My name is Matt Marinelli. I've made over $3 million playing online cash games, and my goal is to hit $10 million in profit. I joined a CFP in 2018, started at 100NL, and never looked back.

I previously wrote a blog here called Making a Million and followed through on that goal. When it was done, I asked the mods to remove it—but to my surprise, people actually cared. I kept getting DMs asking where it went, if they could get a copy, why I deleted it, etc.

So, fuck it.

I'm back.

This blog will revolve around a consistent motif: technē. Technē is a Greek word meaning an art, craft, or skill learned and mastered through practice rather than just theoretical understanding. It’s the combination of knowledge and skill forged from years of disciplined study and experience in the pursuit of mastery.

Within this framework, I approach poker like a dedicated craftsman. The outcome relies on the execution of my play, but that play is honed by thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears. I don't rely on talent. Honestly, I don’t even know if I’m talented at poker—because I refuse to find out.

In contrast, many people treat poker like a game. They sign on, play, review the most tilting hands, and try again tomorrow. While that has an appeal because poker is a game and it can be fun, it’s also my career and I intend to treat myself with more respect than that. Ultimately, if some 50nl reg with a dream reads this blog and decides to adopt this mindset, taking my approach as a source of inspiration, then sharing these things will be worthwhile to me.

Lifetime Results:

I didn’t get to keep all of it because I was staked to start my career / sold some action at times, but I can’t complain. This is how I will account for the challenge #’s. (”Other” is from hand histories that were lost in a PC crash. I know how much $ was missing though, so I include it here to keep full account)

Challenge Start: $3,002,280 / $10,000,000

Follow me: https://x.com/MatthewMarinel5