Hey everyone, most of you don't know me since this is only my 2nd ever blog (with my first being a general blog that got no views), but I just graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Finance and Marketing and am trying to figure out my future plans. I've thought about it for awhile, and I think I am going to become a live pro. Black Friday obviously makes it tougher to go pro within the US, but I am confident that this will work. I just turned 21 a little over a month ago, so I don't have a ton of live experience. However, I have made countless poker trips to Turning Stone, random Florida casinos/poker rooms, and the PCA.

There are many reasons I want to go this route rather than get a "real job." First of all, I know this sounds childish, but I really do not like being told what to do all the time. Being able to be my own boss instead of getting ordered around has a lot of value to me, especially if I was in a job that I did not enjoy. Second, I like being able to work whenever I want. Waking up at noon and going to grind instead of being forced into a 9-5 lifestyle is appealing to me. Third, I did not particularly enjoy my major and am unsure that I would enjoy a finance-related job. Going along with that, I really LOVE poker. I know it's clich© and everyone is probably saying that now, but I have realized how much I miss it since Black Friday. I found myself enjoying live poker more than online anyway, so I'm not worried about being new to live poker. Lastly, you only live once, so why not make the best of it? I would rather do this and fail then look back 20 years from now and wonder why I never took a chance and instead "gave in to the man."

I am not worried about my poker ability relative to live players, especially at the levels I am planning on playing (mostly 5/10 with some 2/5 mixed in). The part I am a little apprehensive about is the emotional drain that goes along with live poker. I know that during one of my two-week trips to Tampa, where I played poker literally every single day of the trip, I was burnt out a little bit by the end. But I'm hoping that this will be alleviated by taking breaks and not playing when I'm tilted/not on my A game.

Alas, my live pro experience begins in a couple hours, when I board a plane to Atlantic City to play in a couple Borgata tournaments, followed by a drive up to Turning Stone for its East Coast Poker Championship series. Then in June, there's the WSOP in Vegas, which I've been looking forward to for years.

Anyway, the reason for me writing this is that it's a current decision that a lot of people are going to have to deal with, assuming online poker does not come back in the near future. Hopefully I look back at this blog in a year and am thrilled that I made this decision; even if I do fail, like I mentioned, I think it will be a good experience and one that will help me out with my life no matter what happens.

Matt

Hey everyone, you are now reading the first ever "SpurrierFTW" blog entry. So thanks for making it this far! I'm going to start with an introduction so you guys know who you're reading about. My name is Matt and I have a problem...oh wait wrong intro. I'm a 20-year college student at the University of South Carolina, graduating in May with a double major in Finance and Marketing. What do I want to do with my life? Well, it's possible you have a better idea than I do, because I have no clue.

As far as poker goes, I play on Stars under SpurrierFTW (hence the CR name) and on FTP under readingYOURsoul. I split my time between mid stakes HU PLO (usually 1/2) and MTTs (anywhere from $10-$200). Because of school and other commitments, I don't have a lot of time to grind. But I play whenever I can and read strategy posts a lot in order to keep up with the game.

I guess it's time to answer the obligatory "How did you get started in poker?" question. Like many people in my age group, I saw Moneymaker win the World Series and instantly thought poker was the coolest thing ever. I bought a couple poker books that sucked and basically taught me to be a loose/passive fish. I was really bad for awhile until I started taking poker seriously in 2005. I began reading forums and learning that J4s wasn't a good hand to call raises with. When I went to college in 2007, I was introduced to Matt Doran (aka MDoranD) and Carter King (aka ckingusc), who are both great players and taught me a lot about poker. I steadily got a lot better, dabbling in about every type of game online, including PLO8, NLHE cash, MTTs, SNGs, PLO, and even Razz for a little bit. The summer after my freshman year I grinded online cash (mostly 50 nl and 100 nl) and did pretty well, leading me to realize that I actually did like this game and could be relatively successful at it.

One area I wish I could have more success in is live MTTs, which for some reason I find really interesting. Everyone always talks about how boring live is, but I actually enjoy playing against annoying people and getting in 20-30 hands/hour lol. Since I'm not yet 21 (only 10 more days thankfully), I have only been able to play in <21 casinos. Also, living in South Carolina where there are no legal cardrooms within 4.5 hours in any direction is annoying. I have had success playing live cash in a variety of places in Florida, Turning Stone casino in New York, and at the PCA. However, I'm something like 1/20 in cashing live MTTs. Luckily, the one cash was a chop as chip leader in a $350 Turning Stone deep stack for $20k. But I'm looking forward to playing a lot more live this summer and into the future.

Speaking of live, I actually just booked my place for the WSOP this summer. Someone posted a sick deal on 2p2 to get a room at the Palms for absurdly cheap prices, so I'm going to be staying there along with my friend P-Halt, grinding the WSOP and Venetian events. Hopefully I can land a big score, maybe I'll just win the main event and be set for life. But I'm pumped about going to Vegas for the first time, and hopefully the experience isn't too overwhelming.

That's not the reason for the title of my blog though. The best time of the year refers to the NCAA tournament. Thanks to Duke, my brackets are almost all completely ruined. I'm actually pretty sure there is literally no way I can finish in the money in any of my pools. And it also sucks because I grew up a huge Duke fan and pull for them to win it all every year. But anyway, I still consider it to be the greatest sporting event in the world. The only thing that comes close is the World Cup, but that's just once a year so a lot of its allure comes from the buildup and anticipation. The sheer enthusiasm for the game and the passion and emotion that everyone plays with makes for great TV. The upsets, Cinderella stories, and great games of the first weekend of the tournament are what truly make it the best sporting event. Now that Duke is out, I'm simply hoping for exciting games and it doesn't really matter who wins, as long as it isn't North Carolina. Yes, I'm a hater, I don't care. I HATE that shade of blue.

But let me end this segment by showing two videos of my most memorable buzzer beaters in the NCAA tournament of the past couple years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29en3xAg9W0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCoJRHAAcoM. Both were in first-round games that ultimately didn't make much of an impact in the grand scheme of things. But I watched both games live and went crazy when the shots went in. This NCAA tournament has been pretty solid in terms of drama and a number of good finishes, but hopefully it will end strong.

Anyways, that's it for this blog. Feel free to email me at smithmt2usc@gmail.com if you have any comments or requests for blog topics, because I'm very receptive to feedback.

Thanks for reading!