Making Ten Million: The Inspiring Journey of Matt Marinelli

First Milestone: From $0 to $1M for Five Years

In 2018, high-stakes cash game player Matt Marinell joined the CFP, started playing at NL100, and set a goal: reach $1,000,000 in online cash game profits.

He shared every step of the way on his “Making a Million” blog, moving up in stakes from NL100 to NL2K and finally reaching his goal in August 2022.

Once the work was done, he asked the moderators to delete his blog  and in the following years, he received a rather unexpected response from the community:

Fortunately, some of the information from his blog was preserved in this article on Pokeroff, including screenshots we used in our article. And thanks to this text we know that after five years of grinding, Matt came up with three pieces of advice that could help others succeed in poker.

Prepare to Fight

Poker is no walk in the park: even successful players experience disappointments, and sometimes struggle to cope with downswings.

Matt also had a tough time. His first four attempts at NL2K in June, July, and August 2019 and February 2020 all resulted in pretty big losses:

So be prepared to face challenges and overcome them if you want to achieve true success in the game (and in life, too, really).

Consistency Is More Important Than Genius

The poker community tends to idolize one-of-a-kind players and put them on a pedestal, worshiping their unique situation as some kind of standard to aspire to.

But genius is rare and most people who have achieved success in poker have done so through hard work, consistency, and a growth mindset.

The latter means the ability to believe that you can grow and develop, as opposed to believing that life and your abilities are predetermined. Yes, not everyone can become Linus Loeliger but everyone has hidden potential within them, waiting to be unleashed.

Believe in Yourself

Before becoming a professional poker player, Matt Marinelli worked as a full-time wedding videographer and commercial project director. At the time, he was in love with poker but couldn’t find the courage to make it his career.

But at some point, he watched Bill Burr’s podcast, and it resonated so deeply with Matt that it inspired him to go on Poker Detox and become a professional poker player. As he stated on the blog, deep down he knew he had the potential to succeed in poker. He just needed to believe in himself and take the risk to be sure of it.

Second Milestone: Plus $2M for the Next Three Years

After Matt’s blog was deleted, he disappeared from the public eye for a while, but returned in March 2025 with a new blog and a new record: profits exceeded $3M.

Between August 2022 and March 2025 Matt’s main sources of income were four poker operators:

• Ignition Poker — $1,242,535.12
• ACR Poker — $926,041.20
• GGPoker — $452,104.88
• Apps — $261,428

Some contribution to his profits was also made by:

• WSOP.com — $39,191
• Chinese App — $35,000
• ClubWPTGold — $11,058
• Global Poker — $354

Finally, MTT brought him some more profit — $79,428.

At the same time, he lost $44,869 on CoinPoker and other poker websites. As a result, his total profit was $3,002,280.20 and from this amount, he decided to set a new, much more ambitious goal.

Third Milestone: Pursuit of $10M in Profit

Matt’s new blog, “Makin Ten Million“, is dedicated to his new goal of reaching $10,000,000 in profits, but with a specific focus:

Matt shares his progress, tips, and results on this blog. For example, by October 17, 2025, he had made a profit of $518,837 from the starting point and an EV-adjusted profit of $642,000.

However, he considers discussion of the results not really necessary, since they are not really of great importance:

You can support Matt or ask him questions directly on his blog — he’s happy to answer!