Matthew Ashton

Although coming from the United Kingdom, Matthew Ashton does not appear to be a part of the young echelon of British players that have emerged in the recent years. In fact, he says that he doesn’t really have any poker friends in Britain. Born in 1989, he came in touch with poker when he was only 15 years old. Combination of competitive spirit that transferred from numerous sports and the natural ability with the numbers provided a great foundation for his success as a professional player. His family wasn’t thrilled with his newly found hobby which involved gambling for money, and wanted him to focus on his education. He did eventually graduate from the Sheffield University with the degree in Math, but by that time, poker was all he was really interested in. After seeing his results, as he quickly moved through the ranks in online cash games and was able to pay for his education by the time he graduated, his family has become much more supportive and understanding about his choice of career. True student of the game and naturally inclined to take analytical approach to poker, Ashton strived to become a mixed game specialist, and his tournament results soon started to reflect this fact. His first six-figure score came during the 2011 WSOP, when he finished 6th in the 10k WSOP H.O.R.S.E. Championship, banking slightly more than $100,000. After not so impressive results during 2012, his career truly exploded during the 2013 World Series. First he finished 3rd in Omaha / Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event, taking home more than $86k, followed by the runner-up finish in another Seven Card Stud tournament worth nearly $165,000. All this was only an introduction to the score that would ensure the name of Matthew Ashton a place in poker history. He entered truly star-studded field of the $50k WSOP Players’ Championship and proceeded to crush the competition, running away with the WSOP bracelet and nearly $1.8 million in cold hard cash. After this very successful run, he came close to becoming the WSOP Player of the Year for 2013, but ended up in the 2nd place behind Daniel Negreanu. His winnings to date are in the vicinity of $2.4 million. He says that the support from the family really meant a lot to him throughout the series. Matthew Ashton believes that his background in math as well as his reading and studying of “The Mathematics of Poker” by Bill Chen helped him greatly in becoming better with the game, as he really tries to think hard about different ranges and situations. As for fun facts, he never had a real job and winning the bracelet in the mixed-game event meant a lot to him, as it was the one he really wanted to take home. Ashton’s numerous performances in the Sky Poker Cash Game series are featured here on Pokertube.