Who Is Matt Belcher? The Mystery Man First on the List for WSOP’s Biggest Buy-Ins

The primary participant registered for the 2025 World Sequence of Poker’s $100,000 and $250,000 Tremendous Excessive Curler occasions isn’t a family title like Bonomo, Chidwick, or Ivey, and it’s not typically the poker world pauses on the very first title on a registration checklist.

However as eyes start to show to the 2 greatest buy-in occasions at this yr’s WSOP, one title has drawn a double-take: Matt Belcher.

Who’s Matt Belcher?

Belcher isn’t among the many normal suspects in poker’s high-stakes elite. However make no mistake: the British professional has been quietly assembling a powerful résumé over the previous 18 months, flying below the radar whereas cashing throughout a number of excursions and continents.

In February 2025, Belcher made his debut on the Triton Tremendous Excessive Curler Sequence in Jeju, South Korea. His first foray into poker’s most unique fields noticed him hearth six occasions, together with the $100,000 NLH Fundamental Occasion, however he walked away with only a single end result, a min-cash in a $25,000 buy-in.

Three months later, he returned to Triton in Montenegro and made a a lot louder assertion. Belcher completed seventh within the $50,000 8-Handed for $283,000, then adopted it up with a Thirteenth-place end within the $100,000 Fundamental Occasion for $293,000. In only a few days, he banked over half 1,000,000 {dollars} and proved he might compete on the prime.

That scorching streak adopted a final-table run in April on the APT Tremendous Excessive Curler in Taipei, the place he completed fourth for the equal of $103,000.

Matthew Belcher High 10 Cashes

Grinding the Micros in Asia

What makes Belcher’s rise so intriguing, and what makes his early registration for each the WSOP’s $100K and $250K Tremendous Excessive Rollers particularly eyebrow-raising, is how seamlessly he blends the elite with the obscure.

In between chasing seven-figure prize swimming pools, Belcher has been a well-recognized face at low buy-in occasions throughout Asia. These vary from RM786 ($165) Hyper Turbos in Malaysia to NT$35,000 (~$1,000) turbos in Taipei. In keeping with The Hendon Mob, in April 2025 alone, he cashed 12 occasions in simply 9 days — together with three separate occasions on April 13 alone.

And he’s not simply turning up. He’s making remaining tables, and he’s successful.

Some may additionally acknowledge Belcher from his run at WSOP Paradise in December 2024, the place he reached Day 4 of the $25,000 WSOP Paradise Tremendous Fundamental Occasion and completed twenty fourth for $180,300. He adopted that up simply days later with a runner-up end within the Summer time Saver Invitational, price one other $116,200.

He’s already off the mark on the 2025 WSOP in Las Vegas, ending 106th in Occasion #13: $1,500 No Restrict Maintain’em (6-Handed). Who’s betting in opposition to him grabbing one other in among the greatest buy-in occasions of the summer time?

Regardless of the reply, Belcher received’t be sneaking up on anybody for much longer.

Primarily based in the UK, Will began working for PokerNews as a contract reside reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time employees in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor.

He graduated from the College of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He additionally holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports activities Journalism.