Playing professional poker is tough. This is especially true today. With so many books on the subject, free games and free online “academies”, any person who seriously wants to learn the game, can. It does, however, take a great deal of commitment, focus, natural ability, fearlessness and dogged determination to become a top professional player. For some individuals this seems to come fairly naturally. For others, these attributes may take years to develop, if it ever does at all. Arnaud Mattern is one of those individuals that the game seemingly comes to with relative ease. Of course, this perspective is one from the outside looking in. However, this sure seems to be the case.
In only 5 short years, Arnaud Mattern has become one of the most known names in the game, amassing a decent amount of money (over one million dollars), by most working people’s standards, working when and where he wants. He began to turn heads at the London Poker Masters event and then really proved to the poker community that he belonged after his performance at the European Poker Tour (EPT). Whether or not he continues his meteoric rise, is yet to be seen.
Arnaud Mattern is a professional poker player from Paris France. He originally played backgammon, just as a few of today’s other top poker players did, perhaps most notably Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington. Mattern did not play poker seriously until 2004. Since that time, he has been quite successful, finishing first in three different tournaments. He would win the London Poker Masters Tournament in October of 2006 in the No Limit Hold’em Main event and take home more than $50,000. He also participated in the Caribbean Poker Classic tournament in 2006 in the No Limit Hold’em Blackjack tournament finishing 10th and winning a little over $2000.
His biggest win to date occurred in 2007 at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague. This was the organization’s Season Four tournament. He played exceptionally well, winning the entire tournament and earning $928,443. The following year he also cashed in several tournaments including the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final No Limit Hold’em in the 39th WSOP 2008 Event, where he won a little over $8,000.
Thus far, Arnaud Mattern has been able to earn money in 9 events and has amassed more than one million dollars in winnings from his tournament play. Since Mattern has not been playing poker very long, his early success may perhaps be a sign of things to come. Within five short years of playing he has won more than $1,000,000. He obviously has an affinity for the game. It will be interesting to see how things play out and if he will be able to successfully transition from rising star to a bona fide one.
