WSOP Gold -- Matt Graham Becomes PLO World ChampNew Orleans Native Wins His Second Bracelet |
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If he hadn’t discovered poker, he very well could’ve become Dr. Graham. If he hadn’t dislocated his shoulder, he likely would’ve continued his hockey career well into college. But all hypotheticals aside, Matt Graham is happy with where he’s at.
The New Orleans native took down the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha world championship earlier this week, beating an elite field and winning his second bracelet.
“Your first bracelet is a huge thing, but this one is way more prestigious, and it’s a lot more money,” said Graham, who won $679,379 for his victory in the PLO championship. His previous WSOP win came in a $1,500 limit shootout event last year, good for $278,180.
“My first event was about as crappy as any event you could win (in terms of prestige), with it being a $1,500 limit shootout,” said Graham, who overcame a tough final table consisting of four other bracelet winners.
At one point in the PLO event, he was actually at a 13-1 disadvantage in chips during heads-up play against Vitaly Lunkin, the winner of this year’s $40,000 buy-in event. But he never lost his composure.
“I’ve always been good about that,” said Graham. “I get tilted and angry, but I don’t let it affect my play. I was a long shot but I knew I could win.”
The 25-year-old overcame similar odds in his first bracelet win, when Jean-Robert Bellande had an 8-1 advantage over Graham heads up but failed to close the deal.
The win highlights an already impressive young career. Besides the two bracelets, he won a $5,000 preliminary event at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio in 2008 for $320,000, along with a collection of solid results online.
Graham, once a pre-med student at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, dropped out of college after his third year to pursue poker full time.
He had been successful playing online, and a two-month stretch in which he brought home $150,000 was enough for him to justify his career move. Since then, he has firmly established himself as a top-tier competitor.
His competitive drive, seen in his two massive comebacks in heads-up play at the World Series, might stem from his hockey days. A hockey player all his life, his career was derailed when he badly hurt his shoulder during a game just before college.
“I dislocated it pretty badly,” said Graham. “But I’m good now.”
Graham proved that, and then some, while playing for a semi-professional in-line hockey team, called the Las Vegas Aces, this year, where he led the team in scoring. While the league is still getting off the ground, he says that he enjoys playing the game competitively again.
The two-time bracelet winner was just a pizza-delivery boy when he first discovered poker in high school. His manager invited him to a small stakes, $0.25-$0.50 cash game, and he was instantly intrigued by the game.
When it came to strategy games, the New Orleans kid had already established himself.
“When I was in high school, I won multiple national championships at something called Academic Games. It’s like this academic competition in different events, and I won the overall cumulative score,” said Graham, who competed in various categories, such as equations, concept, propaganda, logic games, presidents, and linguistics. “It’s kind of similar to poker, actually. It’s not just a quiz bowl, there are problems that are set up. It’s like a card game without the cards.”
It didn’t take Graham long to translate those skills over to poker.
Now, Graham is looking for ways to secure himself financially outside of just his poker earnings. He’s using his winnings to invest in stocks and has even started backing players, about 19 of them, online.
“My main goal is just to become financially secure outside of poker to where I can just play poker and not worry about making a living at it,” said Graham. “I basically want to retire by 30.”
At this pace, the PLO champ might do just that.
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