By Elliott West
“I think maybe the only thing outside that would have hindered my snooker would have been the gambling aspect of life”.
Matthew Selt
Introduction
It may have been portrayed as a shock win but the third round 6-3 victory by Matthew Selt over Judd Trump at this year’s UK Championship wasn’t that surprising. Selt has been knocking on success’s door for some time and has already won the 2019 Indian Open and reached five quarter-finals on the professional tour. Originally from Romford, Essex and now 36 years old, Selt has been a professional player since 2002 with a spell off the tour between 2003 and 2007. Now ranked 35 in the world, Matthew has climbed as high as 20th in 2016 and has made 134 career century breaks.
Career
Selt’s professional career became a reality when he finished seventh on the Pontin’s International Open Series that ran between 2006 and 2007. He reached his first final at the 2014 minor ranking Lisbon Open where he lost to Stephen Maguire 2-4, having previously finished runner-up to Stuart Bingham at the 2002 WPBSA Open Tour -Event 6, 4-5. This was followed by a good run in the Shanghai Masters in the 2009-10 season where he reached the last 32 stage, beating Steve Davis 5-4 before losing to John Higgins 5-2.
Matthew also impressed at the Grand Prix, coming back in his match against Jordan Brown from 0-4 down to win 5-4 and went on to beat Jimmy White, Stuart Pettman and Fergal O’Brien. He went on to lose to Stephen Hendry in the final stages, a match he lost 5-2.
With subsequent success in the Australian Goldfields Open and the Haining Open, Selt has worked closely with the coach Chris Henry and practices hard in his local snooker club, the Atack Snooker Centre in Nuneaton. A player who recently stopped Stephen Hendry in his tracks at the Gibraltar Open in his bid to win his match after returning to the professional tour after retirement.
“When I play well I’m dangerous, and that’s definitely the case, but I need to start playing well more often.”
Matthew Selt
Matthew’s success in this year’s UK Championship has once again proved what a great player he is and he already overcome Chang Bingyu 6-5, Joe Perry 6-2 and Judd Trump 6-3 to reach round 4 of the tournament. This progress has earned him one of his biggest paycheques of £17,000, the other being £50,000 for winning the 2019 Indian Open, where he defeated Lyu Haotian 5-3 in the final. This takes his total prize money for this season to £30,000 with his UK Championship success making up a large part of it.
With six last 128 appearances, two last 64 appearances and now two last 32 appearances, Selt is steadily returning to form and producing solid snooker in a tour that has so much competition and rivalry. A player that has freely admitted that gambling has hindered his progress in the past, a habit that he now had under control.
