Matt Giannetti

Total Winnings
$452,815

Matt Giannetti first gained notoriety on the World Poker Tour not for making a final table, but for taking part in a memorable prop bet at the Season VI stop in Turks and Caicos. Giannetti spent 12 hours in the hotel’s outdoor pool to win $15,000. Giannetti stayed in that pool from midnight until noon the following day armed with nothing but a t-shirt, swim trunks, some sunscreen, and a will to win.

With that kind of resolve, it is no wonder that Giannetti is a force to be reckoned with at the poker table. After four years of moderate success on the tournament circuit, Giannetti broke out in 2011. First, he final tabled the World Series of Poker Main Event. Then, rather than relax and rest up before the final table played down to a winner in November, Giannetti hit the circuit hard. In his downtime, he did something no November Niner before him had achieved—he won a WPT title. The 26 year-old became the first-ever WPT Malta champion, picked up €200,000, and became the even money favorite headed into the Main Event.

Giannetti finished fourth in the WSOP event, picking up over $3 million and upping his lifetime earnings to more than $3.8 million and solidified a spot as one of the top ten earners of 2011. The diehard University of Texas fan has the focus and work ethic to up his lifetime earnings even higher, as his young career is just getting started.