by john | Apr 16, 2010 | Poker
And not just because I’m creeping ever-closer to the free sweet tea at Hardee’s.
Once upon a time I had a poker blog. Some days this spot here even masquerades as one, but those days are few and far between, kinda like my winning sessions at the poker table. Maybe if I sucked less, I’d write more. And maybe if I wrote more about my game, I’d suck less. It’s entirely possible that it’s something like the antithesis of the vicious cycle, but who knows?
Anyway, because I occasionally write about poker (and have you ever noticed that occasionally is one of those words that NEVER looks right the first time and you always have to go back and take out an “s” in the middle to get that stupid little red line to go away (thanks, Richard, bane of my existence)?) the fine folks at Poker from the Rail have invited me to be part of the BBT5.
If you’re not a poker blogger and are still reading this, what’s wrong with you? No, really, here’s the deal. The Battle of the Blogger Tournaments started life as a fun series of tournaments hosted by friends who wanted to get together and give away some cool prizes. Then more people started playing, and the prizes and prize pools got bigger, and the tournaments attracted the attention of some cool folks with prizes to add. Then Full Tilt Poker stepped up huge and started adding WSOP seats to the mix, so some of the tournaments got a little less blogger-centric, then a LOT less blogger-centric, and more competitive, and what started out as kind of drunken chatroom fests with a poker tournament happening in the background turned into real poker tournaments with a few drunks playing but a lot of serious players. Then some old farts decided not to play because it wasn’t like the good old days (and get off my lawn!) but it was still a wildly successful series of tournaments that put some bloggers and readers into the WSOP Main Event and some side tournaments, too. For the record, I didn’t decide to not participate because of any of that, I just am usually broke online and have stuff going on when the tourneys are running.
But now, because I’ve been around for a million blog years, and still sometimes write about poker, I’ve been invited to be part of the BBT5, which includes two open tournaments each week for the next six weeks, and one invitational tournament each week. I’ll be playing all the invitationals, which could be bad for me, because I suck, but since they’re freerolls, won’t be too bad. And since a bunch of my friends have also been invited, it’ll be like old home week, with chips! The top two finishers each week get seats in the Tournament of Champions, and the top 5 folks in the TOC get WSOP seats to either the Main Event or a preliminary event, depending on where they finish. So that’s way cool. I get six freeroll shots at a Main Event seat, which there’s no way I’d pass up. So for the next few weeks, I’ll be on Full Tilt (with the terribly original screen name of Jhartness) playing for my shot at poker glory (or at least $10K to throw at credit card payments). Go here for more details on the BBT5, and give Al a big smooch from me when you see him!
Now here lies my dilemma – if the seas part and all seven seals unlock and I manage to win a seat, do I play? There’s no question that I’m not a very good card player, but I do have some history of success in well-structured tournaments (Venetian, Casa de Blood, etc.). The structure of the WSOP Main Event is nice and deep, and I might have a shot to crack the money (top 10%), which would double my “buy-in.” And since the buy-in is not coming out of my pocket, that’s $20K in free money. Then the upside potential is in the millions for a final table appearance. The flip side is $10K cash in hand, which wipes out all my existing credit card debt and leaves me a little on the side. Our finances took a hit last year when PokerNews restructured and no longer needed my services, so between that loss of revenue and a couple of weddings and some frivolous spending, we’ve accrued a little debt that I’m working to get rid of. So, I ask you, dear readers (if anyone actually made it this far) – if you considered yourself no better than 40% to make the money, thus walking away with at least $20,000, would you play the Main Event or pocket the ten grand? Obviously this debate is so far into the future as to be laughable because I first have to win my way into the TOC and then finish in the top two spots there to even qualify, but it does make for interesting conversation, because I do plan to be in the TOC. After all, I was invited, and what’s the point of showing up at a party if you’re going to leave early?
by john | Apr 14, 2010 | Music, Real Life
So after attending the 20th anniversary tour of the brand new record for 1990, They Might Be Giants’ brand new album, Flood, I shoulda known that it was getting to be that time in my life. The time that I am once again reminded that I’m getting old.
There were a few seminal albums for the beginning of my college life, and depending on who was around, that determined what was in the CD player (or tape deck, or whatever). Here are a few, with some associations –
Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes: There were so many resonances on this album it’s just silly. My whole passel of friends owned this record and I think most of us played the grooves off the CD at least once.
They Might Be Giants – Flood – Knew. Every. Word. Churchill and Indy were even worse, and so was Steve. When we all piled into the Impala and went to see them at the 1313 club I think we had 8 people in that stupid car.
Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting – I was never really that goth, but I played one on TV. Nah, I didn’t even play too goth, but this album was in the rotation. Saw them in 1993 with my friend Liz. Saw the tour announcement today – they’re doing the 20th anniversary tour, and playing Bloodletting track by track. Closest stop is Atlanta. Good for me I work in Atlanta some weeks. June 16th is one of those weeks :). See you there?
Indigo Girls – self-titled – I blame this on Shana, who turned me onto the Indigo Girls.
Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine – smoked weed and ate leftover spaghetti right out of the fridge in Jason Mann’s house in Alabama on a ridiculous road trip over Fall Break my freshman year. Not sure how we didn’t end up in jail.
The KLF – The White Room – although later theatrical experience with a certain self-styled “Goddess” (really long story involving a lot of baby oil and a rolling suitcase that’s more innocent and still more annoying than it sounds) ruined this album for me, we played it over and over again during marathon D&D/booze sessions in Jason and Fuller’s room.
What were your seminal college albums?
by john | Apr 5, 2010 | Poems, Poetry, Writing
Won’t be hard to keep up with my Poem a Day challenge this week, since I signed on for another month of Just Do It at Theatre Charlotte April 16th. If you’re in town, you should check it out. It’s $5, and a whole fun mishmash of different written stuff, poetry, spoken word, theatre and whatever comes out of the crowd that night. This will be the third one I’ve participated in and I have a great time. The theme this time around is “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.” This is one of the pieces I came up with for the evening. I’m gonna try to come up with three total. I always try to write stuff fresh for the event because as we’ve discussed before, I’m worthless without a deadline, and this gives me another deadline. Lemme know what you think in comments, this is still a work in progress. At least for 11 days, then I perform it.
Apologetic Antecedents
Sorry seems so hard
because it’s just the beginning.
There’s never a “sorry”
then a yank,
a little blood,
and “all done”
like pulling a tooth when you’re eight.
It’s always something painful and awkward
like “sorry I was a dick and screwed your sister
on the washing machine at Thanksgiving
while you were in the kitchen making cranberry sauce”
just to give a possible,
yet completely fictional
example.
Sorry is always the precursor
to something that sucks,
but has to be done,
like putting iodine on a cut,
or breaking up with the girl
that cheated on you with your brother
and his wife
even though she’s all kinds of a freak
and does that thing you like
in bed.
So it’s not the word that’s hard,
it’s what follows.
by john | Apr 4, 2010 | Poker, Real Life, Travel, Writing
Not a ton of time before I’m off to Atlanta, but a whirlwind week here at Casa de Falstaff.
Hired a new sales guy at work. We didn’t really have a position open, but when a competitor closed their doors unexpectedly we hired their Sales Manager quick like bunny. He’s a sharp guy and I think he’ll add a lot to our team long-term, but now I have 13 people reporting to me when it was 5 a little more than a year ago. Still trying to strike the right balance between the Sales part of my job and the Manager part, but that’s going to be an eternal struggle I think. Currently leaning more on the manager bits with three new hires in the past few months, so my other salespeople are having to step up to carry the load. Good thing for me I’ve got good people. Still kinda shaking my head at the speed with which we created a position and got this guy hired – our company just doesn’t work that quickly. Ever. We tend to expand very slowly, so getting this deal done in eight days was huge.
Had a book signing at a bookstore in Salisbury yesterday, and sold two books. Pretty good for a glorious Easter weekend sunny day, where no one wanted to be indoors. I had forgotten about the signing until last week, so I didn’t do enough to promote it, but I’m still learning the ropes on this whole thing.
Got my first short story accepted into Connotation Press, which was exciting. It’s a story I wrote on a lark, but I think it’s pretty good. I’ll link it up here when it goes live. I also started another novel, which I mentioned here earlier in the week.
Booked my first winning session at poker of the year, and it only took me into the 2nd quarter to do it. Fortunately for me, it was a nice win and offset most, if not all of my year’s losses so far. And we all seemed to have a good time, too. It’s been nice the last couple of weeks to get the home game going again semi-regularly.
But there won’t be a game at my house this week, because my travel schedule is ridiculous (I know, what else is new?). I leave for Atlanta today, stay there ’til Wednesday. Head home on Wednesday, stopping in G-Vegas to meet with the new guy, who will be working from his home office there. Then Thursday morning I get up and head towards Manteo, in the Outer Banks, for a Friday morning meeting. North Carolina isn’t a very tall state, but going from Charlotte to the far northeastern tip is every bit of a seven-hour drive. Friday I have a meeting in Manteo that will likely take most of the day, so I figure I’ll only make it as far as Raleigh on my way home. Get up Saturday morning and drive home from Raleigh, collect the wife and head down to my parents’ place in SC for a belated Easter cookout in the afternoon. Bail on that around 7 and head back to Charlotte for a birthday party for two of our best friends. Really it’s just one buddy’s 30th, but his girlfriend’s Bday is a couple days before, and she’s a close friend too, so it’s like a twofer.
Then Sunday I’m sleeping for 17 hours.
I’ll try to catch up with y’all some time this week, and I’ll try to keep up with the Poem a Day thing for April. I wrote two yesterday while I was having the less-than-eventful signing, so that gives me a cushion for today, right? No. But it was a nice thought.
Happy Easter to those of you that celebrate such things, and Go Blue Devils!
by john | Apr 2, 2010 | Writing
I wrote another one today, but I like it less than yesterday’s, and since I was informed that I was off to a weak start for yesterday’s poem (he was right, but I still thought it was mildly amusing), I decided not to put it up here.
No, really, I haven’t let one critical comment keep me from posting, the one I wrote today was some real shite.
And that’s not necessarily an uncommon occurrence. When I’m writing every day, I try to crank out at least one poem, preferable two, or at least 1,000 words on my new novel project. Yeah, I started another novel. This one’s tougher, because it’s a slower start, but I think I’m figuring out where I want it to go. The root problem I’m having is that I’m writing the beginning, but I’m currently much more interested in the middle, so I may break down and write the middle as a stand-alone story and come back to the beginning later. As if that made any sense.
Basically, the premise is that the big nuclear war has finally hit, but the majority of the damage to the world’s infrastructure was done by EMPs, not the actual nukes. Which makes a type of sense, if you think about it, an EMP would disable all the computers in the area, and if enough of them happened, the world. So that’s the concept, that computers, and anything that uses a computer chip anywhere in it, are cooked. So with the demise of technology, magic can make a return to the world, and does. So the limited survivors have to not only deal with a world that is completely different from anything they’ve ever thought about, but now they have to deal with people that can manipulate the laws of the natural world, too.
I have been known to read a fantasy or science fiction novel on occasion. Like all the time.
So that’s what I’m working on, and I’m only a couple thousand words into it, so I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m not likely to publish it here like I did Choices (which I think has a new working title of I Made the Devil Do It), but if you’re interested, email me and I’ll shoot you updates.
Oh yeah, and I have a reading tomorrow afternoon in Salisbury, so if you’re local come check it out!
