A Fresh Start

Since class is over and we are no longer required to write a blog anymore I have been thinking about what to do with this site and where I should take it. I have been searching for a new name as well as a new direction. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized that a new name really wasn't needed. You see, A chip and a chair is a poker saying, (a sport that is still close to my heart even though I don't have ample enough time to play) that has a deeper meaning. It is said that all you need to survive in a poker tournament is one chip and one chair. Nothing more. It is a saying that gives you patience and hope. It means that no matter how bad things get, as long as you have a chip and a chair you are still just as dangerous as the guy next to you. SO that being said, this blog will be primarily about my daily life as well as doing what ever I have to do to keep my head afloat. Hope you enjoy.


-Matt

So this Instagram thing...

Being a Mass Communication major I made it a point to fully engulf myself in all things pertaining to social media. I joined Linkedin and Pinterest although neither one of them gets all that much use. The last thing I had left to join was Instagram. I feel like this should have been the first one to adopt in the semester. Hopefully I will use it a little more than the others. If you feel like following me my user name is  Matt_Farthing (original i know). 

Playoffs BABY!!!

The playoffs are finally here and I couldn't be more excited! After I have cooled down from the Ron Artest fiasco, I think I can officially say I still hate him. Probably even more now than I did right after it happened. To think that some people still think that his elbow was unintentional is insane. And the fact that he is still hanging on to his pathetic attempt at some sort of justification is insulting. How much more of Ron Artest can the NBA take. Does he have to kill someone? or bite someone? or maul them? Something has to give. The should adopt the 3 strike law. 3 Major suspension and you are out for a year. Maybe that will give him some time to think about a new name.

1 week!!

In one week I will be on the beach in Destin! This means I will not be walking but I'm fine with that. After all my high school graduation consisted of nearly 500 people. This was a long enough graduation for high school and college together. Plus I have to go to my sisters High school graduation that should have around 600 kids. Joy.


So thanks to my wonderful girlfriend who surprised me with this awesome trip I will be sitting on the beach instead of old, uncomfortable chairs.

Finals Week

Finals week has gotten here a lot faster than I could have expected. I am now spending my nights at our wonderful library. You can tell the people that frequently come here versus the ones (like myself) who seem to visit the library the last couple of weeks every semester. I am currently here working on an advertising overhaul for a Native American youth organization called Unity. I doubt any of you have heard of them. 


Graduation is right around the corner and I will just need a solid 9 hours of summer courses to get my diploma! I could't be more excited to finish school and step out into the real world. (one that hopefully doesn't use a library.)

Still Searching

After a few days I am still searching for a new blog title. Not that I hate the current one; it just doesn't really fit with the new direction. Being an Advertising based opinion blog, im sure, there are going to be thousands of possible titles. None of which I can currently think of. So if anybody has any suggestions feel free to let me know. In the mean time I will post just random stuff thats been on my mind. 


First off, UCO has the worst drivers I have ever seen. Granted our parking lots are the most conducive to allow a massive amount of room to park, but come on. I may be a little biased due to the fact that I am a driving instructor and not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm a pretty awesome driver. If you can't manage to park your big ass truck in a standard size spot, then it is time to reevaluate your car buying decision. Or do what I do daily to the 15 year old kids who have NEVER driven before and go to an empty parking lot and practice till you get it correct. 


Second, if I had the chance to punch Ron Artest in the face and then run away really fast I would. I refuse to call him by his "name". Metta World Peace was the biggest joke/publicity stunt since Dennis Rodman wore a wedding dress. He is an embarrassment to the game of basketball and to professional sports in general. I feel like he should be suspended for the amount of time James Harden is out plus 15 games. NBA fans should be insulted by the fact that he is still trying to play this off as an accident. He couldn't even spell Hardens' name correctly in an attempt at a apology. Ridiculous. 


Sorry for the rant, but i will be doing it a lot in the next few days. Good luck on finals!

The BEST Nissan Commercial Ever

Excuse my Absence

      A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to be completely consumed with school work, and poker, as well as a few other hobbies, would have to take a back seat. I am pleased to say that the large chunk of work that I was dealing with is over. I am an advertising student and our campus ad agency, Central Edge, represented UCO in Shreveport, LA at the end of last week. We were competing in a national advertising competition, and according to most of the spectators, we had the best presentation. Unfortunately the judges did not feel the same way. But, I am extremely proud of our team. I was on the broadcast team and in charge of creating the commercial. In the judges comments they were skeptical of who produced our commercial; implying that it looked to professionally done. A great backhanded compliment, but I would have rather won. 

After producing this commercial I realized that I would much rather be blogging about advertising instead of poker. I cannot consistently find the time to play enough poker to matter at all, but I spend all my time around the world of advertising. So hopefully in the next week or so I will be changing my blog over to an advertising/social media/marketing platform. Doing so will provide me the material to continue blogging long after this class. Think Mashable, but with a more college based view of everything. 




Here is my baby (the commercial) that I have been producing over the last week. The national business was Nissan. 

Spring Break!

   This was probably the worst, most anti-climactic Spring Break I can ever remember. In high school I would have been busy playing baseball and things of that nature. My first 4 (or 5) years of college it was spent working a part time job giving me plenty of free time. This year was a little different. As some of you know I work at Merkley's Driving School full time. This consumed a large majority of spring break. I was driving in a car from 7 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon everyday except Sunday. Now if i told you this first, I'm sure you would think I took some elaborate road trip around all of the United States, stopping at every major city on the way. Nope. I drove around the Edmond/OKC area the ENTIRE time. SO... If anybody ever need to know where anything is I probably have a pretty good idea if not I can try to find it through out my day. 
   I am about to embark on one of the most brutal academic months of my life. I am turning off the poker and the x box for an entire month while i finish this semester. If I can make it happen I will be two summer classes away from graduating. SO i apologize for all of you poker fans out there who wont be getting there weekly (ish) poker fix. Maybe i will try another home improvement project instead, at least that way something positive will come out of this month.

That "other" Blog

The original blog I chose to follow was the Poker Blogg, but with little success in contacting them I have chosen to present on Royce Youngs' blog called the Daily Thunder. Young is a writer who does columns for ESPN as well as the Daily Oklahoman. His blog, as you may have guessed, is about the Oklahoma City Thunder as well has other random things occurring in the NBA. It is a fairly well known and well liked blog. This is the blog i will be presenting on at the end of the semester. 

The time has come

        Over the weekend I was dying to play poker. I couldn't stand it anymore. I looked at every major casino in Oklahoma and there daily tournament schedule was abysmal. It was seriously one of the worst schedules I have ever seen. SO I went to the computer; searching. Searching for some sort of online option that maybe I had never heard of or was completely new. Bingo. I stumbled across a forum that was constantly throwing a few sites around and I eventually decided to go with one. Everything I read said it was completely safe for American players and that the company itself was taking the risk. Which if you look back at past events is completely true. The Department of Justice never once targeted the individual poker player, only the companies involved in the online gambling. So here it was clear as day on my desktop. The icon for Lock Poker. I deposited $50 for starters just to be sure it was not a complete scam. The have a pro team on their website with a few well named pros from around the world. It was time for me to head back into the online poker realm. The day was spent with trying out different rooms and tournaments. Just dipping my toe into everything I could on the website. I ended up losing around $25, but it was the best $25 dollars I have ever lost. I have finally found a reliable home for online poker. I am planning on getting back on track of a regular poker schedule. It is hard now because the website is still aimed at European play which means there peak poker time is the opposite time here. So finding that balance of max amount of tournament players and what time it is here will be a struggle at first, but it is a struggle I will gladly accept. 

My slowest Poker year

  So far 2012 has been the dullest year in poker in recent memory. It has been excruciating slow for not only me but all the other players i talk to. After the WSOP Circuit event in Durant the poker flow has almost come to a standstill in Oklahoma. The same players day after day pile into the poker rooms at various casinos searching for something new to play. So far there is nothing. Online did a crazy thing for the poker community; it gave people the opportunity to win money at home who would then be willing to take that money into a casino. With that outlet being gone it makes the poker market of non-major cities (practically everywhere besides Vegas and Atlantic City) very stagnant. There is hope peaking over that very, very grim horizon. Indian casinos are now pursuing the online market. This is fantastic news for those people in states that have indian casinos (OKLAHOMA!!!). With this opportunity available it brings online gambling to a state level and almost out of the hands of the Federal Judicial system, which is always a good thing. This gives me hope that we could potentially see online gambling legalized sometime this year. The difficult part is getting the issue in front of important people. The only problem there is that they are pretty much consumed with a small election happening later this year for President of the United States.  Anyways, in the few times I have gotten to play in the last month I have scratched out a couple hundred bucks. Nothing to call home about. In the next few months is when things become a little more crazy. The WSOP will be here before we know it and with that comes a tidal wave of poker. Probably more than to many people can handle. Just know that when you turn on ESPN and poker is on instead of something you would rather be watching; I am loving every minute!


   On the home side of things, my shower is amazing and is still standing! Next up we will be redoing the guest bedroom into some sort of den/office/my own private sanctuary room. I think my girl friend is tire of watching me play Call of Duty in the living room, so she is moving me to the back of the house away from any guests that may come over!

It's Newt!

       Poker has become extremely elusive in the last few weeks. As i said earlier without the option of an authorized online alternative, playing consistently is my biggest obstacle. This week/weekend was packed with family dinners and work to the point it didn't seem like it was going to end. My only somewhat free day was yesterday afternoon, and knowing that if i went to the casino i would be there till 3 or 4 in the morning. Those times don't work well when you are on an early schedule. So my alternative to playing poker was to see if it was on any particular candidates agendas. Newt Gingrich was speaking at the Jim Thorpe center last night and a friend and I decided to go and listen to him talk. 

      Newt is a very motivated and captivating speaker who is not easily ignored. As i expected online poker was nowhere near the front of anyones mind. I mean; how could it be? Being in the bible belt contraception and religious freedoms are hot topics, as well as oil and job production. I was still very impressed as he spoke with great conviction and determination. They opened up the speech by saying that Oklahoma is no longer a "fly over" state for Republican Candidates. Something tells me that this is only because this has been one of the craziest primary elections I have seen. Once one of these three candidates wins the Republican nomination I will be anxious to see if they make a return trip to our state. Either way I am still undecided who to vote for and with the way things are going we could have an entirely new candidate tomorrow!

Finally!

 

   So Ladies and Gentlemen, my shower is finally complete! Here are the before and after picture THE shower that I'm sure you are all familiar with by now. Not to shabby. It took twice the time that was expected but I am very happy with the outcome. Actually it could have looked like crap and I would be happy just to get my shower back. But, needless to say, it turned out great! We also got rid of the terrible yellow paint and now our bathroom looks like it belongs in a slightly newer home. 

On the poker side of things; I played in that Irish Baseball Charity tournament over the weekend. The turnout was about half of what it was last year and the quality of play and structure was ten times worse . I ended up placing sixth of about thirty or so which seems great, but the tournament only paid the top five. Suck. So I missed the money by one and was very glad to be out of the tournament with the pace of play mimicking that of a crawling snail. It was excruciating. It was filled with first time players and grandparents who used to play "back in the day". So my night consisted of explaining basic poker procedure and listening to "when i was a boy" stories. You could pay $10 for a cup that got you all the beer you wanted all night, and for that I was extremely grateful. After striking out on the tournament I went home and did a little political research about online regulation. Word on the street is it may be added to the coat-tails of the Pay Role Tax Cut bill currently sitting in Congress. I kind of doubt it will be added in such short notice though. And I have accepted to fact that I can't base my election vote strictly on online poker. There are to many problems much greater than that to be focused on. 

I really enjoyed Dr. Hochenauer's talk on Tuesday. It was nice to see how just a small blog can turn into such a highly respected, award winning publication. I don't really agree about anything he says from a political standpoint, but I respect that fact that in such a conservative state he has chosen to still talk in what he believes in. I think that is the main reason why his blog is still so successful. He is passionate about what he writes about.  

This shower better be Awesome

Ever so slowly the tiles are going up. We are looking at completing all the tile and floor work today and grouting it all tomorrow. That means Saturday we will be sealing everything and by Sunday i will be enjoying my brand new shower. ($1600 later) Oh well it was much needed. Now we just have to get rid of that gross, tacky yellow paint and we will be in good shape. So painting the bathroom will probably consume my entire day Sunday. Lucky me.

Now for some poker!!! (I know, this has been looking like a home improvement blog, I promise to stay as much on topic as I can from here on out). This Saturday night I will be participating in my little cousins annual charity poker tournament for his little league baseball team. Last year was the first year i participated and won the whole thing, something around $800, so that was nice. It's basically full of all these parents (who are both loaded with cash and alcohol) playing the type of poker they think they saw on ESPN the night before. Last year I made it heads up with this guy who had to be in his sixties who thought he was hot stuff. All I heard about was how he won a bunch of tournaments and that he has his own poker "room" at home that him and all his buddies play at every week. Anyways... We started out and he had me covered like 3 to 1 in chips. He thought he was in good shape and so did everyone else. 20 minutes later I had the chip lead and he was feeling "tired" (sucks for him). He tried to make a deal with me where we add up first and second place money and split it. I would end up getting around $400. Not a bad score, but i didn't spend the last five hours to not win so I respectfully declined. It didn't last much longer after that. I took him out and hopefully crushed his poker confidence .  So thats what I have to look forward to this weekend. Hopefully I come to class Tuesday being the two-time Irish Baseball Poker Champion (and with a new shower) 

Still no Poker!

Well this week has been a little less than spectacular when it comes to my participation at the poker table. Non-existant in fact. My life has become completely consumed with one thing, and one thing only; finishing my shower. Getting the guy to come work on our shower is like pulling teeth. If we do get a full day of work we also get a two hour lunch break and at least two hour trips to the hardware store. What was supposed to take a little less than a week is now a two week job. We have ran into every imaginable problem like three feet of dirt in the walls that are from what appears to be a gopher. Awesome. Then the drain wouldn't come out of the ground. With all the problems behind us (for now) we are looking at Saturday as the day of completion.


In poker news, my absence at the table has allowed me to catch up on some reading and checking up on where online poker is at in the eyes of Congress. Now as i previously said I will try to stay out of politics as much as possible on here, but this is something that directly effects me. I was doing some research of the Republican nominees, and where their stances were on the issue of online gambling. Turns out the only one in support of the matter is Ron Paul (not happening). Romney and Santorum both have come out within the last week and stated that regulating online gaming is dangerous for the country. (????) I don't see how it is any less dangerous than alcohol or tons of other things that we have legal here. The only one who hasn't officially take a stance yet is Newt Gingrich. He did however just take a 10 million dollar endorsement from Sheldon Adelson; who is one of the biggest opponents to the legalization on online poker. Everyone says "money talks" so its time to see if its true. If Newt condemns online poker strictly due to the donations he received I will be very disappointed. Nevertheless I am hoping to have some sort of legalization within the year. 

Well this was unexpected!

Looks like class is going to be a little out of the question today. Friday of last week my shower began to crumble. That little crumble has turned into a complete shower renovation. Now I have to sit here for a few hours and watch this lovely gentleman chisel out my shower floor with a jack hammer. Needless to say poker was placed on the back burner this weekend and endless hours of watching HGTV with my girlfriend replaced it. Now we have every bathroom makeover show recorded on our DVR. Joy. Looks like I might be able to make it to the casino sometime tomorrow. I'll post something about how I do and if I do t post anything then it probably wasn't a good outing. Anyways.... Sorry I will not be in class today. I will be back on Thursday without a doubt!

My Future Bracelet?

This picture is anyone who plays pokers' primary goal throughout the year. This is the bracelet you receive after winning the Main Event in the World Series of Poker. This is the highest prize you can win and something that every elite poker player strives for. It is (if all things go according to plan) what I will be playing for in the up coming summer. The tournament is in Las Vegas and over 6,000 people usually pay the $10,000 entry fee for a chance to win. In more local news the WSOP Circuit event in Durant, Oklahoma just came to a close. The winner of the $1600 Main Event was Abraham Araya who took home a little over $270,000. Not a bad score for a couple days of work. Some guy named Huy Nguyen, who I've played against a few times at Firelake, won three smaller events and took home about $50,000 total. This was the second year Durant has hosted a circuit event, and the only one in the state of Oklahoma. I will be playing this event next year especially if it continues to grow. There were some pretty big names in the field as well as some no name randoms that still managed to make the final table. 


Not looking good on the online poker home front. Ira Rubin, one of the nine people charged with sending millions of online poker dollars to off shore accounts, plead guilty yesterday in court. This means that he openly admitted to money laundering and basically threw the remaining members under the bus. However, when faced with an 80 year prison that could be reduced to 2, some people will do just about anything. 


I'm going to try to make it to the casino a couple times this weekend to see if I can continue my current winning session streak of ONE,  alive. Wish me luck! 

The Blogosphere and What it means for me

After reviewing the Technorati page today about the evolving world of blogs I learned that there are no limits to what you can do with your blog. It can be used for hobbies or a full time profession. It can be about anything from sports to stocks. The ideas are limitless. It seems that the one crucial element to keeping a blog going is the frequency in which you post. The more you post the more followers and potentially more money you can make. It is amazing how many ways you can go about blogging. It seems like another important factor is getting the word out about your blog. Its no surprise that Twitter plays a huge roll in the effectiveness of a blog. Hopefully with a little work I will have this blog up for many more years.

Getting the Ball Rolling

This is hopefully the start of a very fun and interesting year. One in which I plan on graduating and getting back into the game of poker. As I said in my bio; I was a few months away from going from a low-stakes grinder to a full-time player. Then the government stepped in. Now, I do my best to stay out of politics, but this time it directly impacted my everyday life. In March of 2010 the Department of Justice shut down the top three major poker sites. Mine, Pokerstars.net was the first one to go. This is how thousands of Americans made a living and in an instant it was gone. No time to withdraw the funds that was in their online poker account; not even time to get up from the online table they were currently playing at. That is when poker was put on hold, not just for me, but for everyone living in the US. From that point on poker became just a hobby again. I would get the chance to play a couple of times every month if I was lucky. That's when I decided to take a break. The last nine months have been spent focusing on school and work. I sat and waited, getting my mind together and seeing where the online market was going. At the turn of the new year I came to the realization that online poker wasn't coming back anytime soon. That means it's time to start devoting more and more of my time to "brick and mortar" casinos. This last Saturday was my first day back at the tables, and I quickly realized how much I had missed it. It's not just sitting there and getting good hands and winning some money; its the atmosphere of the card room. It's the conversations that you can have with complete strangers that soon turn into friends. At the end of my six hour session i managed to scratch out a small profit (somewhere around $150), but the comfort of actually being there again was what was truly important. I missed being able to read peoples faces and know their tells; something that frequently gets lost in online poker. Needless to say the poker bug is back and I am excited to see where this year leads.