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 10,000 hours of poker on the Internet playing at limits from $1-$2 up to $100-$200 and many online tournaments.  He writes a column for CardPlayer magazine and has been featured in magazines and periodicals including the Wall Street Journal, All-In, Slate, and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Matthew was the 2002 New Zealand Poker Champion. In 2004, he finished 33rd out of 2578 entrants at the World Series of Poker taking home an $80,000 prize for his efforts.  He cashed again in the 2005 main event, one of only about 30 players in the world to cash in the last 2 Main Event’s.  He also had a 12th place finish in the $2000 Pot Limit Event at the 2005 WSOP.  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.  Matthew's newest book, Texas Hold'em Odds and Probabilities: Limit, No-Limit and Tournament Strategies, was released in June 2006 and has received rave reviews.  You can get a copy of this book through the ITH Store or through the ITH Free Gift Offer.

Matthew currently provides lessons for The Poker Tutor where you can watch him play and read his insights into every decision.