Seat 3: Mateusz Moolhuizen, 34, from the Netherlands, lives in Addlestone, the UK – 20,800,000
Mateusz Moolhuizen's poker origins are fairly vanilla: he played with friends in high school, enjoyed watching Rounders, and has stayed involved in the game ever since. The Dutchman has had success online and live; he's been a familiar face on the circuit for well over a decade.
A regular fixture on the European Poker Tour, Moolhuizen twice came close to reaching an EPT Main Event final table, notching 13th and 16th place. But, for a long time, his best live score had been a €117,000 top prize from Unibet Open Malta 2011.
Two years ago, though, he bumped his resume with a massive $597,632 payday from the Monster Stack bracelet event in Vegas. That run saw Moolhuizen outlast more than 6,500 opponents – all but Michael Jukich.
Fast forward to February 2024, Moolhuizen has left behind over 4,000 entrants in the record-breaking FPS Paris Main Event, including Gianluca Speranza, whom he outflipped with ten players remaining, despite Speranza holding Moolhuizen's favorite hand: pocket nines.
On the final table, he may enjoy support from his fiancée, poker player Dehlia de Jong, who has booked a train from the Netherlands to watch her partner compete on the PokerStars TV stage.