Our Verdict:
Very few online players this year have made the impact that Matt Kay aka “Ch0ppy” has. Not only did he win the PokerStars Sunday Million in January, taking down an unchopped $201k, but he has followed it up with victory in another big Sunday night tourney, the PokerStars Second Chance (for $39k), as well as two of the famous poker site’s $100 rebuy tournaments.
When you consider that Kay is still not old enough to set foot in a Vegas casino you soon realise that a new poker force has been born.
The young Canadian is currently at the University of Waterloo in Ontario studying maths and chartered accountancy, although he said in an interview recently that he doesn’t enjoy it much and might leave to spend a year playing poker. That would be no bad thing as he clearly has a major talent.
Although most of his big wins have come on PokerStars he also plays on UltimateBet and Full Tilt as “NoBadBeatsPlz” and on PartyPoker as “ch0ppyPS”.
The youngster has only been playing for two years, as you would perhaps expect, but so far his tournament winnings come in at nearly $350,000.
He must be relishing the prospect of one day playing in the World Series of Poker but he must wait at least another two years before he’s old enough to play at the Rio All-Suites. However, he is old enough to play in European casinos and has pledged to play in the three WSOP events that are scheduled to take place in London later this year. Big tournaments like the Aruba Poker Classic, sponsored by UltimateBet, could also be on the list.
He certainly has the gambler mentality, telling an interviewer recently: “My current plan is to keep improving my game and to not have to work a day of my life in a conventional job.”
Sounds like the sort of thing Doyle Brunson might have said around 50 years ago.