SNE 2x, one more to go...

Well this post has been a few days late, but better than late than never (in most cases!) I finally crossed the 2M VPP threshold on August 21st, exactly 1 month and 1 day after my 1.75 millionth point. In my previous post, I said that I aimed to get my next quarter million points in less than a month but unfortunately my pace these days has been mediocre at best. I am truly settling into life here in Sydney, more on that in a bit, and so my attention to poker hasn't been as strong. This has not been conducive to my usual 10k+ VPP days; I just simply can't do the 5am wakeup call everyday. But I'm trying my best.

In addition, while I rarely like to complain about running bad, I have been battling a horrific downswing ever since I've arrived in Sydney that hasn't come close to turning around. Even as my 10,000th game came and went (aka sample size is getting up there), my results have been downright nasty bad. It is very likely due to the high number of tables I play at a time and the fact that 90% of games are 6max, which require the utmost attention unfortunately. All things considered though, it has not been a pretty picture, and so it's been difficult to motivate myself to play with the ever-real prospect of another -5k or more session. However, even though I am down at the tables each of the last three months, I am up post-rakeback. I will continue to stick with this tradeoff of potentially negative ROI in exchange for VPP generation because the record is so close now. Only need to get SNE one more time this year :) That is, if fellow high stakes grinder Bjoerni89 doesn't challenge me I suppose.


Good time for a quick non-poker related tangent. I find myself becoming more and more desensitized to money in general (both good and bad) simply due to the ridiculous amount of swings (read: loss) that I've experienced in the last month in poker and the stock market. In case you haven't been keeping up, the worldwide stock market is suffering through its worse period since the 2008 GFC. I find it interesting to note that people who don't follow the financial world at all have little to no idea that there is worldwide financial turmoil lurking in our midst (European sovereign debt crisis, potential worldwide global recession starting with the US, etc). Only when someone loses their job or gas prices surge will most people actually care about this sort of stuff in their day-to-day lives. It's fair enough though. And yet I am glued to the world financial/general news these days.. it really is a fascinating world to learn about and keep up with. For example it is appalling to me that 1 out of 5 people in Spain are unemployed, while the unemployment rate in Australia is only 5%! And Steve Jobs? More like Steve Unemployeds....

So before this post gets too sidetracked, I'd just like to say that despite these recent uncertainties/variance, I couldn't be happier these days. I'm in such a lucky and awesome position and no amount of losses should ever make me feel negative. I simply wanted to keep people apprised of my poker swings and make sure they know that everyone goes through dark days (more like months!)

Like I alluded to before, I've been spending heaps of time out of my apartment, meeting up with familiar faces and meeting others through friends, and generally just been enjoying everything Sydney has to offer. It's also great when it seems like I know more places around Sydney (at least the touristy names of places and restaurants) than even other people who live here do.

As you can tell, I'm becoming quite fond of this place and there's no telling how long I'm going to stay. I'll have to make those decisions as time passes, but so many facets here have just worked out so well. The transportation is excellent, the banking system here in conjunction with Pokerstars has been first-rate and buttery smooth, and the weather is unbelievable with spring just around the corner. I'm even having the occasional 5-star steak dinner at Roy's in Cab. Yes, I just made that up, but it's sensational and you should try it sometime when you get a chance. #shamelessplugforsomeoneelse. Life is good these days.