You might not have heard of Matthew Ashton but the Brit player has just topped the World Series of a lifetime by claiming his first gold bracelet in the prestigious $50k Poker Players Championship. This event is seen in the poker world as second only to the Main Event and Ashton had to come through one of the most stacked fields of all time to claim almost $1.8m and the Chip Reese Memorial trophy.
A mixed game specialist, Ashton burst onto the live scene in the 2011 WSOP, where he final tabled the $10k HORSE and finished 10th in the $2.5k Omaha/Seven Card Stud. In the 2012 WSOP he recorded another 10th place finish, this time in the $2.5k 10 Game event.
Ashton must have thought he was destined to be the WSOP’s nearly-man as 2013 started in a similar vein. Incredibly Ashton final tabled three events, coming 3rd in the $2.5k Omaha/Seven Card Stud, 2nd to Mike Matusow in the $2.5k Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, and 7th in the $2.5k Seven Card Stud event. However, he came good in the biggest event of his life, the $50k Poker Players Championship, where he triumphed in a tough final table featuring old-school pros David Benyamine and John Hennigan, and ex-Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel.
The win is his first major title and takes his earnings to $2,350,487, proof, if any was needed, that the poker world doesn’t begin and end with no-limit hold’em, and that getting good at the less favoured games could be a very good career move. As well as boosting his bankroll considerably, the win and final tables have vaulted Ashton to the top of the WSOP Player of the Year list, ahead of Daniel Negreanu.
$50k Poker Players Championship final table:
1st Matthew Ashton $1,774,089
2nd Don Nguyen $1,096,254
3rd John Hennigan $686,568
4th David Benyamine $497,122
5th George Danzer $388,523
6th Minh Ly $309,830
7th Mike Wattel $251,602
8th Jonathan Duhamel $207,630
