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!