Matt Salsberg

Perhaps better known as one of the executive producers and writers of the super popular TV series “Weeds”, Matt (Mathew) Salsberg has certainly managed to leave his trace on the live poker scene as well. He got involved with poker because he was missing the competitive nature of sports that he used to play when he was younger – not an uncommon theme in poker players’ biographies. Born in 1971, he grew up in Montreal, Canada. He started his path to professional career by studying urban planning, but quickly realized that this might not be the most viable option in terms of potential job opportunities. He spent some time playing golf, but was under the constant pressure from his family to make more serious plans for his future. In an attempt to procrastinate some more, he got enrolled to the screenwriting class at UCSD. Although he ended up in the class by accident, he soon realized how much he loved it and discovered his natural talent for writing. But apart from talent, he also worked very hard to improve his skills. Salsberg found poker during 2003. He started dabbling in the L.A. area cash games. He had a lot of free time on his hands, as he was working on a set for only seven months a year, so the other five he could really devote to learning the game he quickly fell in love with. He had, admittedly, been a break-even or slightly loosing player for years, but his lucks started to change as he turned to tournaments. His first really noticeable result came during the 2011 WSOP Main Event, where he managed to go quite deep and finished in 70th place, taking home nearly $110k. Even more important than the money was the fact that he managed to outlast the great number of players that take part in this event every year. Later that year he also won the L.A. poker open for about $21,000. Then came the September of 2012 and the most important result of his career. He went to France to play in the WPT Paris event, and this time he went all the way. He took home the title and the first place money worth nearly $480,000. In total, his live tournament winnings to date are in the vicinity of $1.5 million. As for the “Weeds”, Salsberg says that all the poker references in the show came directly from his pen. The one he holds very dear is the scene in which Lenny, Nancy’s father, announces that he is living for France to play in the WPT Paris in the Aviation Club – an event that he went on to win in 2012. Some of the videos featuring his play as well as a short documentary about his life can be found here on PokerTube.