Matros Raises while Billy Writes
Matt Matros and Bill Gazes each have approximately $2 million in career tournament earnings. But poker isn't the only thing they have in common as both are writers.
Matros' book The Making of a Poker Player was a hit in 2005 and preceded his two WSOP bracelets he won in 2010 and 2011. But while Matros' writing was about his tales from the table, Gazes is literally writing at the table.
More accurately he's transcribing his "next play" from his "free range chicken scratch," as he hunt and pecks on the keyboard.
Gazes and Matros are side-by-side and both slightly above the 40k chip average. "We're competing in poker and writing," jokes Gazes.
When Matros is away from the table he's in the midst of writing a novel and calls it a "big project," that's much different than his first hand poker accounts. He adds that poker and writing have a lot of similarities.
"Understanding human nature is instrumental in both pursuits," he says. "Knowing people and how they think and how they respond to stress in different situations is important."
Matros not only applies that knowledge to developing his fictional characters and plot lines, but to reading players and creating stories at the table.
"Whenever you make a bet you're telling a story. The key is to figure out if the other players are telling the truth."
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