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It's a
safe bet that Matt Dean won't be teaching high school
mathematics anytime soon.
"I
was a substitute teacher last year at Oak Ridge High
School, and I was in the process of getting my teacher's
certificate," said Dean. "Then I got into the World
Series of Poker. Things have changed."
That's something of an understatement. The Woodlands
resident won $675,000. It would take more than 15 years
to earn that as a teacher.
"I
still want to be a teacher ... eventually. But for now
I'm going to continue playing Texas Holdem poker."
And
why not? Dean, 24, has just been invited to Ireland, all
expenses paid, to play in a pro poker tournament. And he
still gets to keep anything he wins.
Dean, who appears tonight for the first time in ESPN's
coverage of the World Series, started playing
Texas
Holdem
poker in his fraternity house at Southwestern
University.
"It
was nickel and dime stuff. But when I kept winning, I
realized that this was something I could win money
doing. I've always been good with numbers and
statistics, you know, probability and things like that."
After graduating, Dean and a buddy went to South
Carolina for a fun summer. That's when he discovered
that you could play poker — for real money — on the
Internet.
"That was one of the best summers I ever had. We
couldn't find jobs, so we played poker online. We spent
eight hours a day online. It wasn't the healthiest way
to spend a summer, but it was fun," Dean said.
On a
good day, they won $20 or $30. By the end of the summer,
Dean figures he won, maybe, $1,000.
That
was small potatoes when you consider the amazing
sequence of events that was about to occur.
Even
Dean couldn't imagine the probability of going from
nickel pots in a frat house to winning $675,000 in Las
Vegas.
"I
entered a small qualifier tournament for $2 online, and
after 7 1/2 hours I had won a seat in the World Series
of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Vegas," Dean
said.
"It
was amazing. I also won $1,000 spending money and a free
hotel room at the Four Queens across the street from
Binion's."
The World Series of Poker, which seems to air 24/7
on ESPN, was taped over one week in May. More than 2,500
players anteed up $10,000 to enter the tournament.
That's $25 million at stake.
Dean
wasn't playing against frat boys at Southwestern
University anymore. These were hard-core, grizzled,
high-stakes
Texas
Holdem
poker
players who don't flinch at $100,000 pots.
Dean
survived the first day, then the second day, then the
third. When the field got down to the final 32, Dean
found himself in 26th place. He knew he was in the
chips.
Then
it really got surreal.
"I
won a $5 million pot. It still freaks me out to talk
about it. We were playing with $25,000 chips and I had
20 stacks of them in front of me. I translated each chip
into what it could buy. I'd hold one chip and see an
SUV."
Because of his youth and inexperience, Dean flew under
ESPN's radar the first few days. Nobody had ever heard
of this young substitute teacher from The Woodlands.
In
tonight's episode, Dean will be on the screen for "maybe
four seconds." He's the guy in the sunglasses and
Southwestern University tennis cap.
"I
played for the team, and it's still my lucky cap," he
said.
But
next week, Dean makes the final table, the championship
round, competing against the greatest
Texas
Holdem
poker players in the world.
He
finishes seventh — good for $675,000.
"I
was so nervous the night before. I woke up panicked and
walked around downtown Vegas, almost throwing up. When I
finally lost, it was like a relief. I wasn't prepared to
get as far as I did."
Dean
said he will invest his winnings. He's made only one
purchase.
Instead of renting a town house in The Woodlands from
his parents — he bought it.
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