Dear San Antonio Spurs...

First of all, just to get it out of the way: Fuck you.

Due to your lack of productivity and general mediocrity over the past couple seasons, I had completely forgotten my deep hatred for your franchise. I always admired David Robinson for his hard work and solid fundamentals, but I could never respect him. He never had the heart to really give it to Hakeem the Dream. It was like he was satisfied with the stats and didn't care about the fact that he was second best.

Then came Tim Duncan after Robinson was injured for a season and you essentially robbed the NBA of the #1 overall pick in the lottery draft at the best time possible. So obviously you lucked up on your first championship due to an injury and a robbery.

You got lucky when Shaq and Kobe grew jealous of each other and parted ways. You went out of the country to find a French homo and a wild man from Argentina (who is actually the only person on your team that I respect) and you followed a fruit cake named "The Big Fundamental" to a couple more NBA titles.

However, you never showed any heart. Ever. Let's not get it twisted. Your band of crafty old veterans and cheap shot specialists (see: Bowen) never had me convinced.

But today I forgot for a moment. I went through the games of the day:

I knew that Lebron would lead his team past the Miami Heat, even when they were 9.5 point favorites. I believed in my alma mater, USC, to win a pick 'em game against Cal at home. Portland was no match for the Zags in Spokane and I felt good enough about Gonzaga to cover 8.5.

Then there was you vs. Portland. Portland. Brandon Roy, out. Travis Outlaw, out. Greg Oden, out. Joel Przybilla, out. I'm not sure if you knew this, but that's four out of five starters that aren't even in uniform for the Blazers. Your entire roster is healthy. Even old ass Michael Finley suited up tonight.

So I unwisely decided to include you as a two-point favorite as the fourth team in my parlay.

You headed into halftime with a two point lead. This is solid for me and I actually thought you might be able to pull it off.

Nearing the end of the third quarter, you looked to be giving in to the Blazers when Manu hit two three-pointers to close out the quarter up eight points. Eight.

At this point I was happy. USC had just won and I told my friend "Wow, I never thought I'd be rooting for the Spurs." LOL @ me.

In the fourth quarter, you extended your lead to ten. But then, some moron named Popovich decided to bench Tony Parker for George Hill. I know, not even you know who George Hill is but believe me he's on your team. So Andre Miller goes to work and abuses Hill. Martell Webster, essentially the only three-point threat on the court for Portland, is left wide-the-fuck-open in the corner and drains a three-pointer.

Everyone on your shit squad looks at each other with a "Were you guarding him?" expression on their face while old ass Popovich slams his hands on the scorer's table.

Portland takes the lead with a minute left. Then they call timeout, killing all of their momentum and giving you the option to insert TP into the game. Basically they did you a huge fucking favor, you fucking imbeciles.

Coming out of the timeout, Portland and it's crew of second stringers hand the ball to... YOU. And what do you do with it? You give it to Tim Duncan, your all-world "super star" so he can turn it over. Manu does the same and I realize why I have hated you forever.

You have no heart. I made the mistake of betting on you. I woke up from the dream that I could win a four-teamer with you after all my other games easily covered and you led by 10 in the 4th. Not only that, but fucking Miller misses a free throw to give you yet ANOTHER opportunity to tie the game, but you obviously miss a wide open three to tie it.

Fuck you, San Antonio. I knew it was a curse when I realized I was actually rooting for you. Shame on me.

Never again will I bet on you. I don't give a fuck if you are 60 point underdogs to my daughter's YMCA team, I will never wager one fucking dollar on your horrid piece of shit franchise.

Dead games, took an L

Today I was bored in some dead games. The action was slow and I tried to create more action, unsuccessfully.

Straddling constantly and c-betting into check raises and raises all night long.

Was too bored and unfocused. I can take something out of this session tho. The only saving grace is that I was down $2500 at one point in the 5/10 game and managed to make 1400 back.

Also my poker buddy and I have been playing red/black on the flops for $100 every now and then and I'm up $400 on him so that's a bonus. Good to run good in red/black for $100 per flop.

Some dude that plays the game regularly hit the jackpot last week (like 2k) and left the casino with $8k, then got robbed at a stoplight. Someone followed him, then rear-ended him at a red light. They somehow convinced him to get out of the car in the middle of Inglewood at 4 a.m. to discuss the accident and then robbed him at gunpoint. It's fucked up and has me considering buying a piece or something. There's a lot of riff raff at the casino and they know who's winning and shit and they know I win.

Just trying to get rid of these motherfugging monkey bites so I can go do something. Had to cancel on someone today cuz of it.

February Results
02.01.10 +$4480 (6 Hrs)
02.02.10 +$2700 (7 Hrs)
02.03.10 -$1555 (11.5 Hrs.)

Total: +$5625

2 for 2

Had another good day at the casino boosted by a set of 4's vs. AQ and J2 off in the BB vs. an ace on a A222 board.

Caught a bad beat last night when I went to the strip club with my boys and got a stripper hickey. WTF.

Cuatros Anos cabrons

February Results
02.01.10 +$4480 (6 Hrs)
02.02.10 +$2755 (7 Hrs)

Total: +$7235

Great Start

Today I got to my home field casino and it was dead as a graveyard. My normal game was going but there was only one real action player and he always leaves at 4 p.m. I got there at 3 p.m. and was on a list. I decided to drive to Commerce because they have the LAPC going there so there's bound to be a lot of players there. At least I could catch some kind of action.

I took off and was literally 100 feet away from the 105 on-ramp when my boy called me and told me that a big fish just showed up at HP. So I drove back, jumped in the game with him and ended up winning $4480 today. I was happy when I was up $1200 just because it looked like a good winning session to start the month, then I caught a couple hands that I won big pots in and should have won more. I played the rivers soft both times for no apparent reason.

First, I was on the button with Jh9h. Six players called to me and I limped. The small blind raised to $45 and everyone called. Flop: KcThQc. Nice. The SB bets out $75 and gets two callers. I raise to $250. SB calls and one other player calls with only $95 left in his stack (obvious draw). The turn is the 6h and they check to me. I bet $600 and later realized that I should have bet something more like $750/800. The SB called and the other player put his final $95 in. At this point I had the SB on either AK or JJ. The river was the 9d and the SB checked to me. For some reason I thought that we were chopping this pot so I just checked. He turns over TT and I missed a big value bet on the river because he's a player that doesn't give up on his hand.

The next big pot that I won I have Ad7d. The player in front of me raises to $45 and I call before five others call. Flop: 7c7s6c. I decided to slow-play this one. Everyone checked to the original raiser and he bets $75. I call the $75 and so do two others. The turn is the 3s, giving 45 a straight. Everyone checks to me and I fire $250. The fish behind me quickly raises to $500. This is a player that never raises me (he's the same player that flopped a set of tens and only called), so I'm worried about either a straight or full house here and I call. The river is a great card for me, the 6h, giving me the second nuts. My dumb ass checks and he checks behind me. I show my hand and he shows me a 6 and mucks. Another spot where I could have gotten at least $600-1000 on a value bet because he's a huge station.

I'm upset with myself about those two missed value bets but overall I played well and am more than satisfied with the session.

Below is a song my boy and I did a couple months ago, I have the first and third verses... we're on myspace, our site is http://www.thefocusgroupmusic.com ...

"Then a little more sex and I'm back in the lex...
On my way to the game where I'm crackin' the vets...
Raisin' the price up, then waitin' to light up..."

"The Life That I Live" The Focus Group


Good luck, four years! Damn.. we are already on year #2... get it in..

February Results
02.01.10 +$4480 (6 Hrs)

Feb.Forward

This year I forgot about how dreadful January has been for me in terms of poker. I believe that two out of the last three years I've lost a lot of money every January. The end of 2006 was when I started playing winning poker and that January I had a tailspin. Then 2007 I had a great year in poker, only to buy everyone great Christmas gifts with my winnings and then lose a shitload in January of 08. 2009 was much different as I won $14000 in what was probably one of my best months ever. And... this month I somehow managed to lose only a little over $1k. Although it's never fun for a professional poker player to have a losing month because when you factor in bills and daily expenses (not to mention a shoe fetish and a horrible habit of dropping money on bottle service at clubs), the bankroll looks a lot worse.

So I'm relieved to say that tomorrow (or today) we head into a brand new month.

Besides losing overall in live cash games, I also dropped $200 on Full Tilt messing around in PLO and bought into the first LAPC event twice for $335 each time.

Here's what my month looked like this month:



As you can see, I was pretty much in the hole the entire month. I'd also like to note that this past Thursday I had one of my worst sessions ever. I was up $3k and left down $4500. It was like a hurricane hit me and I was completely baffled by it and tilted for at least 20 hours after. The final nail in the coffin I was the last to call a raise preflop with J9 after there were already five callers (seven people to the flop) and the flop comes KQT rainbow. Obviously I'm worried about AJ but the player that re-raised me on the flop was the donk of the table so I shoved on him and of course he tables AJ and proceeds to talk shit to me.

My goal for each month this year is $15k/month. That will average to $700-800 profit per session, which is doable in my opinion. Obviously I'll have some losing sessions and some bigger wins but I'd love to make it happen, January excluded.

Good luck to everyone.

Revisiting my 2009 resolutions

As I head into 2010 with a shitload of resolutions, I think it's a good idea for me to revisit my 2009 resolutions so that I can recognize my successes and failures of last year. So here we go, from this post:

1. Get in shape: Fail. I'm in much worse shape now then I was last year.
1a. Eat healthier: Somewhat.
1b. Work out in the mornings: Fail.
1c. Play ball at least four times a week: Fail.
1d. Light weights: Fail.
1e. Run and/or play tennis on the weekends: Fail.
1f. Get my six pack back: Fail.

2. Poker: Success.
2a. Make at least 50k in poker for the year: Success.
2b. Manage my money better: Success.
2c. Win a tournament: Success.
2d. Finish in the money at a WSOP event: Fail.

3. More music: Success.
3a. Make better music, songs with content and direction and at the same time widespread appeal: Success.
3b. Start producing my own beats: Fail.
3c. Start performing regularly: Fail.
3d. Get on a track with a big name: Fail.

4. Money: Success.
1a. Conserve my money and manage it better: Success.
1b. Get a new car this year (Cadillac CTS?): Success (although not a CTS).

5. Family/Friends: Fail.
5a. Keep in touch with more friends: Fail.
5b. Make a better effort to see my family and take a couple trips: Success.

6. Manage my time: Fail.
1a. Keep an agenda/schedule: Fail.
1b. Don't waste time watching tv, on the internet: Fail.
1c. Be punctual: Fail.
1d. Get sleep so I'm more efficient: Success.

Overall I have to say that 2009 was an incredible success for me, both professionally and personally. Besides becoming a successful professional poker player (keep in mind this is only for seven months so far), I learned so much along the way. I spent a lot of time with some well-known poker pros and heard great stories about their experiences together and making it as young poker pros.

I got some traveling in to Vegas about eight times, Seattle a few times, and Hawaii. This year I'm looking forward to more trips but more trips means making more money so I can pay for them. The one definite problem with playing poker for a living is that there's no such thing as paid vacation. Luckily while I was in Hawaii I won a tournament on Full Tilt and that paid for the trip and knocked out one of my 2009 goals to win a tournament. I didn't cash in three small buy-in events that I played at the WSOP although I bubbled in the first event. It really sucked ass. I was walking out of the room and they announced "congratulations players, you've made the money."

As for my music, I'm very happy with what I accomplished in 2009. I probably made about ten songs and have taken a bit of a new direction with my boy that I'm working with and we're still improving and learning how to shape our style. I'm excited that we're working on it and improving.

I'm disappointed in myself as far as my time management and exercise. I'm just not doing anything with either and I need to. Those will be my biggest goals for the year.

But other than that great things happened for me this year - I quit my job to play poker, I bought a new car, and surprisingly I've made it as a finalist for an entrepreneur grant that I have to present for in Chicago this month. Exciting for me and it will be another great learning experience.

That being said, I have so much growing to do. I told myself that 2009 was my year to "make moves" and I did. Quit my job, bought a car, started a new company.

Now, 2010 is my year to "Arrive."

2010 is Here

Yo yo yo yo...

Sorry about the absence.

The good news is I'm not busto, so we can leave those assumptions alone.

I finished 2009 very strong, had one of my best months ever (or maybe the best ever) in December. I came into the month hurting and set a goal for myself to win $750 per session for 20 sessions and ended up surpassing my goal by a lot. I was running so well that I stopped going to my prop player job to go to my regular 5/10 game and keep playing there.

The prop job actually sucks balls but I'll write more on that in a different entry (how many times have I said that lol).

Anyways I have a ton of resolutions and one of them is to blog regularly so I wanted to make sure I get an entry in here before the end of the day.

Went to a mansion party that was nuts last night in Hollywood Hills. It was a mess getting in and getting seated at our table but by the time we finally did it was a great time, although some purses and shit got stolen but shit happens.

So I'll post my resolutions tomorrow because there's a lot of them, I plan on having a big year. 2009 was my year to "make moves" and I definitely did. I'm tagging 2010 as my "arrival" so I have high hopes for this year.

Happy New Year and peace.