World Poker Tour

Matt Matros

Birthplace
Port Jefferson, NY

Hometown
Port Jefferson, NY

Birthday
May 13

Total Winnings
$825,500

Matt Matros is poker's version of a Renaissance man. Born on Long Island, Matros played poker with his friends during high school on his way to graduating top of his class. The valedictorian took himself to Yale where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics. All along, poker had simply been a hobby. However, with a firm background in math, Matros started looking at the game with a scientist's mind. After graduation, Matros went to work as a software quality engineer and played poker on the side. While he was still in the working world, Matros managed to cash in poker's Tournament of Champions. In 2002, Matros decided to abandon the working world and pursue his passion for writing. He went to Sara Lawrence College and enrolled in the graduate level fiction writing program. He got a book deal to write, "The Making of a Poker Player" and played poker during his summers. Still in school, he put up big cashes in the New England Poker Classic and World Championship of Online Poker. While impressive, it would not be his biggest accomplishment. In 2004, Matros entered the World Poker Tour Championship and made it all the way to the final table. He placed third and earned more than $700,000. Not only did it set him up to continue his career in poker, it forced him to add a final chapter to his book. Matros now has more than $800,000 in career live tournament winnings and continues to play poker and write for a living.