That is my conclusion.

At Commerce, 34/hour rake is slowly busting everyone. Feb was a disasterous month for the poker economy… Commerce Casino and Phil Ivey got all the money and, as far we know, they already had a lot.

In the real world, $103 oil and record lows on the dollar means everyone is already poorer than they think. Everyone I know spent too much in the good times and is now losing money rapidly.

I’ve been training hard for the bet with Patrik. I’m constantly fighting minor injuries (first rotator cuff, now shin issues). I can buyout of golf for 50k if I’m injured and he can buyout of tennis for 50k, but other than that there is no injury allowance. This bet has made me realize that my body fat is quite high and I’m basically slow and out of shape. I’ve improved pretty dramatically in the past two weeks, but conditioning and speed are going to be the two main factors for the match.

Illya Trincher was telling me that he was a top ten ITF junior at one point. Benyamine was as well. The two of them have a match set for the summer and Benyamine has already lost forty pounds.

BA