PROFILE
Name: Matt Giannetti
Age: 26
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Online Handle: hazards21
Poker pro Matt Giannetti is a Longhorn through and through, but the 26-year old makes his home in Las Vegas, the Mecca of the poker world. Giannetti left the University of Texas in 2006 in order to focus on poker, where he played in high-stakes online cash games as “hazards21.” It was a decision that has paid off handsomely, as Giannetti now finds himself as a member of the November Nine.
While he’s not widely regarded as a tournament player, Giannetti has still racked up several scores on the circuit. He moved to Las Vegas in order to play live cash games, but he plays the occasional tournament as well, and has more than $500,000 in earnings since 2006. He has one previous cash in the WSOP Main Event, and made a final table at a WSOP $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event in 2009, taking fourth for $66,544. That remains the biggest live cash of his career, but he’s guaranteed at least $782,155 as a member of the November Nine.
Giannetti enters the Main Event final table third in chips with 24,750,000 after quadrupling his stack on the final table bubble. That fact alone makes him one of the most dangerous players remaining. He’s not afraid of losing his stack and poses a terrifying threat for opponents with millions of dollars on the line in November.
HOW HE GOT THERE:
Day 1: 26,475
Day 2: 79,000
Day 3: 253,500
Day 4: 114,000
Day 5: 1,900,800
Day 6: 7,940,000
Day 7: 8,920,000
Day 8: 24,750,000
KEY HAND: Giannetti entered the “unofficial” final table of 10 as the short stack, but he didn’t freeze up like many of the November Nine hopefuls we’ve seen in the past. After doubling through John Hewitt with pocket jacks, he found jacks once more against Ben Lamb, and his tournament life was again at risk.
With the blinds at 250,000/500,000 and a 50,000 ante, Pius Heinz raised to 1.1 million from middle position and Lamb three-bet to 3.1 million directly behind. Action folded to Giannetti who moved all in for 8.4 million on the button. The blinds folded, Heinz followed, and Lamb decided on a call:
Giannetti: Js-Jd
Lamb: Kh-9s
With everyone in attendance sweating a flop, the dealer ran out a board of 10h-6d-3h-7h-As. Lamb picked up a flush draw on the turn, but Giannetti escaped the river to increase his stack to just over 19 million.
WHY HE CAN WIN: Giannetti WANTS to win. Nothing else matters. Because of that, he won’t be thinking about moving up the pay ladder at the final table. Giannetti comes from a high-stakes background and will be focused on making plays that put him in position to win the tournament. He risked his entire stack multiple times (in good spots) on the final table bubble, and we can expect more of that in November.