Matt Glantz -- One of Poker’s Hardest Workers

Grinding 12 to 15 hours a day this summer, taking a break only to sleep and eat, poker pro Matt Glantz is always living up to a reputation he has been developing over his nearly decade-long poker career as one of the game’s hardest workers.

Glantz’s work ethic is matched by his focus. He isn’t flashy. Providing for his family, the 39-year-old has consistently racked up winnings in some of the biggest cash games in the world, in addition to accumulating $4 million in tournament scores.

The elusiveness of longevity plagues many a poker player, but not this east coast grinder who calls the Borgata in Atlantic City home. He is the architect of a $300-$600 mixed game there that runs on a consistent basis.

With a shift to tournaments recently, Glantz has proven to be one of the most dangerous players in big buy-in events at the World Series of Poker. Since 2008, he has made four WSOP final tables in mixed-game events with buy-ins of $10,000 to $50,000.

Glantz is not only an expert in poker strategy, but also a burgeoning ambassador for the industry as a whole. Staying true to his business roots, Glantz is positioning himself to be one of poker’s more marketable players. It shouldn’t be too difficult given his track record.

“I realized that there is money to be made in poker other than just at the table and therefore formulated a long term plan,” he said. “Since then I have dedicated a ton of time studying and improving my no-limit game and have been spending considerably more time traveling to tournaments. I have had some good recent results and this has been a lead into the next phase which is branding.”

Here’s a brief look into the life one of the game’s most humble and least talked about (for now) superstars.

Finding His Newest Talent

Matt Glantz was born and raised in Lafayette Hill, Pa., experiencing an average middle class suburban upbringing. Fortunately for the kid who excelled at math from an early age, education was a top priority to his family. When he wasn’t learning from books, Glantz was developing a competitive and risk-taking nature from sports and games.

Glantz eventually went on to attend Temple University, graduating in 1992 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Finance and International Business Administration. He continued his education at Temple, earning an MBA in 1993.

While still at school, he took an entry level clerical position at a derivatives trading firm, and within six months was trading options on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. After about two years, Glantz was trading independently and over the next ten years built his own business.

The industry eventually became less profitable and Glantz decided to find something else. “In the options trading business the risk is always very high, but for most of the 90s the money was also very good. Around 2000-02 things on all the trading floors got much tougher so the risks stayed the same, but the profit became much smaller. Things went from an open outcry auction market to a computerized trading market.”

At this point he turned to poker, which had been a hobby of his over the years.
“In my late 20s I was invited to an after-work poker game up in the offices above the Exchange. I loved it right away. Most of my early learning was playing in a weekly home game with bracelet winners Bill Chen, Rep Porter, and some other former options traders.”

Glantz branched off to playing cash games in Atlantic City one or two Saturdays each month. He also experimented in tournaments, early on finishing second in a $500 limit hold’em event at the 1999 U.S. Poker Championships and cashing in a 2000 WSOP event.

Playing Some of the Highest Stakes in the World

With poker booming in the years immediately following his decision to leave his day job as a trader, Glantz and his wife Deb decided to give the game a one-year trial run.

“We had a specific income goal in mind, and we agreed if I could reach that goal for that year, then I would continue to play poker the following year. If I couldn’t reach that goal then I would go back to trading in the market.”

Nine years later, he is still playing poker for a living.

There has been a gradual shift to mixed games over the past couple of years, and Glantz has been at the forefront of this movement. He said the trend makes sense.

“Most people started playing no-limit games from the beginning. I would say 90 percent of players got their start in no-limit, and eventually the games just dry up. People go broke faster in no-limit than they do in limit games, so it logically has to be mixed games for the future. The growth of live poker is in the mixed games, and it’s pretty consistent because all the young no-limit kids are trying to learn the new disciplines. With that being said, it’s always hard to grow a game in the long run, because it’s survival of the fittest, and the weak players will eventually move on.”

Lately Glantz has been playing in his $300-$600 mix – which features limit and no-limit hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, seven-card stud, stud eight-or-better, pot-limit Omaha, triple draw, and badugi – at the Borgata on a weekly basis. Glantz’s game usually starts Thursday or Friday and lasts through the weekend.

“I feel very proud to have built the most consistent high-limit mixed game in the world right now. I have put in numerous hours off the table in doing what it takes to grow the game. The Borgata has made the poker room extremely player friendly.”

Since online poker’s Black Friday there has been a lot of uncertainty in the world of poker. Glantz said the cash games have gotten slightly better since April, as his group has been getting an influx of younger players since the Internet version of the game went down.

“It’s been nice, but it’s probably a short-term fix. The game is mostly professionals, but we will take what we can get.” Other than Glantz, some of the most well-known players in the game include John D’Agostino, Eugene Katchalov, Allen Bari, and Chris Klodnicki.

Adding new players to the game is what sustains its profitability, according to Glantz. He said he enjoys having a group of about 30 regulars, but there needs to be a stream of new money. However, Glantz isn’t worried because he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes – a style that usually wins no matter how tough the game becomes.

The 2011 World Series of Poker

Glantz was in danger of a break-even summer, both in cash games and in tournaments, prior to the $50,000 Players Championship back in July.

“I was bummed. The WSOP is a big percentage of the poker year for me. The games are bigger in Las Vegas than they are back in Atlantic City. I only had the $50,000 and the main event to go. I was in Las Vegas for five weeks, away from my family, and the last thing I wanted to do was have a negligible summer.”

Fortunately for Glantz, his run in the $50,000 Players Championship, an event that draws the game’s elite, turned out to be just what he needed. With a mixed game format up until the final table, some in the poker community were tweeting their opinion that if the format didn’t switch to exclusively no-limit hold’em at the end, Glantz would have been the favorite. Glantz agreed.

The humble Glantz admitted that in a given tournament, anyone can win, however, he adds that the mixed-game format really plays to his strengths. “The $50,000 is the easiest tournament of the year for me. I think it’s the softest, from my perspective, which sounds odd because it’s all the best players in the world. However, most of the players don’t play all the games, so almost everyone has weaknesses. I don’t feel like I am the best player in any one discipline in poker, but I’m probably one of the best with all of the games combined.”

At the final table he witnessed a big fold by Phil Hellmuth, who was looking for his 12th bracelet, that Glantz originally thought was a bad play. However, Glantz has a knack for open mindedness, and he eventually digested what went down and changed his opinion.

“Whenever a great player makes a play that I didn’t understand right away, I always break it down and think about it,” said Glantz, who went on to finish fifth for $376,750. “I don’t chalk it up to it being a terrible play. I think about the hand, and put it on paper, and really study it. When I thought about it after an hour, I realized it was an excellent fold.”

After many summers at the Series, Glantz has found a spot on the unofficial best-without-a-bracelet list, recording six final tables in his time spent at the annual poker festival. “I would be lying if I didn’t say [the close calls] were somewhat frustrating.”
Glantz doesn’t have a bracelet yet, but he is still looking to pick one up. As long as he’s a mainstay on the tournament circuit, the poker pro from the east coast will eventually pick up some hardware out west.

One of Poker’s Good Guys

Over nearly a decade in poker Glantz has developed a strong reputation among his peers and other members of the poker industry. He has recently been appointed to serve on the Standards and Conduct Committee of the newly-formed Epic Poker League.

“Matt Glantz is not only an incredibly talented and accomplished poker player but he is also one of those players who really gets it,” an Epic Poker League spokesperson said. “He sees the big picture. He gets what poker’s potential as a sport is. This makes him a standout in the community.”

Glantz has a history of turning down business deals that were great financially, but didn’t truly represent him. Former online poker site Ultimate Bet was one of the companies that approached Glantz awhile back.

“I was very torn at the time with UB because the offer was very substantial, but I just couldn’t justify the risk to my reputation,” Glantz said. “I just decided it wasn’t worth it to me. Knowing everything we know today, I am very glad I stayed on the sidelines.”

Despite the scandals 2011 has brought to poker, Glantz is confident the game will recover, and he is positioning himself to be a key figure, as well as a brand (www.MattGlantzpoker.com), in a future resurgence in the game’s popularity.

“The American casino lobby has too much money behind it not to legalize online poker in the very near future,” Glantz said. “It’s only a matter of time until they are able to jump into the very lucrative online business. While the debacles of 2011 have certainly hurt the professional players individually, I don’t think it will hurt the poker industry as a whole going forward.”

Surviving in Poker and Raising a Family

Glantz spends most of his time away from the felt being a dad. He and his wife have a nine-year-old son, Harrison, and a seven-year-old daughter, Avery. The Glantz family is busy after school with the usual activities like basketball, little league, gymnastics, and theater.

His motivation for playing cards is strictly money. He grinds away on the felt to support his family, so when he is away for business trips, you will never find him playing other casino games or at a nightclub.

“I am there to work. I am not a gambling hustler. I am just a businessman and poker is my vehicle to earn my living.”

He gives his wife credit for all of his poker results.

“My wife makes so many sacrifices for me to be able to be successful as a poker player. As a high-limit player I cannot set my own schedule, and she understands that. I can’t just show up at the casino and hope there is a game. I have to know when others are going to be there to play and make my schedule around theirs. I simply would not be able to win at poker without an ultra-supportive wife. I’m working predominately on weekends, so we rarely get to go out together with friends. It’s tougher on her than on me.”

With a commitment to his family, combined with keen business skills and a calculated risk talking ability, Glantz isn’t sure how long he will devote the necessary time to being a professional player. He is still young and has his options open.

“I’m sure I will always play poker in some capacity, but I see it as a career that I could get tired of at some point. I’m always looking for business opportunities outside of poker. I enjoy poker, but my true desire is to build another business from scratch like I did before.”

Glantz is a realist, and advises any aspiring poker player to be multi-faceted in order to survive financially over the long run. “I would tell any young kid to use his skills to build a business. In poker you don’t build anything other than a bankroll, if you are lucky. In business you can use your brains to build something that will secure your future and pay future dividends over time.”

The battle-tested Glantz is no stranger to defeat and failure, but it was precisely those experiences, some of which he still faces in the form of downswings at the poker table, which have allowed him to find a way to success and sustainability. He is one of poker’s hardest workers.

“After having many, many days in the stock market where I had huge losses, I came into poker having almost no tilt factor. The market made me numb to losses and poker is no different. That has always been my main advantage. What I do best is not to have leaks. I’m not the best at any one discipline of poker, and I certainly am not the most fundamentally sound poker player in the world. But I’m always looking to find new ways to win.” ♠