Most books on poker strategy are written after a great feat, while some come merely as an afterthought of the writers prowess in the poker space. Such books are crafted to capture the attention of those who are ready to read and learn a few things from people who have been there and done that.
A 2004 book by Matt Matros, dubbed The Making of a Poker Player is not what you would expect as it was written when Matt was in the process of becoming a poker player, and not after he had achieved success.
As he stated during a recent interview, he wrote the book way before he was even considered a proper poker player. He adds that he started as a writer before becoming a poker player because he was looking for a project to work on.
However, this changed when he, out of nowhere, finished third at a $25000 entry World Poker Tour championship at Las Vegas Bellagio.He added that his original plan was to launch the book, at a time when he was virtually unknown. In the time between when he began selling and when it was scheduled for publication, he decides to make try out at the WPT Championship in Bellagio. Thereafter, the expectations turned out quite differently, so he was forced to add the final chapter.
He walked away with close to $706903 but had only paid $100 as the entry fee. On a spring break from his graduate writing program at this time, he played the $100 satellite right from his home and ended up winning $2500, which consisted of a super satellite plus a plane ticket to Las Vegas.
Matt stated that he had nothing to his name, so he was not able to put $25000 down and he was not known enough to attract backers at the event. His plan was to get to Vegas, take part in the Satellite. He was not sure he would get into the main tournament. The next thing was to fly back home to his writing program.
Nevertheless, this did not happen. Rather, he managed to win a lot of money, which changed his life and book, completely.Strangely, in his view, he was writing a book that would teach people how to start on poker, while ordinarily, people would expect a book on how to become an expert, which is not what the book was meant to do. He hoped he would be able to fit the turn of events in his book.As for the money, it was a lot more than what he was used to. For a young man, which is what he was at the time, the money amounted to a value he could not quite compute, despite being well versed with numbers.
He stated that his winning completely blew his mind and affect his thought process at that time. Although he did well in the game and won big, the entire experience was quite surreal. For a few days afterward, he was in limbo.
While he did well for himself, it is important to point out that had he won the entire event, he would have walked away with $2.7 million, a huge payment score compared to the value he took home after his podium finish.
Having come in third, he looks back on this experience with a measure of pride. His life changed, but he took the change in stride. 15 years later today, he credits being clam through the entire experience to his age, which helped him stay calm and in control of what he ended up doing with the money.
He admits that he never did anything that would be considered silly; he bought an apartment and set aside a sum for his bankroll. Everything else came in after that. He states that he is glad that the experience comes in at the age of 27, and not 21, otherwise that would have been a disaster.
The book depicts him as incredibly endowed in mathematics in the UK and the Americans certainly feel he is a math geek. Although he loved writing, mathematics was his greatest love.
The book ended up being a huge success, which pleased both himself and the publisher. He went on to write a second one, titled The Game Plan, which was published 15 years later.
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Poker in Focus: The Making of a Poker Master According to Matt Matros - Tunf.com News
