Apartment

So I bought an apartment last November and moved in early January. It's taken a while but I've finally gotten all the essentials set up - computer, bed, fridge, washer, lounge + TV, and dining table. The third bedroom is still completely empty and there's a lot of general touching up to do (rugs, paintings, books, etc.) but overall I'm really happy to finally be in this position. Poker has given me a lot of great memories via holidays and big nights out and the like, but to have something so concrete in the form of a place to live and to be able to say "this is thanks to poker" is an amazing feeling.

Tokyo

Last month I had my first holiday since last August, and this time I decided to go to Tokyo. I'd been to Europe and the USA at least three times each yet, other than Macau, I'd never really been to Asia since I was 18 so I thought it was high time to try it properly. All I can say is...

WOW!

The place was unbelievable. I've been to a lot of cities and quite frankly Tokyo shoots up to number one, with maybe New York on par. The food is incredible and varied; the nightlife is pumping till 5AM every night of the week (something New York fails dismally at despite being "the city that never sleeps"); and the culture is so interesting in its variety and eccentricity (temples, shrines and tradition on the one hand; crazy gadgets, maid cafes and cosplay in Harajuku on the other).

What will remain with me the most however are the people. Japanese are well known for being polite, respectful, kind and helpful - and that they were, doing their best through some sometimes immense language barriers - but what really struck me was their joyful attitude towards life. In an izakaya (traditional Japanese pub) the owner playfully acted out the animal and parts thereof which we were eating. When we asked a man for directions to a club, he led us all the way to the front door before parting with a wink and a cheeky "good luck!" When we sprayed air hockey discs all over the arcade floor, teenagers ran around to collect them and return them for us. And in clubs, guys and girls alike were so friendly and keen to talk, willing to stumble through a conversation as best they could. It's like there's no shame in Japan for being openly excited or happy about something, no need to be "too cool for school" - and so they laugh, smile and giggle incessantly, and that truly rubs off in the atmosphere of the city.

The club scene in Tokyo is pretty interesting. First stop for most foreigners is Roppongi which is filled with expats and tourists and pretty much consists of a bunch of dodgy dive bars, some Nigerians trying to hustle you into their hostess bars and strip clubs, and then, almost randomly, some pretty damn awesome clubs (which coincidentally have a much better local to foreigner ratio than the bars). The other side of the club scene which we experienced was Shibuya which is much more Japanese-centric. The clubs there played J-Pop (one even had a live J-Pop group randomly perform between DJ sets), had "girls only" seating areas and even hair stylists on site for them, and often there'd only be maybe 5 to 10 foreigners. The language barrier was much greater at these places, but in many ways the nights were so much more interesting and rewarding for it. There are some other nightlife areas which we didn't get around to trying (Ebisu, Daikanyama, Shinjuku) which is a shame but that's something for the return trip I guess!

Some highlights from the trip:

• A restaurant where you catch your own fish and then have it served how you'd like (sashimi, grilled, tempura)

Our catch

• Going to the bar from the movie Lost in Translation

• A sushi place where you order via a touchpad and then have your order shot out to you on a conveyor belt

• 6AM sushi breakfast at the Tsukiji fish markets

• Seeing the cherry blossoms (fluke we were there at the same time!)

Shibuya scramble crossing

Shibuya at night

Wedding at the Meiji Shrine

Harajuku's main street (teenybopper haven)

Akihabara (electronics/maid caf©/anime mecca)

Pachinko (Japanese slots - gambling is illegal, so at these places you exchange your ball bearing winnings for pieces of paper which in turn can be sold for money lol)

Asakusa temple

Ginza (upmarket shopping district)

Imperial Palace

And some food...

Jap mac 'n' cheese

Well, it's sure been a long time between blogs. 5 months in fact, which I'm pretty sure is a record for me. Not too much interesting has happened in that time poker-wise; just playing when I get the chance and not getting too hung up on the results.

NYC

Anyway, I just got back from my summer in the States; I was in NYC for 7 weeks for graduate training for work, and then I spent 1 week each in Vegas and Austin. NYC was surprisingly intense (10 hours of lectures a day, 1-2 tests per week, big group project throughout) but obviously also a lot of fun. We were put up in Midtown and it was great to almost feel like a local - catching the subway every day down to Wall Street, joining a gym, getting groceries, going to the same barber, etc. For some reason I also had a ton of Australian friends there, either visiting or who have now moved there, so it was great going out with them week after week and exploring the New York nightlife.



4th July in Brooklyn



Central Park



9/11 Memorial



View of Manhattan from rooftop bar in Williamsburg

After work drinks at Stone Street

Vegas

After NYC I decided to just go back to Vegas because quite frankly I just wanted to party, sleep and relax. If I went to some other city that I hadn't been to before like Chicago or Montreal I would've felt obliged to sight-see and I doubt the nightlife there would have been as good. As it turns out, what a great decision it was to go back! This time was easily the most fun I've had of the three times I've been there.

We arrived Sunday night and went straight to Lavo which I loved: smaller than most clubs but awesome music. Monday we went to XS because we couldn't get into 1Oak (how often does that happen haha - Lil Wayne was playing though I believe) and Steve Aoki lit the place alight (got tickets to see him here in Sydney in 2 weeks in fact).

XS

Then on Tuesday we started our procession of table service. I had only planned to get it twice, on Tuesday and on Friday, but somehow ended up getting it 5 nights in a row: Tuesday at 1Oak, Wednesday at Chateau, Thursday at Tao, Friday at Lavo and Saturday at The Bank. Friday was always going to be the biggest night but boy did it end up being something special. I had initially planned on going to Marquee because it's the "it" club right now but something told me to go back to Lavo. I find that while places like XS and Marquee are visually impressive and all that, you end up having much more fun at the smaller places. So we went back to Lavo and as soon as the host greets me he says "you chose a good night to come!" Turns out it was the club owner's birthday so he had some friends there including Paris Hilton and P Diddy and everyone with tables got shouted a bottle of vodka and Patron. BOOM! And yeah, the place was kicking even more than the previous Sunday

Austin

For my last week I decided to go to Austin. I wanted to try somewhere not on the East or West coasts and had heard really good things about it. It ended up being a lot more chilled than I expected - much more of a town than a city and the nightlife was totally dead Monday to Wednesday - a big comedown after Vegas! But Thursday on it was pretty kicking along 6th Street as well as on Rainey Street - an unusual nightlife area which is basically your average suburban street with driveways, mail boxes etc. but about 10 of the houses have been bought, emptied and turned into bars with backyards.



6th Street



Rainey Street

And for my last day in the States I got a taste of American college life, going tailgating with a friend who is at UT on exchange and then to the first game of the season versus Wyoming. The sight of 100,000 people in a stadium for a college game was simply awe-inspiring for me. Hook 'em Horns!

And Hook 'em they did.

Tailgating



Barton Springs





City Centre

So it's been a while since I last updated. I've been working for 3 months now in rates trading, but have managed to keep up the poker with weekend grind sessions. It's actually been a lot more enjoyable this year in some ways. I don't feel as much pressure and as a result I pretty much never tilt. If I lose big I just "switch off" and return to being a normal person with my normal salary. I couldn't do that last year; if I lost a chunk the only thing I would be thinking about was how long it would take to win that back. Or worse... earn it back.

But yeah, the poker's been going well. I'm not up that many buy-ins to be honest but when 5 of them are at 100/200 it definitely helps. Really hoping to be able to build up the life-roll and buy a place by the end of this year or start of next year.

One thing I'm really looking forward to is the 7-week internship I get to do in NYC as part of my grad program in July-August. I've always wanted to live in NYC and though 2 months isn't that long I feel like it's long enough for me to settle in and really feel like I'm living like a local. I've also got three friends who have moved there now so hopefully they can show me some of their local non-Manhattan haunts. Can't wait!

Afterwards I'll have two weeks of holidays. Not sure what I'll do with it, but at the moment I'm thinking either Chicago/Austin or Quebec City/Montreal/Toronto. Both have their pluses, but at this point I'm definitely leaning towards the former. It'll ultimately depend on what friends I can rally up and where they want to go though.

Finally, I'm starting to get pretty excited about FTP. It took me a while to accept last year but in about September I finally wrote off my FTP balance. The thought now of getting it back and, even better, being able to play on FTP again is just mind-blowing. FTP was always my best site by a mile and I look forward to winning every run-it-twice once again.

Edit: I wrote that last paragraph about FTP yesterday. Just saw the Stars buying FTP news. That's pretty much the dream situation if true, so let's hope it all works out!

So I haven't done a photo blog since Munich in September. I've always wanted my blog to be a record of my "poker years" so with just one week left of that this really is for myself more than anything. Here's where I've been the last few months.

London

This was my third time in London and yet I was still discovering new things. I spent a lot of time wandering around the various markets (Borough, Portabello, Camden, Brick Lane) and checked out some more niche sights like the Templar Church from The Da Vinci Code and Leadenhall Market from Harry Potter. I also went to see Phantom of the Opera for the first time and not only was it awesome but we got a special speech from the Phantom after the show because it was the show's first night in its 25th year!










Oxford

The three day trips you must do from London are Cambridge, Bath and Oxford. In that order. I finally completed the trifecta this trip with Oxford.

Cannes

I get the feeling that Cannes is for people who want to sip a cocktail from the deck of their expensive yacht, watch the sun set over a beautiful Mediterranean sea and think to themselves "yep, this is the life". For me, there simply wasn't enough to see or do. I'm sure it's more buzzing in summer though.

San Remo

More of the same, though the old town in San Remo was much more interesting. It's situated on a steep hill so there are a lot of stairs, narrow laneways and windy streets . More importantly, it genuinely feels like you've gone back a few centuries, which cannot be said for the Old Towns in Nice, Cannes or Monaco.





Monaco

I went to Monaco to visit a friend and since I'd already seen most of the sights before (I was there in 2010) we spent most of our time relaxing, playing FIFA and chatting about our days in Sweden. It was pretty cool because he lived right in the Old Town, literally 100m from the castle. We'd walk outside and instantly see hundreds of tourists right on our doorstep!

Brussels

This was my first time in Belgium and sure enough a lot of mussels, chocolate and chips were eaten. Brussels is one of those cities I'd classify as "nice to see once, but would never go back again". The highlight is definitely the Grand Place, probably the prettiest town square in Europe other than the one in Prague (that I've seen at least).

Bruges

I did a day trip to Bruges whilst in Brussels and ended up staying the night because I was too tired to return to Brussels. Turned out to be a great decision as I met a bunch of people whom I would end up spending a lot of time with in Amsterdam. Bruges itself was really beautiful; it's claim to fame is its canals which run through the city centre and give it a peaceful, tranquil feel. I guess nature tends to do that! Definitely one of the highlights of my Europe trip.

Amsterdam

I really chilled out in Amsterdam. The city is incredibly small so sightseeing didn't take very long, although I did while away some afternoons at the three must-see museums: the Anne Frank Museum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum.

Budapest

There are two European cities that everyone seems to love: Berlin and Budapest. I have heard so many people recommend the latter that I just had to go, even though it was completely out of the way and the flight was expensive. And boy am I glad I did. The actual city itself is not that photogenic; some buildings are nice but there is an overriding gloomy, eastern European feel to it. However, it's at night that the city really shines. I was there for the four quietest nights, Monday through Thursday, and every night the town was totally pumping. I was fortunate to have two friends who could show me the local nightspots and one was even an ESN (exchange) mentor meaning that I got to tag along to the university pub crawls and meet internationals from all over the world. It was like Lund all over again!

Sickest Church interior I've seen (photo doesn't do it justice)



One of the thermal baths

Bratislava

Like Monaco, I really only went to Bratislava to visit a friend. By now it was winter and the city was rather empty, bare and grim so we spent a lot of time inside in shopping malls and in restaurants. The one memory I really have of Slovakia is the food. It was different (thin duck pate pancakes, deep-fried potato pancakes, potato dumplings covered in goats cheese and smoked pork), really tasty and sooooo cheap!

Macau

Macau was the last stop of my trip and exhausted from all the travelling of the previous five months I resolved to take it easy. Which was fortunate because there wasn't much to do or see in Macau anyway; only really the town centre which takes maybe one hour to cover comprehensively and Macau Tower which does have a legitimately awesome view. The rest of the time I spent eating, clubbing and sleeping.

Sydney

When I got home I had three Euro friends staying with me so I became a tourist in my own city, hitting up not only the tourist sites but even the backpacker bars!

Arrawarra Beach

Afterwards I followed my friends for a week as they went up north along the east coast of Australia. First stop was Arrawarra Beach for a three day surf camp. I failed miserably.

Byron Bay

Next was Byron Bay, a small, hippie beach town in northern NSW. This place is a pretty hot tourist destination for foreigners and Aussies alike so if you're ever in Australia you should definitely check it out. We stayed in a tent in this pretty cool hostel: it had a pool, table tennis, beach volleyball, pool tables, a cafe, plenty of indoor and outdoor relaxation areas (including hammocks), and even some wildlife wandering around.

Surfers Paradise

Another hot tourist destination, we spent four days doing pretty much the exact same thing: beach in the morning, tennis or squash in the afternoon, and clubbing at night.

Melbourne

And finally, I headed back to Melbourne for another shot at Aussie Millions glory.

Go into Day 4 tomorrow with 504K. Blinds start at 5K/10K with 2 hour levels and it's 6-handed from here on in. I'm only 16th in chips which shocked me a bit because I thought I was above the pace the whole day but it turns out that there are a ton of big stacks in the room. Not to worry though, with 50bb there's obviously still a ton of play left. 1st is 1.6M, 2nd is 1M. Play down to 12 tomorrow. GL me, one last time!

Edit: Sigh, 17th for $60,000. Got the toughest of the 5 starting tables (1 was lolsoft, 2 were very soft, the other average) and still had my starting stack 3 hours in when I ran AK into AA.

I'm 4th in chips heading into tomorrow's 10 person final table (150 runners, 1st place is $37.5K). It's a bit of a crapshoot though and I've only got 22bb, although there is some talk of winding the blinds back a level. The blinds are so high because it took forever to bust the final table bubble. If one of the five 15bb stacks had busted an hour (two levels) earlier I would feel a lot more confident about my position heading into tomorrow. Anyway this will probably be my best chance to get a live win and as I said in my last blog that is one of my last remaining poker goals and pretty much why I'm here in Melbourne. So let's turn on the run good one more time!

PS. Oh yeah I've got my first video coming out in a long time and it's a...

MTT video...

Being the MTT pro that I am and all...

But in all seriousness I made it fairly quickly in response to a few requests I got in this blog and although it's not the best MTT video you'll ever see I hope it's still somewhat insightful and interesting for a few of you. For the cash players out there, I've got a far more exciting series on the horizon .

EDIT: Came 7th for $8250. Oh well.

What a rollercoaster year it's been. As you may or may not know, I took this year off after graduating to try my hand at poker full-time for one year. Playing professionally permanently was never an option but, having made 25/50+ NLHE my regular game in the last few months of 2010 and having amassed a bankroll large enough to take on the live circuit with all of my own action, I really wanted to spend one year experiencing the poker lifestyle, just to see what it was like.

First Half of the Year

I got home from my Sweden exchange in mid-February and immediately hit the online tables hard. I ran ridiculously hot and by the end of February I was already up 100K, albeit pretty burnt out from having done nothing but play poker for 2 weeks straight. I decided that I needed some balance, and signed up for some French and German courses and got myself a personal trainer. I figured that if somehow I had a bad year in poker, at least this way I would still have something to show for my year off. Of course, I never really thought I'd have a bad year in poker; and this was reinforced when I rattled off another 170K in March.

Then Black Friday hit and the rug was really swept from under me. The 25/50+ games that I had taken a year off to grind virtually disappeared overnight. Players that I had spent hours studying were gone. On the day of Black Friday, I had three-quarters of my life-roll online and one quarter on Full Tilt. It was a real shock to the system. If these sites went down, years of work would be wiped away. Actually, the scariest thing was probably not the fact that I would lose money, but the fact that all that time I spent making that money would have been entirely wasted. It was time that I could have better spent elsewhere.

Oddly, Black Friday also killed my ambition in poker. When I was moving up in stakes, I was driven by the desire to get better and better so that I could play higher and higher. After Black Friday, it was clear that not only would I be going no higher, but I would in fact have to go lower and play more 10/20 again. This really was the ultimate mood killer, and from then on I basically stopped studying poker altogether.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, after Black Friday I went on a long and protracted downswing. Some of it was due to run-bad, some to my shaken mental state, and some probably to me not knowing whether I was playing with play money or not. I had 1 losing month, then 2, then 3. I began to regret the time that I was sinking into gym, German and French because it meant less time available for winning my money back (I was only able to play about 25K hands per month at this point). By the time I left for the States in July, I was in the midst of a 160K downswing, my largest ever (although in terms of buy-ins I'd estimate it was less than 30 so not TOO bad). With over 100K in live tournament buy-ins planned for the rest of the year, the unthinkable thought of going 0 for and having a losing year began to run around my head.

Hitting the Live Circuit

Vegas

After two weeks in Washington DC and New York, I arrived in Vegas for the first poker stop of my five-month trip. I played only the Main Event and busted late on Day 2 in the most horrendous fashion, tilting my way from above-average to out-the-door in under an orbit. In an effort to redeem myself, I hit up the Bellagio cash game tables and promptly lost another 30K in the 25/50 games - 10K with QQ v AK, 10K with KK v AA, and 10K on a failed river bluff.

Edinburgh

Now on a 200K downswing, I was forced to take a month break by the DOJ as I hit up San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. By the time I arrived in Europe in mid-August, I was itching to play again. My first European stop was Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival and though this was not a poker stop I had a few days to play online since I had arrived a little earlier than my Australian friends. On the first night, I was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of 50/100 games running and duly jumped in. One hour later, I was 38K poorer and 32K below-EV.

Barcelona

A week later I arrived in Barcelona for my first EPT. I played the Main, HU and Turbo 6-Max Events and busted all without cashing for a total loss of about 20K USD. At this point my online roll was getting really low - about 110K - so instead of booking a hostel at my next destination (Madrid) I decided to book a hotel instead and do some grinding. That turned out to be another disastrous decision as I relieved myself of another 57K, 45K of it coming from 850 hands at 50/100. In one ridiculous hand I lost 15K v Sauce1234 where I had AA on A42r in a 3-bet pot and he managed to backdoor a royal flush (!) with his floated QJs. My downswing had now hit 300K and I was in the negative for the year.

After Madrid I did some general travelling, going to Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Salzburg and Munich for sightseeing or to catch up with friends from my exchange. By the time October rolled around I was once again focused and ready for a month of pure poker, with three consecutive poker stops next on the agenda: EPT London, WSOPE Cannes and EPT San Remo.

London

In London I played the Main, the HU and a 1K Turbo and once again busted all three without cash. In the Main I busted in an odd hand where literally all 9 players went to the flop and I held 64h on the button. The flop came T82hh, UTG1 bet out and the HJ called. I decided to squeeze rather than flat since I can fold out higher flush draws and top pairs in the blinds and it puts a ton of pressure on the two already involved in the pot. Only the HJ called and I pot-jammed the 9o turn. Unfortunately he had floated with QJo and I didn't get there on the river.

In the HU Event I busted in Round 2 to the most ludicrous player I've ever seen. In the first game with stacks of 10K v 14K, I called a 3-bet with A9h and bet 200 into 800 on 875hh when he checked to me. He instantly jammed his 10K effective, I made an annoyed call and lost when his 56o held. In the second game I min-raised to 200 with KK and he jammed his 12K effective. I called and held versus his 96s. In the third game I tried to play super low variance, limping a ton and the like. Unfortunately this just resulted in a slow stalemate and eventually with large blinds and even stacks I jammed J7o into his QQ on the first hand of a new blind level. He went on to win the event.

Cannes

In Cannes I played a LOT, mostly because there was so little to do in the city (there was literally no one there except poker players and no real nightlife to speak of). I played three bracelet events - the 3K Shootout, the 10K Split, and the 10K Main - as well as a 5K Turbo 6-Max, a 2K, a 1K, and a bunch of 1K satellites. Once again I didn't cash any.

On the whole the tournaments in Cannes were very well run but they did have a horrendous seating system whereby they only opened 4 tables at a time and filled them before opening new ones. This led to 3 of the Australians being placed on the same table for the Main Event as they all registered together. After much arguing the TD eventually allowed one of them to redraw. I registered first thing the next day and sure enough I was also on one of their tables (Daniel Neilson's), along with the manic HU player from London. I joked with Dan that I would hate life when I faced a ridiculously oversized shove for my stack on the first level of the day.

Somehow this came to fruition, but to Dan rather than me. On the third hand of the day Dan opened to 300 from the HJ. The CO called and the HU maniac 3-bet to 1200 on the button. Dan 4-bet to 2800 and the maniac instantly called. On the K75ss flop Dan c-bet 2500 and before you could blink all of the maniac's 30K chips were in the middle. After a few seconds, so too were Dan's. Dan had AA with the As and the maniac held J9s. The turn was a spade, the river wasn't, and Dan was out the door in less than 10 minutes.

On one of the nights that we did go out clubbing, I somehow ended up in a booth with an oddball assortment of people including Hellmuth, Negreanu, Timex and the PokerNews crew. I was standing near the booth's entrance when I saw Jonathan Duhamel approach and get rejected by the bouncer. I thought I'd do the good thing and intervene with an "it's cool, he's with us" despite it not being my booth and despite not ever having spoken to Duhamel in my life. When he got let in and thanked me profusely I couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous the whole situation was. Another fond memory I have of Cannes is my 10K Split starting table. I had Alex Kostritsyn and Timex to my left, and Negreanu and Bonomo opposite. Obviously not a great table draw, but to sit down at the same table as all these guys was a pretty cool feeling.

San Remo

I don't know how Stars convinced people to come to San Remo before the WSOPE moved next-door because the place is a bitch to get to and somehow managed to be emptier and duller than Cannes. In fairness it used to be in a different timeslot so maybe it was better back then. Here I played the Main, the HU, the 2K and the 1K and once again didn't manage a cash.

All told I lost 80K in October between London, Cannes and San Remo.

Macau

After San Remo I did some more general travelling, catching up with friends in Monaco, Brussels, Amsterdam, Budapest and Bratislava. There was actually a tournament series on in Amsterdam while I was there, but I only had time to play the 1K Turbo.

In the last week of November I arrived in Macau for the APPT, the last stop of my trip. It was my first time in Asia for more than a decade and I was really looking forward to playing and partying in "the Vegas of the East".

In the Main I got off to a great start and was up to 76K by the first break (30K starting stacks). I thought to myself "geez Joey, you might actually cash this one". Then I got set under set and busted with KK v TT.

In the 13K High Roller I decided to sell action for basically the first time in my life (I'd previously sold 1% and 10% to friends who wanted sweats, but never for bankroll purposes). The field was amazingly soft and once again I got off to a great start, turning my 100K starting stack into 310K without an all-in.

Then this hand came up with the blinds at 1200/2400. UTG1, a competent middle-aged Asian who had me covered, opened to 5500. I held 97h in MP and considered 3-betting but decided to keep it low variance in this soft field and just called. Two players called behind and one in the blinds and the flop came down 9s 7s 4h. UTG1 c-bet 12K into 30K and I decided to just call, a play that in hindsight was a mistake. The player immediately behind me who had 280K to start the hand then rammed it up to 50K and it folded back to me. This was pretty much what I had hoped for when I just flatted, so I went ahead and jammed the rest in (looks more like a draw and with stack sizes I can't 3-bet without obviously committing myself anyway). After some thought he called with A4s and we were flipping for the chip-lead and a 3x average pot. Obviously I didn't hold and although I managed a double a little later I eventually busted with AKs v TT.

Home Sweet Home

I arrived home in December just in time for the 5K Main of the Star Summer Series. In a rare occurrence there was an overlay as the casino guaranteed $1 Million and only 167 players showed up. Moreover, of these, about 10 were media and sports personalities whom the casino had given free seats to in an effort to drum up publicity. Combined with the fact that you could buy a seat early for $4500, this tournament must have been one of the juiciest ever. I entered Day 2 with an average stack but alas busted within a level, losing 20bb's with AQ v KK and then the remaining 20bb's with AA v TT.

My downswing was now at 430K and I was down 160K for the year. My online roll was barely five figures so I had no choice but to break my rule of not touching my "real life" money. I deposited 20K and resolved to grind out some spending money for my upcoming east coast trip. It's really tough to grind knowing that nothing you do is going to dig you out of the hole that you're in so my grinding was pretty half-hearted, but I did manage a confidence-boosting 11th in the Second Chance and a nice 20K score for coming 5th in the Sunday 500. I had some Euro friends arriving on the 21st December and with plans to travel and party with them until the Main Event week of Aussie Millions in January, it seemed that PokerStars' 10th Anniversary Sunday on the 19th would be my second last fully-fledged online session ever (the last being the final day of TCOOP) and it would certainly be my last for the year. Would be a nice time to bink something, wouldn't it?

On the 19th I registered my usual Sunday schedule with the obvious exception/addition of the 10K High Roller. I was a bit apprehensive to play a 10K whilst playing 10 other tables but decided "what the heck, let's go for gold". As you probably know now, that turned out to be a VERY good decision. I wish I could claim that I outplayed a small, elite field of the world's best tournament players, but in all honesty all I did was sit and watch as Stars' RNG shipped me 400K. I didn't lose a single all-in, won 4 consecutive races with AK in the final 3 tables, flopped a bunch of flushes and sets in 3-bet and 4-bet pots, and got AA a ton. The only adjustment I made was to tighten up considerably, both in the middle and late stages of the tournament. In the midgame, I started folding stuff like KTo and A3s in MP despite having deep stacks because 3-bets and cold 4-bets were coming from all directions and also I didn't have the reads or dynamic that the MTT regulars had with each other. With 5 or 6 remaining, I also decided not to get unnecessarily involved because everyone else seemed intent on playing for stacks every hand. Literally every second pot was 4-bet or 5-bet and so I just watched as I was given 30K, 50K and 70K pay-jumps for doing nothing. Ironically, the one spot where I came really close to 5-bet bluffing (over a cold 4-bet 3-handed) the 3-bettor had QQ so I was lucky even in small ways like this.

The feeling when I won was absolutely surreal. I had dreamt of undoing my huge eight-month downswing on the last possible day by winning the only remaining tournament capable of giving me a large enough score.

And suddenly, I had done it.

Is this really real? PINCH.

Aftermath

Before my win, I didn't regret taking a year off for poker, but I was definitely disappointed that I was going to have a losing year and that I was going to leave poker on a low. After the win, it was like everything was instantly made right again; my decision to take a year off was once again justified. It's kind of stupid I know, because in all honesty the 400K won't change my lifestyle one bit. I still don't have enough money to buy a house (at least in the area I want), and I already had enough money for everything else. But still, it feels goooooooooood. Now I can say that the year I took off for poker was a success; I made some good money, I travelled the world, I had many priceless and memorable experiences, I got in shape, and I can now engage in drunken banter in four different languages...

Upcoming

I've currently got 2 Euro friends staying with me over Christmas and New Year's Eve. Afterwards my plan is to travel with them for one week up the east coast of Australia and then I'll head down to Melbourne for the entirety of Aussie Millions. I have two goals remaining in poker - to win a live trophy and to play on TV - so hopefully I can complete one or both of those in Melbourne. I start my graduate job one week after the end of Aussie Millions.

Anyway, that's all from me, many thanks to those of you who have managed to read this far. Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2012.

Here's a video I made of the USA and Oktoberfest portions of my trip. Simply an incredible time!

I've been in Europe nearly two months now and it's been an absolute blast. I started in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, continued to Barcelona for the EPT, then hit up Madrid, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Salzburg and Munich before landing in London where I am now for the EPT.

The highlight so far has definitely been my week in Munich at Oktoberfest. I had a mini-reunion with my friends from my Lund exchange and we hit up the tents six out of the seven days that I was there. Going in I didn't really know what to expect, but with all the hype and high expectations surrounding it I was expecting to be a little bit disappointed. Somehow though, I can honestly say that it was even better than I imagined. Picture thousands of people standing on benches, singing and dancing to German and English songs, downing beers and eating chickens, from noon to midnight, for two weeks straight, and you have Oktoberfest. The party really kicks off around 7PM and by 9PM you'll be swaying with your arms around strangers singing in full voice songs you barely know the words to. Incredible!

It really kicked home how busto I was this week when 100/200 and 200/400 games were running on Stars and I couldn't play. Earlier this year I was dying for durrrr or Negreanu to log on to play 100/200, not because they were marks, but because games just didn't run unless they sat and I just wanted to play some really high stakes.

Not being able to play as high as I want to online is definitely frustrating but in the end doesn't change all that much. I'm travelling the live circuit till the end of the year and then start work in January next year so I don't really have much opportunity to play online anyway. In many ways my online career was over when I stepped onto that plane to Vegas in July. The only reason I finally dropped down to 5/10 this week is because I always want to maintain the ability to play 5/10. A few buy-ins there will always go a long way in real life.

As you're reading this, you're probably thinking: "what the f#%k is this guy bitching about? He can play 5/10 online, he's travelling the world, playing the live poker circuit, I'd kill to do that!" And you'd be right. It can be hard to remind myself of that after the nth straight -10K session, but in the end I know I'm extremely lucky in so many ways. This opportunity to travel, to meet up with friends, to explore the world, is one I can't waste wallowing in thinking about how much money I used to have. In 5 years I'll easily have it all back from my job. But I'll probably never have as much freedom and fun as I do now. That's what I can never forget, what I always have to try to keep front and centre in my mind.

So, what's next for me? I'm off to Cannes on Tuesday to play the 10K Split and 10K WSOPE Main Event. Despite my better judgement, I decided not to sell any pieces for these because I fully plan on binking and salvaging my year. After that I'm off to EPT San Remo where I'll play the 5K Main, the 2K HU and maybe the 2K FO. Then I'll do some general travelling, first to Monaco to visit a friend, and then probably to Budapest, Bratislava, Brussels, Amsterdam and Dublin, before heading to Asia for APPT Macau and APPT Manila. Then, sometime in mid-December, I'll finally be home!

I'll probably do one final blog post sometime in January next year. Let's hope I'll have some good news to report to you then. In the meantime, here are some photos of my travels since my last blog. Cheers.

Los Angeles

San Francisco

Edinburgh

Barcelona

Madrid

Frankfurt

Heidelberg

Salzburg

Munich