Poker Stories: Matt Affleck

Matt Affleck might forever be known as the guy whose pocket aces were cracked by Jonathan Duhamel deep in the 2010 World Series of Poker main event, but in the years since, the Washington-native has established himself as a consistent force on the tournament circuit. Now 30, Affleck has racked up $3.8 million in combined live and online earnings. He has wins at the Borgata Winter Poker Open, Fall Pot of Gold, and Coco Poker Open. In 2016, he narrowly missed out on winning his first WSOP bracelet and this year, he had three six-figure scores, including a final table in the massive Colossus event and a win in the Wynn Fall Classic. Highlights from this interview include a high-stakes cafeteria table, celebrating a big win with cheap drinks, stacking classes to stack chips, getting poker sympathy from railbirds, the joy of being your own boss, going through poker withdrawal, chopping PLO pots with Sam Farha, a great year of poker opportunities, getting the best of it in swaps, listening to silence, dodging poker agents, being Ben Affleck's cousin at Jersey Mike's, and avoiding snakes and spiders.