will win for the week again.  I need Atlanta to beat New Orleans and Philly to beat Minnesota.  That's not asking too much, is it? If that happens I will win for the week, by ONE POINT.  Football is truly  game of inches. Goooo Philly! I am sweating 2 games instead of one, because the Sunday Night Football game was called off due to weather.  Regardless of the outcome of the next 2 games this was a very good week for me, as I am no longer tied for 1st for the year.  I am now ahead of 2nd place by 14 points and I think that number will only increase when these games are done. Poker: I feel kinda bad about my Waffles post.  It didn't really reflect the actual play that took place.   After...