Final Table Takedown: Former World Poker Tour Player of the Year Matt Salsberg is the New California State Champion

Matt Salsberg grew up in Montreal, Canada and attended Concordia University to study urban planning. When he discovered that urban planning wasn’t his heart Salsberg moved to Southern California where a mentor in a writing course encouraged him to pursue his talent. Soon thereafter, he chose to pursue the screenwriting program at University of California San Diego.

Salsberg is a very successful writer and producer for television, with credits including Weeds, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and various failures that he worked equally hard on. During the downtime in the writer’s room he would play online poker. In the evenings, he would pop into L.A. casinos to play tournaments and cash games.

He would go on to win the World Poker Tour Paris main event as well as WPT Player of the year. In 2016, he finished second at the $3,500 Deep Stack Extravaganza for $145,000. Salsberg readily admits that he currently holds zero World Series of Poker bracelets, (he did come close, with a fourth place in a 2014 $2,500 event) but proudly has completed three-quarters of the Commerce Casino Tournament Slam in $1,000 buy-ins. He has career cashes totaling more than $2.3 million.

Event: 2017 Cal State Poker Championship
Players: 1,119
Entry: $1,100 
First Prize: $174,870
Finish: 1st

Key Concepts: Meta-game dynamics at the final table; Table image; Bet sizing; Game flow

Craig Tapscott: What is your take on your final table opponents so far?

Matt Salsberg: The two key hands I am going to share at the final table both involve the same player, Thomas Zanot, who I had direct position on. He was the most impressive player at the table left. I watched him make two monster hero calls with two tables left in very difficult spots. So despite having no prior history with him, I saw he was very capable.  

CT: Did you have any history with Zanot?

MS: I had three-bet him once before at the final table when the following hand took place. It was folded to button and I was in the small blind…

Villain no. 1 raises to 110,000 from the button.

CT: Any read on the Villain on the button?

MS: He was an older guy who I deemed a little inexperienced based on a prior hand we played. 

Zanot raises to 450,000 from the small blind.

CT: What is your take on Zanot’s reraise?

MS: Well the Villain on the button only had about 800,000, so it seemed like an easy three-bet pressure spot for anyone capable. I had about 2.5 million in the big blind and looked down at A 9. Given how capable I thought Thomas was plus his large bet sizing, it made me think this was a good four-bet spot. So…

Salsberg raises to 850,000 holding A 9. Villain no. 1 folds.

CT: Looks like a smart play. But were you confident it would get through? You had to be sweating a little.

MS: It was a total game flow spot where I hate my life if he five-bet rips it on me, but I felt like he had to be pretty nutted to do that. And his three-bet sizing inclined me to think he was on the weaker side. Thankfully, he folded what he said to also be A-9 and I scooped a nice pot without a showdown. He then went on to say, ‘I was too good.’

Zanot folds. Salsberg wins the pot of 650,000.

CT: (Laughs) Well it just so happens you are that good. Nice hand.

MS: Thanks.

CT: Now it’s my turn to pick your brain a little deeper. Many players would be hesitant to make this move. Give me more insight into how a player can be better at recognizing these types of situations. And also share some ideas about how players can interpret their opponent’s bet sizing and what it can mean to help them make a decision to make the kind of play you did.

MS: Well, there’s a fine line between a great spot and a punt. I’d also say I’m a better post-flop player than I am preflop, or at least more comfortable with doing absurd things post than pre. But there comes a point in tourneys where if you want to win them, you need to be really aggressive as opposed to passive. And there’s all sorts of Independent Chip Model (ICM) considerations for other players so you can get tighter folds than you’d expect in a lot of these situations. And even if they suspect you’re up to something, they still need to have the conviction to pull the trigger which isn’t an easy thing.

CT: Could you share a few pointers on how best a player can improve their blind on blind strategy?

MS: Blind on blind is often a spot where people make a fair amount of mistakes, essentially overplaying weak hands. There are a lot of cases where if you’re in a 20-30 big blind stack and you’re in the small blind and its folded to you, you should just fold a lot of mediocre hands that could get you in trouble given being out of position.

Key Concepts: Table dynamics; Options with A-K; Independent Chip Model considerations

CT: So you and Zanot go head to head again in this hand.

MS: Yes. Given the dynamic in the previous battle with Thomas, a pretty sick hand came up a little bit later at the table.

Zanot raises to 150,000 from mid-position. Salsberg reraises to 450,000 from the cutoff holding A K.

MS: After I raised it came back to him and I sensed, given the prior dynamics and how active I had been, that he was going take a stand against me. Sure enough, he…
Zanot raises to 900,000.

CT: So what’s the plan? Everyone seems to have a different take on how to play A-K.

MS: Well I don’t have a great history with the A-K in high equity spots lifetime, so a part of me felt like this was possibly another set up, but given the above dynamic and being seven-handed, it’s just too strong a hand to fold in this spot.

CT: But he could actually have a big hand this time around.

MS: True. I did think there was a chance we could have the same hand. So I decided to put maximum pressure on him and rip it in…

Salsberg moves all-in.

MS: Mainly because I don’t want to think too much post-flop and maybe even get an ICM hero fold from him with A-K; although I don’t expect that very often. But he beats me into the pot.

Zanot calls and reveals A A.

CT: Oh no. Your instincts were right.

MS: Yes. Another set up with A-K with big equity, but I wasn’t annoyed or irked. I calmly just said, ‘Well, guess I’m making a flush now.’ 

Flop: 8 6 2 (pot: 6,100,000)

Turn: 9

River: J

Salsberg wins the pot of 6,100,000.

MS: Sure enough the flop came rags with two hearts and I luckily turned him dead. And I even rivered a fourth heart just in case. Well, that hand made me a massive chip leader five-handed with close to sitting on half the chips in play. It was smooth sailing from there on out. I did do a deal heads up for $160,000 each when my opponent had a slight stack advantage and left $15,000 more and the trophy to play for. I grinded him down heads-up and closed it out when he spazzed off the 10-9 into my A-10.

CT: Share some of your thoughts on playing A-K. So many players can never fold it preflop or on a flop and other players horribly misplay it every step of the way.

MS: I call it the dust hand. There’s no hand that’s busted me out of more tourneys and cost me more than A-K, so I don’t know if I’m the right guy to give advice on how to play it. It’s a very strong hand of course, but it’s also tough to play a lot of times when someone comes back at you with strength. I play it differently depending on my stack size and position. There’s really not much you can do when you have 20 big blinds and someone raises in front of you but fist pump and get it in. But when I’m at risk with it things don’t seem to go my way with it nearly as often with it as when it’s for a fraction of my stack size. That’s just pure variance though. It was nice to finally catch a huge break with it in a big equity spot in the Cal State Poker Championship. I’ve never had that happen before in 12 years. ♠