The first time I saw Matt Matros was on the Travel Channel. They were airing Season 2′s WPT World Championship Event at the Bellagio. The recent graduate of Yale University who was, at the time working towards his MFA at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and writing the book we discuss in this post, came in 3rd at this event.
He beat out his poker mentor, Russell Rosenblum and a pretty talented field to win $700,000.00. That’s some big-time poker success, isn’t it? Honestly, I didn’t really think it was enough to qualify Matt to write a poker book. However, Matt’s book isn’t so much of a how-to of the game as it is a how to of how-to improve your game. The title is ‘The Making of a Poker Player: How an Ivy League Geek Learned to Play Championship Poker’.
The title is totally appropriate as it is exactly what the book is about. Matt takes you back to his introduction to poker as a child and those home games he played with friends in high school. He talks about Saturday morning tournaments at Mohegan Sun, which wasn’t too far from Yale to his play at Foxwoods. He also mentions his experiences with the online newsgroup RGP (Rec.Gambling Poker) and the events they hold in various parts of the country as well as his search for a weekly poker game after leaving college and finding himself stuck in the real world.
Matt may be a math geek, but he doesn’t talk like one which I totally appreciate. Matt’s advice is common sense. Play at lower limits, err on the side of caution, have a strategy and play looser in Limit Texas Hold ‘em than in No-Limit Texas Holdem.
At times, he seems like the big brother or the parent who is teaching you not by his example but is showing you what not to do because he did it already. Never once did I feel like I couldn’t play championship poker with Matt. Some books will make you feel like you could never compete, as if poker knowledge was harder to seek out than the Holy Grail.
Matt is an intelligent person who has played a lot of poker. He’s learned how to be patient and to tighten up his game. He’s taken some bad beats and been knocked around. Matt also didn’t set out to be a poker pro. He just sort of fell into it. All in all, Matt’s book is a great read for people who like anecdotal poker. Matt teaches you by examples from his very own life and experiences, not by some whacked out theory that he’s spent years formulating that you couldn’t possibly understand.
Although Matt Matros does discuss game theory too, I find that gives away a lot of good information without showing down all his tricks. The Making of a Poker Player by Matt Matros is a solid, good read by one of the best young guns in the game today, and the most intelligent too!
Tags: anecdotal poker, bad beats, Foxwoods, Limit Texas Hold 'em, Matt Matros, Mohegan Sun, Russell Rosenblum, Travel Channel, Yale