This is becoming a bit ridiculous, having a thread whose purpose seems to be to doxx me. Although, to be fair, I do bring it on myself. Let me explain how the poker world works to provide some context.
Some people play to make money, others to gain fame or whatever. The show-off people enter tournaments. And they are fun, but a fool’s errand IMO. For example, one of the greatest players ever Daniel Negreanu (and neighbour and friend of mine) does a daily vlog on YouTube during the WSOP. (Look back a few years and you’ll see me at one of his parties with my lady friend). He has made millions in the past in cash games but now lives off sponsorship, which means he needs publicity.
Last year, Daniel made around $2,000,000 in tournament winnings, so on paper, he appears to be a winner. But his buy-ins (the cost of entering) would be around $4,000,000. Therefore, he lost something like $2,000,000. In 2023, he had a net loss of 2.2 million. And he’s one of the best ever! So, I can pretty much guarantee that all those on the so-called “New Zealand all-time Money list” are big-time net losers.
People like me, on the other hand, are private cash game players. I’m not the best player in the world, but I make sure I play against players who are not as good as me but have lots of money they can afford to lose. Many of these are celebrities, businesspeople and somewhat shady people. This is the world I inhabit, because I give good action and my strange kiwi-hippy-street persona intrigues people (unlike, apparently, on here).
The downside of these sorts of friends is that they never let up. Even though I’m a pretty average golfer (18 handicap), I was invited to play a round yesterday with my poker friends. All fun and good, until I was told on the first tee that we were playing $20,000 per hole. Great! Shank!