The World Series of Poker made Commerce Casino in Los Angeles its home the last few weeks, and the series was a resounding success, bringing in massive numbers for most of the events, including the $1,700 Main Event, which saw 1,209 entries that swelled the prize pool to $1,831,635.
Outlasting all the players was Matthew Salsberg, a one-time TV producer with one major hit on his resume, which sort of mirrors his tournament poker career. He’s now $286,134 richer.
Salsberg, who produced 100 episodes of the show “Weeds” from 2005-12, scored his second biggest tournament cash by taking down the WSOP Circuit event in L.A. for $286,134.
“This is very surreal. It’s been kind of a crazy few years for me, so this is wild” he told the WSOP after the final cards were dealt. “I have played a lot of circuit events over the years and have never won a ring, so it’s nice to get one.”
The Canadian, who transplanted himself to South California to work on his golf game fell into the entertainment industry after taking a writing class at the University of California San Diego, is a poker junkie who is approaching 250 tournament cashes. He’s popped the money bubble 30 times so far in 2024 and is approaching the $4 million in tourney cashes mark.
Commerce Casino is Salsberg’s home poker room, and after the tourney ended, he walked through a gauntlet of players congratulating him for his victory.
Coming into the final table with a middling chip stack, Salsberg had some work to do against some proven winners, but was in a good place as a majority of the last nine never made it this far in a WSOP event before.
Salsberg joined three other players with WSOP hardware: Runner-up Anthony Marquez is a WSOP bracelet winner (2017), third-place finisher Michael Liang won a Circuit Ring in Baltimore in the 2015/16 season, and fifth place finisher Luis Yepez owns two rings, most recently from winning the Caesars Southern Indiana Main Event last month.
Like most eventual WSOP Circuit champs, Salsberg had more than his share of luck at the final table, including a hand where he busted seventh-place finisher Richard Ham with a suited Q4 against pocket rockets. Salsberg began heads-up play with a massive chip lead and made quick work of Marquez.
The event took place Nov. 21-25. The three starting flights helped build the large player pool, which paid the top 181 finishers at least $3,424. The difference between ninth and first was a staggering $263,084.
The Circuit series is now at Horseshoe Las Vegas with the first flights of the $1,700 Main Event beginning Friday. It closes out the year at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina with a series that starts tomorrow with the Turkey Day $30K, a $400 event with a $50,000 guarantee.
Gobble gobble.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Salsberg | $286,134 |
| 2 | Anthony Marquez | $190,774 |
| 3 | Michael Liang | $134,958 |
| 4 | Davis Khobyer | $96,864 |
| 5 | Luis Yepez | $70,552 |
| 6 | Samvell Gspoyan | $52,158 |
| 7 | Richard Ham | $39,148 |
| 8 | Aram Mkhitaryan | $29,838 |
| 9 | Phongthep Thiptinnakon | $23,100 |
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