It was the kind of call that can make for a huge swing in a tournament. Harvey Mathews had fourth pair with only three players remaining in the World Series of Poker $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout on Oct. 8.
His A-5 caught another 5 on the board but his opponent Michael Gathy applied plenty of pressure. That included a huge check-raise on the flop and massive bet on the river.
But Mathews felt his pair of fives might be good – and he was right. Gathy was bluffing with K-8 and no pair, vaulting Mathews into the chip lead. “Michael Gathy is an absolute crusher and I knew he would try to put me in difficult spots,” Mathews says. “I went with my read and was correct. At that moment, I really started to think that I was capable of taking the event down.” That indeed happened for the 38-year-old database manager from Mt. Morris, Michigan . He won his first WSOP championship bracelet and $371,914. Mathews spoke with USPoker this week about his win. Rallying for a WSOP title
A regular at the WSOP before Black Friday , Mathews returned in 2019 and was back again this year. Now with a nice six-figure score, that turned out to be a good decision.
Getting to the winner’s circle, however, took some work. Mathews began the final table as the short stack and knew he’d sink or swim pretty quickly. “It was basically the dream situation,” he says. “I knew right away that I had to shove in the first three to five hands. I got one shove in real quick and then was absolutely blessed to pick up pocket Jacks in the big blind when I needed it most. “My opponent decided to take an aggressive approach to steal my blind. My J-J holding up really gave me a little bit more time and allowed me to make plays that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to make.”
Shortly after that hand, Mathews flat-called with 4♠7♠ and flopped a 7-high straight . An unexpected move helped build his chip stack even more.
“My […]
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