Matthew Siegal's One Drop Run Leads Him Down High Roller Road

The realm of the unknown is a difficult place to charter in a field as exclusive as the Big One for One Drop. Matthew Siegal is an avatar for anonymous among the crowd of successful businessmen and top-notch professionals.

The self-described investor hails from New York City and is not a fan of tournaments. He prefers cash games but found a spark of inspiration by watching Super High Roller Bowl.

Siegal says One Drop is one of his first tournaments ever.

“I spontaneously decided I was going to play in this about a week ago,” Siegal claims. “I watched the Super High Roller Bowl as practice for the tournament structure. I watched Nick Schulman and it was great. It was like having a coach.”

The 26-year-old New Yorker is cagey about his overall poker background. Siegal announced the game as a hobby and that he plays high stakes cash games “all over.”

Only one tournament appearance of Siegal’s is recorded. The October 2015 Borgata DeepStacks Challenge blog announced Siegal as a law student giving poker a try for the day.

Siegal’s stakes have gone up since then 333,233 percent from the $300 buy-in he played that day.

“I wanted to win it,” Siegal commented on why he entered One Drop. “I like to win in whatever I’m doing. The prize, man. It’s a big prize.”

When pressed for details about his day-to-day life, Siegal professed to be a private person.

The lack of information available on Siegal is a tool he’s wielding against players who have numerous appearances on PokerGO.

“That’s the big advantage I have on these guys. I have footage on them and they don’t have footage of me. It’s a huge advantage.”

A neon-green ski jacket and matching sneakers accompany Siegal to the felt. He hides behind round sunglasses and isn’t much for table talk. To his opponents, he’s a new bot they have to figure out the programming for in order to beat.

Siegal is the only entrant among the total count of 27 to never play in Big One for One Drop or Super High Roller Bowl.

Lack of experience against the best in the world did not stop Siegal from challenging those standing between him and $10 million.

On Day 1, Siegal battled with Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. Siegal was pleased with how he competed and said he’s looking forward to playing in more High Roller events down the road.

Siegal’s bustout hand on Day 2 put reigning Super High Roller Bowl champion Justin Bonomo to the test. Bonomo got lucky against Siegal and we’ll see when Siegal returns to the High Roller arena.

How did @JustinBonomo shoot to the top of the Big One for @OneDrop_All_In leaderboard? This monster hand against Matthew Siegal!
Watch Bonomo and the @WSOP $1,000,000 Big One when the final table begins at 11 PM ET.
▶️ https://t.co/wtwTU6NmGw pic.twitter.com/TsGDPlPZcp

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 17, 2018

“I’m down to do more,” Siegal said of his chances to play more High Rollers. “It’s a deep structure and the stakes are high.”

Final table coverage is scheduled to start at 9:00 pm ET on ESPN2 until a One Drop champion is crowned. Find all World Series of Poker final tables from 2018 by subscribing to PokerGO today. PokerGO coverage is available in non-ESPN and non-ESPN affiliated regions.