In 2003, a little-known Tennessee accountant with a crafty last name – Chris Moneymaker – took down the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, igniting the modern poker boom. In 2010, Brentwood, Tennessee’s Matthew Bucaric was looking to recreate history. Bucaric made waves on Day 7 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, sending Gary Dishongh out the door in 63rd place with pocket aces against pocket kings.
It’s the dream scenario that every poker player hopes for, to have an opponent move all-in and then wake up with pocket rockets. In fact, Bucaric added insult to injury by spiking an ace on the river and taking down the hand with a set. The mass influx of chips moved him up to seven million in chips after he had entered Day 7 of the Main Event with just under four million. It was the rush of a lifetime at exactly the right time and propelled him to a 26th place finish for $317,000.
Bucaric is a business major at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, located about three hours due east of Brentwood on Interstate 40. This wasn’t his first rodeo in the Main Event, either, as Bucaric finished 607th in the 2008 installment of poker’s most prestigious tournament and earned $21,000. Prior to that cash, his lone WSOP in the money finish was in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event in 2008 for $3,300.
When 78 players were left standing entering Day 7 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, Bucaric was one of just two from Tennessee. The other was Christopher Bolt, who qualified for the $10,000 buy-in tournament through UB.com. Bucaric’s Day 7 seat draw, which saw the field slashed to 27 players, included Adam “Roothlus” Levy and Peter Jetten.
Bucaric was born in Chicago and, leading up to the 2010 WSOP Main Event, his total earnings in World Series tournaments approached $25,000. He specializes in $10/$20 heads-up cash games online.
