Matt Damon: Poker Career, Results and Biography

October 17, 2023
Updated October 25, 2026

Table of Contents

Matt Damon is an American actor and screenwriter whose best-known poker role is Mike McDermott, an aspiring poker player, in the 1998 film Rounders. ^[1] Before the film opened, he played the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he was eliminated on Day 1 when his pocket kings ran into Doyle Brunson’s pocket aces. ^[2][4] He later returned to the WSOP for the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament. ^[8]

Matt Damon at a World Series of Poker celebrity poker tournament at the Rio in Las Vegas — “Matt Damon – World Series of Poker celebrity poker tournament – Rio Casino, Las Vegas” by Kaloozer, via Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Matt Damon: key facts

Full name	Matthew Paige Damon ^[11]
Born	October 8, 1970, Cambridge, Massachusetts ^[11]
Country	United States ^[1]
Main career	Actor and screenwriter; Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting ^[11]
Poker film	Rounders (1998), as Mike McDermott ^[1]
WSOP Main Event	1998, eliminated on Day 1 by Doyle Brunson ^[2]
Charity poker	WSOP Ante Up for Africa, 2009 and 2010 ^[8][9]
WSOP bracelets	0 ^[1]
Live tournament earnings	$540 as of October 10, 2026 ^[1]

Film career

Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He co-wrote Good Will Hunting (1997) with Ben Affleck, and the pair won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; Damon was also nominated for Best Actor for the film. His later work includes Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998), the Jason Bourne films from 2002, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (2006), The Martian (2015), for which he won a Golden Globe, and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023), in which he played General Leslie Groves. ^[11] PokerNews also lists the Ocean’s trilogy among the films he is best known for. ^[1]

Rounders

Rounders was directed by John Dahl from a script by David Levien and Brian Koppelman and released in September 1998. It cost an estimated $12 million, took $8,459,126 in its wide-release opening weekend and finished its theatrical run on November 8, 1998, with a gross of $22,905,674. ^[5] PokerNews notes that it was not an initial box office hit but became a cult classic after the poker boom of the 2000s, and that it is “considered by many the best poker movie of all-time”. ^[2]

Dahl has said that Levien and Koppelman were the ones who suggested “this guy called Matt Damon”, and that Miramax showed him early footage from Good Will Hunting to win him over. ^[6] In one scene Damon’s character watches the 1988 WSOP Main Event heads-up match between Erik Seidel and Johnny Chan from his apartment, and Chan himself appears in the film. ^[7][2] Dahl recalled that after rehearsing his scene with Chan in Atlantic City, Damon “turned around at the end of the scene and said, ‘Wow!'” ^[6]

The 1998 WSOP Main Event

The $10,000 Main Event of the 1998 World Series of Poker began on May 11, 1998, at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas. According to PokerNews, it was the casino, looking for publicity, that paid the entries of Damon and his Rounders co-star Edward Norton, not the film’s producers. ^[3] Damon was the 165th entrant and Norton the 166th in a field that PokerNews puts at 350 players. ^[2] Before the event the two actors took private lessons from Phil Hellmuth and Huck Seed, according to Card Player, while PokerNews says Hellmuth and Johnny Chan gave them tips. ^[4][2]

Before the first hand Damon said, “I just don’t want to be the first one out.” ^[3] He was seated at Doyle Brunson’s table. About six hours into Day 1, Damon held pocket kings and Brunson pocket aces; no king came, and Damon was out. ^[2][3] In his account on the Rounders DVD, Damon said Hellmuth had told him that “you never throw away kings, he said you bet the farm with kings”, and that Brunson told him, “I hate to do it to you, Matty.” ^[2] Norton lasted a couple of hours before his nines full of tens lost to Surindar Sunar’s four tens. ^[3]

Neither actor reached Day 2, but Card Player wrote that they brought a lot of attention to the tournament. Brunson “did not last too much longer than Damon”, and Scotty Nguyen went on to win the title. ^[4]

Ante Up for Africa

Damon returned to the WSOP for the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament, which raised money and awareness for the Darfur region. The 2009 edition had a $5,000 buy-in and 137 players, for a prize pool of $665,820, with players encouraged to donate 50% of their winnings. Damon entered under the name “Mike McDermott”, his Rounders character, and played at the feature table next to Erik Seidel, but did not reach the final table. Alex Bolotin won the event for $176,449, and ESPN broadcast it as part of its WSOP coverage. ^[8]

He played again in 2010, when the prize pool was $408,240. Phil Gordon won and donated all of his winnings to charity, and Shannon Elizabeth finished second. ^[9] PokerNews lists total live earnings of $540 for Damon as of October 10, 2026, without listing the result behind the figure. ^[1]

Cash games and a possible Rounders sequel

Erik Seidel told PokerNews that he first met Damon at a cash game at Bellagio some time after the 1998 Main Event and has played with him “a bunch of times since then”, adding: “he is just the nicest guy. He really is.” ^[7]

A sequel to Rounders has been discussed for years. In 2024 Damon told the Rich Eisen Show that “so much has happened in the poker world in the last 25 years, it would be fun to catch up with those guys”, describing the Levien and Koppelman script as “fantastic” and “a movie ready to go”. The obstacle, he said, is that “you have to figure out the chain of title, who owns it”. ^[10]

In his own words

“To sit across from these guys, it’s like getting a chance to play basketball against Michael Jordan.” On playing the 1998 Main Event. ^[2]
“You know you’re not going to win, but it’s an experience you’re never going to forget.” ^[2]
“I sat with Doyle [and] I lost the way I would have wanted to.” After his elimination in 1998. ^[3]
“I’m now the best poker player in my weekly game.” His joke after the bust. ^[2]

Videos

Matt Damon’s best hands from the WSOP

FAQ about Matt Damon

How old is Matt Damon?

He was born on October 8, 1970, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, so he is 56 as of October 10, 2026. ^[11]

Who did Matt Damon play in Rounders?

He played Mike McDermott, an aspiring poker player, in the 1998 film directed by John Dahl. ^[1][5]

Did Matt Damon play the World Series of Poker Main Event?

Yes. He played the $10,000 Main Event in 1998, with an entry paid by Binion’s Horseshoe, and was eliminated on Day 1. ^[2][3]

Who knocked Matt Damon out of the WSOP?

Doyle Brunson. Damon’s pocket kings lost to Brunson’s pocket aces about six hours into Day 1 of the 1998 Main Event. ^[2][4]

Has Matt Damon won money playing poker?

PokerNews lists total live earnings of $540 as of October 10, 2026, and no WSOP bracelet. ^[1]

What is Matt Damon’s net worth?

There is no reliable public figure for his net worth. His verifiable poker record is $540 in live tournament earnings as of October 10, 2026. ^[1]

Will there be a Rounders 2?

Nothing has been announced. In 2024 Damon said he would like to make one and that the writers’ script is ready, but that the question of who owns the rights has to be solved first. ^[10]

Does Matt Damon still play poker?

He played the Ante Up for Africa charity event at the WSOP in 2009 and 2010, and Erik Seidel has said he has played with Damon many times since meeting him at a Bellagio cash game. ^[8][9][7]

Related Poker Legends

Read more about Doyle Brunson, who eliminated Damon from the 1998 Main Event, Phil Hellmuth, who gave him poker lessons before it, and Erik Seidel, whose 1988 heads-up match with Johnny Chan appears in Rounders.