Matt Graham
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - Matt Graham
So I have never met or played with Clonie Gowen through my years of playing poker. I had my first chance at the Gulf Coast Poker Championships last week. I have obviously heard the horror stories about her through gossip so when saw that I was at her table I figured it would be interesting. It was… For the first few hours nothing negative happended at all. Clonie even helped me get the channel changed in the poker room. I had tried to ask the floor person, but was blown off. Clonie saw this and used her “fame” to get the channel changed. I was starting to wonder why people love to gossip about her so much. She seemed nice enough.
Finally to the incident. So I am in the cutoff and raise to 600 at 100-200 with 78d. Action folded to Clonie in the BB and she called. The flop comes out 7AK with one diamond. We both check the flop. The turn is a 3d giving me a flush draw. Clonie leads into the pot for 1000, I call. The river is a 7. Jackpot!!! Clonie bets 1500 which was a relatively small bet. I had hoped she would bet more but what can ya do? I knew any raise from me would look super strong, but at the same time I had been the most active player at the table by far so I figured there is a good chance that she would hero call me, thinking I was bluffing. I throw out 6500. The dealer pulled in the 1500 from each of us, leaving my single blue 5K chip as the raise. Clonie thinks for awhile and finally flips her wrist to throw in what one would assume was a call.
But no, she had actually thrown two blue chips into the pot meaning she raised me an additional 5K. I quickly call and flip my hand and Clonie looks disgusted. She said she meant to just call. I figured that was the case, but hey its not my fault she threw in the wrong amount. For a moment it appeared she was ready to move on and that she had made a mistake, but this was not going to be the case. She looks a bit confused trying to make her case for the bet being a call, but was getting nowhere so she decides to call the floor. The floor person walks over and asked what happened. I attempted to tell him, but since Clonie was the person who called him he wanted to hear her version first. To my shock she tells him exactly what happened accurately! The floor says that if she did not say “call” that the chips have to stay in the pot. Clonie then starts to claim she said call… The whole table is now looking around at each other since none of us heard it and it was clearly a lie. She starts yelling at me that I knew what she meant to do. I told her that I knew she wasnt shooting an angle and meant to call, but there was nothing I could do about it. I cannot give someone a break on something like that, especially in a tournament.
So I obviously tell all of my buddies during break about what happened. We all laugh a little and talk about other interesting hands, when she comes up behind me and starts calling me a liar and that if I am going to tell the story I should tell the truth. I blow her off at this point since her tilt is not worth my time. I simply told her she was lying and that its not my fault she can’t throw in the proper bets. Anyways I hear from a few people that she was walking around telling people that I shot an angle on her. God knows what story she told but, I just hope this story gets around a little bit. I have never shot an angle in my life and I didnt in this case. If you read this Clonie, maybe you should take responsibility for your mistake and stop looking for someone else to blame.
Tags: poker cahmpionships, Poker Poker Poker
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Monday, September 7, 2009 - Matt Graham
So I finally get to blog from the comfort of my home! After a month or two of relentless traveling It is so nice just to chill around the house, play with my dogs, and just lead a nice a simple day to day life. I have been playing a lot of poker this week , but with very little success. I have been playing the cash games and cannot find a winning session to save my life. Coolers all go the other way, beats have been hitting on me, and I am just not in a good mindset about it so I probably am not playing my best. I wish that was the worst news for my bankroll though… My stable of horses have been getting brutalized even worse than myself. I have 11 players that I currently stake and the are down about 150K in the past 2 weeks. Every deep run in a tournament just seems to end badly for them. I am quite sure at this point that I have cursed staking money 
Hopefully things will turn around in the coming weeks because the stress of watching my players struggle like this is really getting to me.
Outside of poker things are going great. I went out to Lake Mead for labor day yesterday and had a blast. We had a group of about 20 people and rented 3 boats. The weather was outstanding and the company was great. Obviously I am a moron though and I lost a pair of expensive sunglasses and also jumped into the lake with my Iphone in my pocket. You would think I would learn my lesson after going through about 8 phones from jumping in water, but you would be wrong. My girlfriend told me I am very smart in some ways , but can often be a complete “scatterbrain” as she put it. Im afraid I cannot argue her point
I am off to biloxi for the gulf coast poker championship on friday. I am really excited for the trip since I know a lot of people down there and also think it is going to be a great shot at winning a tournament. The borgata is runing a big tournament at the same time so I think the east coast grinders will just go to that. That leaves myself, my roommate, a few good southern grinders and a bunch of southern gamblers. I like my chances 
Tags: Matt Graham, Poker Poker Poker
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Sunday, August 30, 2009 - Matt Graham
Hey guys. Writing from Cabo, Mexico. I have been here since Friday so almost no poker from me lately. I did play once while I have been here for the TLB HU freeroll. And I won! It was quite a tease though. After winning a box popped up and said $1,000 was credited to my account, since it was a $1K freeroll, but then they took it away from me:(. I guess its not a freeroll for me but I just play to try and save the company $1,000
I have been chilling out by the pool all week since apparently the ocean outside of the resort is too dangerous with the undertow and massive waves. Those waves sure look like fun though. The highlight of the trip has definitely been swimming with the dolphins. I have always wanted to, but just never got around to it. It is a little pricy but way worth it. Dolphins have got to be the coolest animals on planet. They are super smart and have a dog-like love for humans. I just have a couple more days here which I will probably spend about 30 minutes from here on some beaches that are safer. Kind of a pain to have to drive to get to the beach when I am staying on a beach resort but i guess its not too big of a deal. Later guys, I am off to a sunset beach walk with Kim
Pic with dolphin:
Tags: Cabo, dolphin, Matt Graham, Mexico, Poker Poker Poker, TLB HU
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Thursday, August 27, 2009 - Matt Graham
Hey guys. I am writing from New Orleans on my trip visiting my family. It is really great to be home. I should really visit more but it is just really hard to find time. I have been doing so much traveling for poker this year that when I have down time the last thing I want to do is get on an airplane.
My brother and I went to see the midnight premier of District 9 last night. Going into the movie I had seen the previews but really couldnt tell what to expect the movie to be like. Well, first of all, it was just awesome. It had great action that didnt overdo it, but also a great story and look into human nature. Basically the message is that humans are intolerant and cruel. Some of the scenes were quite disturbing, and when you walk out of that theatre you will definitely have a lot on your mind. I dont want to ruin the movie so I wont go into any detail, but I suggest everyone take the time to go see it. Be warned though, it is pretty gory so if you cant handle that you may not enjoy the movie.
Tonight, me, my brother, and my best friend from childhood are headed out downtown. May even take a stroll up and down Bourbon Street for ald times sake. Most locals almost never go to Bourbon, but hey, I am a tourist this time around!
I am on a pretty good run in the cash games on UB. I havent been a cash player in a very long time so I had to make some adjustments. I dont think being in blue and trying to bluff is a very good idea. Nobody ever seems to want to fold and they play back at me a ton. Some of the regs have even commented on how tight I have been playing, but hey, I am winning at a pretty solid rate so I am not going to change that until the players in the game adjust and start folding to me.
Alright I am going to watch Lion King with my Mom’s foster children now. Pretty much my favorite movie of all time….
Tags: family, Matt Graham, New Orleans, Poker Poker Poker, ub
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - Matt Graham
Hey guys, this is actually my first blog ever so I am a bit of a noob, but I will try my best. My life has been pretty uneventful since the world series so I will mostly talk about plans I have in the next couple of months.
The one exciting thing that has been going on lately is my search for a new house in Las Vegas. I moved out here last year just before the world series started. I was in a hurry to get in a place before the events started so I rushed my decision and wasn’t picky enough. I made two big mistakes in my selection. The first was no island in the kitchen. The second and biggest mistake was not getting a home with a pool. It is just way too hot here not to have a pool. I think about how bad it sucks basically everyday and have begun to loathe the house I have now. Anyways I am looking to build a new home so that is pretty exciting.
My days of sitting around the house I have enjoyed the past month are about to come to an end. I am going to be out of town a ton in the next two months. I am heading home to new orleans to visit family on wednesday and will be staying until monday. I will get home, have to do some laundry and then pack right back up to head to Cabo in Mexico on Friday. My girlfriend will be there for an entire week. I cant wait to soak up some sun and get the tan back that I lost sitting in the Rio all summer. I realy wish the WSOP was in the winter. I know it is impractical and will never happen but I can dream! I get back on Friday around 4PM Vegas time and have to hop on a plane at 7 to go to Chicago for my first session as WSOP Academy instructor. I don’t have any teaching experience, but I think I will catch on quick and will definitely have a ton of poker knowledge to contribute to the camp.
Last but not least, I will be heading to Aruba after that. I cannot wait to get there. It has always been my favorite place to travel for poker. I imagine it will be even more of a blast as my first trip there as a sponsored UB pro. I trust Poker Ho and the guys to get me into plenty of trouble. Jump in those satellites everyone and come on the trip with us. You won’t be disappointed!
Tags: Aruba, las vegas, Matt Graham, Mexico, P0ker H0, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, ub, WSOP
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
By now you know that Matt Graham won his second World Series of Poker bracelet last night, so there’s no news to break here. But I took some pics of the final table last night that you might enjoy and I think for the most part they explain themselves. So, without further etc etc:
Tags: Matt Graham, wsop bracelet
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