Personally, if I were to wager on the Super Bowl, I’d lay the 7 points for the Steelers at +105.  I’m not completely ruling out the Cardinals, but they’re going to have a lot of trouble winning if it’s a low scoring game.  Matt and I are having a little Super Bowl party at Avalon at Warner Center.  Unfortunately, they wouldn’t allow us to use the community room which is directly below our apartment.  It would have worked out very well since we could run a long cable line from our apartment to the community room in order to watch the game in HD.  Obviously, if that wasn’t a possibility, I’d rather cram everyone into my bedroom than watch it on the regular station.

Nick and I didn’t fair to well this week at Commerce.  I could’ve played better and lost a couple thousand than I did, but I didn’t do anything particularly terrible.  We’ve been doing very well online which has been motivating through the difficult part of the week playing live.

I’m also backing ER in 2-10 spread in Minnesota and Matt and I are backing Richard in 5/10 400 CAP at Commerce.  We’re trying to get the horses ready to go for the next and also the shortest month of the year.

We have a couple potential horses in the stable that I’m going to look into in the next couple weeks, but I want to be certain of them before we subject ourselves to theft.  Hailey and I are going to Duke’s in Malibu tonight and we booked a weekend cruise to Mexico Valentine’s Day weekend.  I’m very much looking forward to that.

A historic event occurred the other day.  It was January 20, 2009 and will forever be a day I won’t forget.  A payment was made to reimburse the money they had stolen through a staking arrangement with myself or through RPT Staking.

I met with an advisor on Tuesday.  Apparently, I’m closer to graduating than I thought.  Usually, if I’m inaccurate with calculations, I have longer to go than I had thought, less money than I had counted, etc..  I’m going to graduate next semester.  I’m not in the mood to write even though I have a lot to say.  Until another day…

Last week was outright among the worst that I’ve experienced.  It’s the type of week that I dread, but those weeks are inevitable if you consider that the career that I have chosen.  I got back from Friday’s.  They were out of Crown Royal, but I didn’t sweat it and ordered a couple rounds of Sea Breeze instead (don’t laugh… please).  As much as I hate it at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Poker isn’t the easiest way, but it’s the route that I have chosen for myself.  Whenever I experience something terrible, I remind myself that something special is just around the corner.  I’m not among the most talented poker players, but I’m certainly among the strongest in the mental aspect of the game.

Tomorrow I start another semester at CSUN.  If I calculated it correctly, I have (2) more semester before I graduate.  The LAPC begins in the next couple days.  I’m excited to play a lot during the LAPC and see a lot of friends that I only see on occasion since I went back to school.  I have a great life.  It’s been a difficult year.  A lot of things [in the non-poker aspects of life] haven’t gone the way that I wanted, but I still have a lot things to be thankful.  This year has just begun; I can’t wait to attack it.

“The way in which a person responds to adversity is the measurement of his/her mental strength.”

Cheers Lawrence!

This week has been miserable.

[x] player that I back with 8,000 in makeup won’t pay back any of the 2,000 that I loaned to two weeks ago after he scored 2,000 playing live poker and obv didn’t return the message that I left for him

[x] fraudulent charges on credit card

[x] scammed by Player A that was backed through RPT Staking for the tune of 2,000ish

[x] scammed by Player B that was backed through RPT Staking for 3,900

[x] Player B claims that it wasn’t him although the funds were transferred to his Full Tilt account and sent the following message via email…

“Out of respect for you and my small personal responsibility in this matter I am willing to offer you my live action for awhile, as I have kept good records and know that while I may be a break even or losing player online, I am a winner to the tune of 20-25/hr live.”

At the least, I’d say the message was moderately insulting.  I spent 3 days figuring out the situations with Player A and Player B and wasn’t able to play at Commerce.  Fortunately, I was able to play online at Full Tilt and found myself something to the tune of a $3,000 loser.

Hailey and I have enjoyed ourselves thus far in Vegas.  This is our last night before we reenter reality.  Other than playing a set of Super Turbos, I haven’t played any poker.  This is the fourth or fifth visit to Vegas that had poker absent of the daily routine.  I’ll be back in action for the Sunday tournaments.  After that, I’ll have a revised schedule that I’m hoping to stick with throughout 2009.  It is certain to be a busy year.  I’ve struggled to find consistency in the post-PP (Party Poker) era, but I’m confident that I’m going to have a successful year.  I have high expectations that I’ll illustrate in a later blog entry next week.  In short, I’m reverting from online poker to live poker, increasing the amount of clientele that I back/coach and [hopefully] experiencing a breakthrough in online poker tournaments.  For now, though, it’s back to Vegas!