Originally from the Lake District, UK, I’ve spent the last few years living and breathing the Southeast Asian poker circuit. Since 2025, I’ve been a fixture on the floor at the APT, PokerStars, and WSOP events, serving as a lead reporter and media specialist for Somuchpoker. My work is about more than just recording action; I manage the social media and digital content that brings action rail to the fans. By combining a business education and creative background, I aim to look past the technical hand histories to capture the actual human grit and drama that happens during a deep run.

Updated: 2026.05.13

Mansour Matloubi is an Iranian-British poker player who made history on 17 May 1990 when he won the World Series of Poker Main Event for $835,000, becoming the first non-American ever to claim the world championship title. Playing under the Welsh flag from his adopted home of Cardiff, Matloubi — largely unknown to the poker world before that week — defeated a field of 194 players that included Stu Ungar, the greatest player of the era, to enter the poker history books permanently.

Career Earnings & Biggest Results

Total live earnings stand at over $2,025,000 across 84 recorded cashes, per The Hendon Mob. His WSOP cashes alone account for over $1.2 million of that total.

Career Highlights at a Glance
💰 Live Earnings: $2,025,000+ | 🏆 WSOP World Champion: 1990 | 🎯 84 Cashes | 🥇 First non-American WSOP champion

Notable Results (click to expand)

Date	Event	Result	Prize
May 1990	WSOP $10,000 Main Event	1st / 194	$835,000
1993	WSOP Main Event	4th	$120,000
1994	World Poker Finals $10,000 NLH, Foxwoods	1st	$72,000
1990	Diamond Jim Brady $10,000 NLH	2nd	$160,000

His estimated poker net worth is difficult to quantify — baccarat and other high-stakes gambling consumed much of his poker earnings over the years.

Mansour Matloubi poker — Credit: PokerNews

Biography & Poker Background

Mansour Matloubi was born in Iran in 1952 and moved to Cardiff, Wales in 1972, where he obtained citizenship and built a life before discovering poker. He travelled to the 1990 WSOP with a group of fellow British players — largely as a relative unknown in the context of the Las Vegas poker world. What unfolded over the following days changed British poker history.

The 1990 Main Event is notable on multiple counts. Among those he outlasted was Stu Ungar — widely regarded as the greatest Hold’em player of all time — who had accumulated a dominant chip lead before a medical emergency (an overdose in his hotel room) left him blinded out during play, eventually finishing ninth. Matloubi himself had to survive a harrowing heads-up battle against Hans “Tuna” Lund, during which he went from two outs to winning when a ten fell on the river in the most critical hand of the match. Pocket sixes then ended the contest.

His background favoured Pot Limit Omaha over No-Limit Hold’em — a discipline in which very few players of that era were truly proficient. His ability to win the world’s biggest No-Limit event from that standing underlines a broader understanding of poker fundamentals.

In the aftermath of his 1990 win, Matloubi was famously involved in a cash game against Ungar, where Ungar called him down with ten-high and won. Matloubi reportedly refused to play Ungar again after that encounter. He continued competing actively through the 1990s, making the Main Event final table again in 1993, before largely retreating from the spotlight. He has since cashed in events as recently as 2025, remaining one of poker’s great living history figures.

Legacy

Matloubi’s 1990 victory broke a barrier that had stood for two decades: every previous WSOP Main Event champion had been American. He opened the door that would eventually see champions from across the world, and his win is cited in almost every account of poker’s globalisation. He played under the Welsh flag, making him part of Welsh poker history as much as British history — though his career was built largely from London, where he eventually settled.