Matt Matros grew up on the East End of Long Island in Westhampton, New York. He was the valedictorian of his high school class and went on to earn a B.S. in mathematics from Yale University. Although he’d played poker with his high school buddies on an almost weekly basis, he didn’t start studying the game and trying seriously to be a winner at it until his senior year of college.
After Yale, Matt worked as a software quality engineer for three years, playing poker recreationally. Though poker was only his hobby, Matt managed to cash in the 2001 Tournament of Champions, a prestigious event that is sadly no longer in existence.
In 2002, Matt quit his job to attend the fiction writing program at Sarah Lawrence College. After his first year of graduate school, during which he signed the contract for The Making of a Poker Player, Matt made poker his full-time summer job. He earned enough to finance his entire second year. While a student, Matt cashed in several major tournaments, including the New England Poker Classic and the World Championship of Online Poker.
A few months before he won his way into the 2004 World Poker Tour Championship, Matt finished the final draft of The Making of a Poker Player. He was forced to return to the manuscript and write a twenty-first chapter after he finished third in the tournament and won $706,903.
Since his first big success, Matt has gone on to cash in 23 World Series of Poker events, including five final tables, a 78th place finish (out of 6,844) in the 2008 Main Event, and two 1st place gold bracelet victories in the 2010 $1,500 Limit Hold ‘Em event, and the 2011 $2,500 Mixed Hold ‘Em event. In addition, Matt has become a featured coach for cardrunners.com, where members can watch videos of Matt playing online tournaments and giving poker lessons.
Matt received his M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence shortly after his third place finish at the Bellagio. He is currently a full-time writer/poker player/poker coach, and is at work on a novel. Matt Matros resides in Brooklyn, NY.
