The Weekend, The Dollar, and Eternal Sonata

From Thursday through Sunday I played ~28.5k hands. This number is dissapointing, as I really needed to play ~35k to give myself a good shot at reaching my 150k goal for the month. Over the hands I did play, I ran kind of bad. My Sklansky EV and all-in luck are close to neutral, the former of which is below:


Where I really suffered this weekend was in the heater versus cooler hand variety of luck. If you understand how Set-o-meter works and you have a weak stomach, you may wish to avert your eyes from the image below:

Being 2-outed four times and 1-outed once when in set vs overpair and set over set situations respectively isn't a lot of fun.

Focusing more on the positives, I did reach my 300k VPP milestone bonus as planned. This is a $3000 bonus that costs 50,000 FPPs. As the FPPs have $800 of cash value, this means the bonus is effectively worth $2200 in free money. I should hit my final milestone of the year in late December at 400k VPPs (for $3200 extra profit).


Enough about my results for the weekend. The freefall experienced by the Canadian Dollar relative to its US counterpart (in which all my figures are measured) has become a huge boon of late for myself. When I initially started withdrawing funds, the CDN$ was worth ~0.95c US. As of my withdrawal last night, it was worth 0.78c. This effectively gives me an extra 25c on the dollar I withdraw. Amazingly sexy.

Moving on, two games I had preordered were released last week. Eternal Sonata for the PS3 (which is actually a year old XBox 360 game that got ported) and Star Ocean: First Departure for PSP. Star Ocean was a must buy (I haven't touched it yet), but I hesitated on whether or not to pick up Eternal Sonata. However, as it was reviewed positively by some folks I trust, and I really want to get more use out of my PS3, I decided to pick it up. So far I have been thoroughly impressed. Gorgeous visuals (though in a very bright, cartoony style) combined with solid music (which is to be expected from a game in which Frederic Francois Chopin is a playable character) and an innovative and extremely fun combat system result in a very positive gaming experience. The character development has not yet been particularly creative or spectacular, and aside from the general premise (the game takes place inside Chopin's dreams on his deathbead - even better he is aware that he is inside a dream world) the plot is nothing to brag about, but you can't win them all.