Coming into Day 6 of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event, Matthew Haugen was one of the shorter stacks in the Amazon Room with only 760,000 in chips. Don’t let this mislead you, however, as Haugen has a decent background when it comes to dealing with massive tournament fields. He led when 291 players remained and constantly found himself near the top of the chip counts on Day 6. He ultimately finished in 28th place in the 2014 Main Event for $230,000.

Haugen got his first taste of tournament success at the 2010 PokerStarsCaribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. Working his way through a 1,529-player field, Haugen would eventually finish in ninth place in the event won by Harrison Gimbel.

2011 saw Haugen earn his first WSOP tournament cash in a 4,178-player field of a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event and, in 2012, he demonstrated his skills in Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em to earn his second cash.

The World Poker Tour would be where Haugen made his largest tournament score leading up to the 2014 Main Event. In a 1,042-player field at the 2012 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, Haugen would eventually be eliminated in fourth place for a $222,336 score.

In 2014, Haugen added another cash at the Borgata Winter Poker Open to his tournament poker resume as well as two WSOP cashes, including an 18th place finish in the first ever Monster Stack event. Overall, Haugen has yet to earn a major tournament championship, but has been able to accrue almost $500,000 in career tournament earnings. All of this, of course, leading up to his big Main Event run.

Haugen is from Chicago, Illinois, an area that’s expected to boom in poker. The city relies primarily on Northwest Indiana and a few casinos in Illinois to fuel its gambling needs. Maybe a Main Event run by Haugen would be just what the doctor ordered for the Windy City.