Matt Vengrin, known as “Plattsburgh” on PokerStars, is one of the hottest young online tournament professionals going today. He is known as “ENGMONEY” on UB.com, “mattyv” on Full Tilt Poker and “MATT_VENGRIN” on Absolute Poker. Vengrin has been playing professionally for a number of years and is a big supporter of PocketFives.com. A big win on his poker resume came in Event #7 of the 2007 FTOPS Series for $210,000 in addition to his second place finish at the PokerStars Sunday Million. He also finished in second place at a Full Tilt Poker $750k Guaranteed. Other impressive finishes include second place in the PokerStars Sunday Record Second Chance ($28,000) and third in the $1,000 Limit Event at the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) at PokerStars.
Vengrin’s largest live tournament score was at the 2008 World Series of Poker, where he finished in third place in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Event for a $168,000 payday. His most recent large score online came in March of 2010 as he finished in fourth place in a $100+$9 $40,000 Guaranteed for $12,870. According to various online databases, he has won over one million dollars in his poker career. He originally hails from Red Hook, New York but currently lives in the greater Los Angeles area.
In this interview with Dan Cypra, which was conducted just prior to the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event at the Rio Hotel and Casino, Vengrin talks about his new look and new mental attitude which is helping him at the tables. He discusses his weight loss plan and how he continues a steady balance of eating right and working out when he’s not playing poker. In addition he talks about how this past WSOP circuit has gone for him and what his plans are in the future with poker.
Vengrin lists his favorite poker hand as 9T of spades in Hold’em.