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The Festival Series Twitch streamer Joseph Jackson: I have camera fear

The Festival Series Twitch streamer Joseph Jackson: I have camera fear

The Festival Series came in touch with a nice, active, and most all fun character all the way from the United States of America. His name is Joseph Jackson and resides currently in Tallinn, Estonia. Where he also made his first ever appearance during a Festival stop, which evolved into another attendance during our Bratislava in October this year.

In Tallinn he sat mostly at the Franke’s Flip ‘N Go tables, battling it out with eventual winner Jens Riis from Denmark. It was a hard battle until the very last game of the week, sadly he came in just shy of the victory. Since Joseph became a true friend of The Festival Series ever since and won the very first online package for our Nottingham stop in February 2023, we asked him to join forces with us and so he can show his true talents on the screen.

We spoke to him earlier this week, and we asked him more about his background and his life combined with poker.

(The Festival) Hi Joseph! I was always wondering how an American ends up all the way in Estonia. How did that happen?

  • (Joseph Jackson) I came here like I think most Expats here do, I met a girl and moved here for her.

(TF) In Tallinn you became 2nd in the Franke’s Flip Flips contest after a hard battle with Jan Riis of Denmark for the top spot. Obviously, you also played more tournaments and cash games out there during The Festival Series. How you came in touch with poker?

  • (JJ) I grew up watching a lot of the OG poker pros like Daniel Negreanu and Tony G. I always loved their table talk and the way they could soul read or bully the other players. I would say that I play a bit old school, but as poker theory started coming out with GTO etc, I started loving the studying and the math, plus the adrenaline from having the nuts or getting a big bluff through can be pretty addicting.

(TF) Our most recent stop in Bratislava you had also attended. You like to play live obviously, but also make your hours at the virtual tables resulting in a victory of our very first satellite and walking away with a package for Nottingham next year (February 13th – 19th). How does your poker life look like combined with your personal life and career?

  • (JJ) Poker hasn’t been something I considered doing professionally until this past year. Poker has always been a sort of hobby for me, and I actually only started playing live because of the social aspect of it. Playing live has taken my love for poker to a much higher level because you get to meet so many interesting people that would never enter my normal social sphere. I would love to go pro one day but I think I would have to work more on my discipline and be more serious when playing which would take away what I love most about the game. Maybe if I go deep at Nottingham it will give me the motivation to go pro.

(TF) You will even become one of the streamers for our official Twitch channel. How do you feel to be streaming on a weekly basis?

  • (JJ) Becoming an official streamer has been a huge step for me and something I am really excited about. I think it will take a little getting used to because I get a little camera shy and it is kind of hard to be energetic in a room by yourself, but I am hoping to be more involved in the streaming and commentary for poker.

(TF) Your biggest live score to date was by playing an NL/Omaha tournament. Do you like mixed games and what is your opinion about The Festival offering much of those games?

  • (JJ) I haven’t actually played many mixed games before; in fact, I believe that was my first mixed tournament I ever played. I did kind of fall in love with Omaha after taking a Masterclass from JJ Hazan and it was super interesting. I love the extra dynamics of the game because connectivity is key, and it requires more discipline to fold pretty hands or to not fall victim of having too many outs. I really loved the NL/Omaha structure because it breaks the monotonous of No Limit Hold’em, especially when you are card dead for hours at a time. I hope to see more of the split as H.O.R.S.E is a little too much variation for me.

(TF) Last but not least, what can our viewers expect from you during your streaming sessions?

  • (JJ) A lot of bad impressions of Dnegs (Daniel Negreanu) and Tony G. with plenty of Phil Helmuth blowups. But in all seriousness, I will be doing my best to do hand breakdowns, range analysis, and how to use GTO as a baseline and adjust based on table dynamics. Though I do feel in the end I will be giving a Master Class on what not to do and what tilting looks like. I’m hoping though that I can show people that poker isn’t as intimidating as it looks and hope to get more people into the game.

Are you curious how our friend will deal with the online battlefields? Showing his true American colors? Make sure to follow our Twitch channel and you will be informed about his weekly appearances!

www.twitch.tv/thefestivalog