The game of poker has become incredibly popular in recent years. The fact that hugely tense, big-money games are now shown live on TV means that more people than ever before are taking up this card game.
So, who is the top poker player from Liverpool? Right now, the title almost certainly belongs to Matthew Ashton. Who is he and what has he done to be considered the best card player in the city?
About Matthew Ashton
Matthew first came to the attention of many people with an impressive win at the 2013 World Series of Poker. During this massively popular event, Matthew won $1.7 million (£1.3 million) on the Poker’s Player’s Championship. This instantly made him a big name in the poker world. Before this, he had graduated from Sheffield University – https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ – with a Maths degree.
He started playing poker in 2003, at the age of 15, but stopped playing for a year in 2012. During that year out, Matthew says that he visited 30 countries in ten months. He started off his card-playing career with online card games, before building up to taking part in big tournaments such as the WSOP.
Many card players opt for this route these days, as it is so easy to find a range of card games online. A good example is found at the Paddy Power site – https://games.paddypower.com/c/blackjack – where there are various versions of online blackjack including multi-hand, classic and cash-out games.
Interestingly, when asked about his thoughts on money, he said that has never valued money particularly highly. He said that he learned important values around money from him family and that losing all of his money while playing has never been a major concern for him.
In addition, he had said in interviews that he is patient in general but that he can become impatient while at the poker table. He also says that he has never reached rock bottom in terms of either his poker career or personal life.
His Record in Games and Tournaments
At the time of writing, Matthew has total tournament earnings of over $2.8million (£2.17 million) With one WSOP bracelet and 17 cash tournament wins, he has been building up a very good career over the last few years.
These figures put his at 531st in the all-time money list. It is worth bearing in mind that he paid $50,000 (£38,750) to enter the 2013 WSOP where he claimed his biggest win to date. That spectacular success helped him to climb briefly to the top of the WSOP Player of the Year rankings, although Daniel Negreanu – http://danielnegreanu.com/ – later re-claimed top spot.
When asked at the time about what he planned to do with his winnings, Matthew replied that he was thinking of saving it up in order to move away to a country with a low cost of living.
It remains to be seen when the next big poker winner from Liverpool will emerge on the scene to challenge Matthew Ashton. With online poker, blackjack and other card games becoming increasingly popular, the next champion from Merseyside could be playing some games at home right now.