Recently, PocketFiver Matthew GeneralyLee (pictured) won a World Series of Poker Circuit Event for $36,500. It was a $365 No Limit Hold’em tournament and marked an epic milestone in a poker career that began with an Aruba live tournament package in 2004. He was congratulated en masse in this PocketFives thread, so we thought an article would be appropriate.

The now defunct UB sponsored the Aruba tournament and Lee met UB pros Mark P0ker H0Kroon and Jim KrazyKanuckWorth in the island tournament. “I’ve really wanted to win a ring for a while,” Lee told PocketFives. “You know how MTTs are: to win one is a good feeling. The ring is in a drawer and I think it’s cool, but it’s a little big. I played a few other events and made a couple of deep runs. I also made the money in the last event and got knocked out in 24th place.”

He’s from Tennessee, so it’s logical that he’ll use a portion of his winnings to buy a new truck. In fact, he “plays around with a lot of older classic trucks” and told us, “I have a couple I’m working on now. I’m not going to go crazy. I don’t play a whole lot these days. The next time I’ll play will be at the WSOP Circuit Championship” at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina.

Yes, thatHarrah’s Cherokee. The one in the middle of the Smoky Mountains located a few hours from Knoxville and Atlanta. “The casino is really nice,” Lee said. “When the series is there, there are a ton of people. It’s in a fabulous location and you can go out hiking in the Smoky Mountains. The restaurant next to the poker room has fabulous food. I think I have an advantage because when I do play, I am focused because I don’t play that often.”

Lee grew up playing cards. His mother taught him how to play spades and he wound up playing in college at a friend’s house. Eventually, he saw Robert Varkonyi and Chris Moneymaker win the WSOP Main Event in 2002 and 2003, respectively, and was hooked. He won his Aruba trip in 2004 and read every poker book he could get his hands on.

If you know the origins of PocketFives, then you know site co-founder Adam Small (pictured) also won his entry to Aruba online in 2004 and headed to paradise. This author was with Small the night he won his ticket and never dreamed that, 11 years later, he’d be entrenched in the poker industry.

UB paid Lee’s hotel and airfare. He recalled, “It was a great trip. My daughter was four years old at the time and we took her. I think I lasted four or five hours in the Main Event. I was pretty green to playing in a casino, but it was a blast. How can you not appreciate something like that? Looking back on how I played, it was laughable. Poker is like life: it’s a journey.”

Incidentally, he ended up going head-to-head with Kroon on a connecting flight to Aruba, as the two played cards the whole way. And in case you’re dying to know, Small finished 130th in the Main Event for $7,000.

Almost a dozen years later, Lee has two kids and an incredibly accommodating wife. “It’s pretty cool to have a wife like mine,” the Circuit ring winner told PocketFives. “She encourages me to go play. When you’re married with kids, it’s a lot different than when you’re 24. It’s neat to be able to go on trips with the support of your wife.”

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