Poker's Giant Slayer: An exclusive interview with Matt McCullough

"You're all making this a David vs Goliath thing and you know how that story ends." -Gerard Houllier

Sept. 18, 2007

By Jake Gosselin
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

Team Bodog poker player Matt McCullough finished third at the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event this week, which is an impressive feat in itself. Couple that with the fact it was the first tournament he'd ever played in with a buy-in over $500 and that he knocked out two of the biggest names in poker, and you've got yourself a story.

McCullough qualified through a satellite in the Bodog poker room and won a prize package worth approximately $36,000, which included round-trip airfare, a 10-night stay at a five-star London hotel, a custom-tailored suit from Savile Row, car service, spending money and the £10,000 (approximately $20,000 USD) WSOP Europe Main Event buy-in.

In an interview with Bodog Nation before he left for London, McCullough said he'd seen the list of players competing in the WSOPE and was admittedly a little intimidated.

"I feel pretty confident as long as I don’t get intimidated by who is across from me," said McCullough, who works as nurse anesthetist. "It's going to be a fairly impressive group of people. I don't think I'm going to play anything except pocket aces and kings on the first day."

While McCullough didn't play quite that tight, he did play a patient game that saw him knock out no less than Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth was short-stacked and made his move with pocket eights while McCullough was holding queens, and the rest was history.

Hellmuth shook McCullough's hand and accepted his defeat graciously.

After seven long days of competing against the best players on the planet, McCullough finally sat down at the final table as the chip leader after he knocked out Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen (the only player to ever win three WPT open tournaments) in 10th place. As the last remaining American in the tournament, McCullough stayed patient and let the aggressive European players knock each other out until it was down to three: teen poker prodigy Annette Obrestad, John Tabatabai and himself.

McCullough's final hand came when he checked a flop of J-6-3, and Tabatabai bet out $115,000. McCullough raised to $350,000, and Tabatabai re-raised to $760,000 before McCullough came back over the top all-in. Tabatabai called and showed A-6 while McCullough happily turned over top pair with J-8.

However, like a dagger through the heart, an ace fell on the turn, and without a jack on the river, McCullough was eliminated.

So what's it like to go from enjoying poker as a hobby to earning $766,674 playing the game he loves? McCullough recently shared these insights with Bodog Nation.

Bodog Nation: Busting out that deep in a huge tournament must be a mix of emotions. What does it feel like to win $766,674 while falling just short of winning $1,147,770?

Matthew McCullough: If I had pushed in and he had flipped over A-J, I would probably feel worse than I do now. But the fact that he flipped over A-6, you know at least I got my money in with the better hand.

BN: So what did it feel like immediately after?

MM: I wanted to cry. Obviously I was upset. By the time it had gotten down to the last four, it started to hit me that there was no reason why I couldn't win this tournament. I'd been playing the best poker I had in my life. At that point I almost expected to win it. Some friends of mine were checking the betting odds online for me to win the whole thing, and at one point I was favored to win it.

Eliminating Gus Hansen not only collapsed the field to nine players, but it gave McCullough the chip lead heading into the final table.

So it took about an hour. I told my girlfriend that it would probably take a couple hours to mellow out, but as for right now I'd be a little pissed off.

But I got my chips in with the best hand, and if you gave me a chance to do it again, I'd do it all the same way.

BN: So when will you do it all again? Are you looking to play in any upcoming major poker tournaments?

MM: I'm definitely going to the World Series of Poker next year. Me and Matt Larsh had a side wager going where if either of us made it into the top three, we would buy the other into the World Series of Poker Main Event next year.

BN: Yeah, Larsh is on fire right now too, so he'll probably make the most of that.

MM: Me, him and Team Bodog will be heading out to Vegas. We're also thinking about heading down to the Turks and Caicos tournament.

BN: Yeah, a lot of people are excited about that one.

MM: My girlfriend is excited about that one too. But you know, everything about the WSOPE was great. Everything that Bodog put together for us was great: the airline, the hotel, even the guys you sent down, Charles Simmons and Chris Rowinski (Bodog Writer and Team Bodog Handler). We all bonded from day one. So I had drinking buddies, and I had poker-talk buddies. I definitely made some relationships there that will carry on far beyond how long I poker for.

BN: So when you came back was your boss worried that you might be handing in your resignation?

MM: No. I called him on my way back to tell him I'd definitely be back in on Wednesday. I like my job too much to quit to play poker all the time. Poker was a hobby. Poker will continue to be a hobby, but one that I will probably spend more time on. I won't be playing all the time but maybe three or four major tournament a year. But if I head down to the Turks and Caicos and do as well, and I head down to Vegas for the WSOP and do as well, then maybe I'll say, "Hey what the hell, let's give it a try full-time."

BN: It sounds like you're in a great position.

MM: It is a great position.

TOP PHOTO: Bodog poker player Matt McCullough takes a third place finish at the WSOPE.