Matthew Moss: First Player to a Milly in Main Event

There’s a few water marks to hit during the World Series of Poker Main Event that leave a lasting impression and one of them is reaching the one million chip mark. Matthew Moss was the first player in the 2017 Main Event to the seven-figure mark and leads the roughly 1,800 remaining players with 1.04 million.

“It feels pretty good, it’s been a pretty epic day,” Moss said. “Everything has gone really, really well the whole way. I had run of really nice hands.”

Moss’ best cash was his 21st place in the 2016 Main Event for $269,430. “This year has been a little bit more explosive, he added. “I have no idea when I hit a million last year. I king of chugged along and had an average stack basically the whole way.”

Moss has two small cashes for the summer – one in the $888 Crazy Eights event and a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. “I came out midway through the Series – I had some stuff in London to do. I’ll definitely be here for the whole time next year.”

Moss finds his odds of finishing better than 21st this year are “pretty long,” he said laughing. “With around 1,800 left… I mean, I guess I would be one in sixty or something.”

Matthew Moss at the 2016 Main Event Feature Table. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Moss looks to put his stack to use, “I definitely have to put the pressure on the next couple of levels,” he said. “I’m not much of a tournament player, so much so I’m not really used to that. But I’ve been told I have to start bullying some people.”

When pressed on who was gave him that he advice he said slyly, “Some bad influences are telling me that.”

Moss is from the U.K but plays all over the world, recently he’s been a part of the games running in Macau. “It’s very different in Macau – the hours are lot worse over there. People here complain about the hours but in Macau you play so much longer,” he said. “You play 36 hours straight all the time. It’s a lot more brutal out there.”

“The Main Event is quite a nice field, you get to play with a lot of different people,” Moss added. “In Macau you play with the same faces every day and they can get you if you’re not playing well.”