WPT: Legends of Poker Q and A -- Matt Graham

The first few months of Matt “mattg1983” Graham’s live career were a source of frustrating yet promising deep finishes. Other than a win in a preliminary event in Reno, Graham had yet to score big in a $10,000 event, nor had he scored on poker’s biggest stage, the World Series of Poker.

That all changed in event No. 53 of this year’s Series, the last tournament before the main event began, when Graham rode the short stack to a heads-up confrontation with Jean-Robert Bellande and came back to take the title and a WSOP bracelet.

Card Player caught up with Graham shortly before hand-for-hand play began at the 2008 Legends of Poker main event to talk about his plans for the bubble and life after a bracelet win.


Julio Rodriguez: Matt, you’re one of the big stacks heading into the money bubble. How are you going to use your chips during hand-for-hand play?

Matt Graham: I’m probably going to raise a lot and play very aggressively during the bubble. I have 420,000 in chips, and most importantly, no other big stacks at my table.

JR: Has anybody at the table been giving you any trouble?

MG: The table has pretty much been behaving, so far, but there is one guy who can get a little crazy sometimes. I’m not too worried about him. I don’t think he’ll play back at me, seeing as how much I have him covered.

JR: Do you see yourself playing tournament poker forever?

MG: Definitely, I see myself doing this for at least a few more years, maybe longer, maybe for the rest of my life. But I’m going to do other things, as well. I’m planning on going back to school [UNLV] at the beginning of next year.

JR: Is it easier to play now that you have the bracelet?

MG: A little bit. I’m definitely still motivated to win as many tournaments as possible, but it is definitely a big monkey off of my back. When I first started playing live, I’d been able to accumulate so many chips in so many tournaments, and they all ended up as bust when I finished in the final two or three tables. It was a great feeling to finally close one out.

It wasn’t a matter of nerves; it just seemed as if things weren’t working out for me before the Series. Now, with that win under my belt, I can just go out there and try and keep it going.

JR: What are your plans for the upcoming “hell months” on tour?

MG: I haven’t really looked past this month. Right after this I’m driving back to Las Vegas and then catching a flight to my hometown in New Orleans. I’ll probably play a few events in Biloxi, and then I’ll head to Borgata in Atlantic City. I still haven’t decided if I’ll be heading overseas for the WSOP Europe or any EPT events.

I know it’s pretty lazy planning, but right now I’m just enjoying my status as the latest bracelet winner.

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