Matthew Hilger is from Atlanta, Georgia. He received his BBA in Finance at the University of Georgia and followed that with a Master's in Finance at Georgia State University. He then worked for a few years with Andersen Consulting (currently known as Accenture) doing consulting work mainly for the banking industry.

Matthew then moved to Phoenix, Arizona to pursue a Master's in International Management from Thunderbird. It was in Phoenix where he played his first game of Texas Hold'em at a local Indian reservation. He graduated in 1996 and began working for Chiquita Brands International in Cincinnati. His poker game was put on hold until they transferred him to their division in Costa Rica.

In Costa Rica he played his first no-limit tournament and started to play poker with more frequency. Costa Rica was a great place to hone his skills with some of the top players in the world such as Humberto Brenes, Dr. Max Stern, and Jose Rosenkrantz.

In 1999, Matthew began working for Bristol-Myers Squibb as their Finance Director for Central America. The following year, Bristol transferred him to Argentina. Argentina did not have any live poker games, and he soon discovered Internet Poker. His early success on the Internet fueled his passion further and he started to study the game seriously. He was soon hooked, and after a vacation to New Zealand, decided to move there with his wife and started playing professionally on the Internet.

Matthew has now played over 7000 hours of poker on the Internet playing at limits from $1-$2 up to $30-$60 and many online tournaments. He is an instructor at PokerSchoolOnline.com and writes a column for PokerPages.com and PokerinEurope.com. In 2002, he won the New Zealand Poker Championship. In 2004, he finished 33rd out of 2578 entrants at the World Series of Poker taking home an $80,000 prize for his efforts. His book, Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro, provides a comprehensive tool for players at all levels to be successful at limit Texas Hold'em.