Ch0ppy – Enjoying an Enviable Poker Career online
Soaring high on the online poker charts, Matthew Kay aka Ch0ppy is a poker player online you need to watch out for if you are planning to join the aggressive online poker world. He currently finds himself at the number 3 position in online poker rankings. But keeping in mind his previous records it won’t be surprising if he hits the number 1 spot again.
From a student to a professional poker player online
Before he started using his tricks on the poker table, Ch0ppy was a student at the University of Waterloo. He took up a course in mathematics and chartered accountancy but soon realized that his passion lies in poker. Yet, he finished his course as a back up plan just in case his poker dreams did not materialize. But looking at his success rate so far it doesn’t look like he will ever need a back-up plan!
Ch0ppy officially started playing poker in 2007 when he was still in college. In one of his interviews he confessed that before he started playing poker online he hadn’t really planned out his life. He was aware of what he was good at but he couldn’t really decide on a career path that would be enjoyable as well as fulfilling. He admits that when he started playing poker he just wanted to better his game to avoid a conventional job but his outlook is very different now.
His five year career
In his five year career this Canadian lad has won many tournaments and strengthened his reputation in the gaming world. In 2007 Ch0ppy won the ‘Stars Second Chance.’ The next year, he bagged the 5th event of the ‘TitanPoker ECOOP III’. In the current year Matthew has raked in a lot of cash by participating successfully in buy-in tournaments. This year he also hit the number one spot in the online poker player rankings.
2012 has proven to be his most successful year so far. In July this year ch0ppy won the Ongame $200. His win of $35,000 in this tournament landed him the number 1 spot on the PocketFive rankings earlier this year. In the very next month he finished 2nd at the 888$ 100K and won a cool $14,000 in this series. With his final table win of $100,000 at the WCOOP High Roller Event, Ch0ppy has definitely assured his spot in the top 5 players for the present season.
Earnings tally
With all his wins Ch0ppy has amassed an impressive fortune of $4,862,8470.79 so far. His skills have gotten him this far and it won’t be surprising if he creates some new records before deciding to give up playing poker professionally. His live poker earnings are, however, comparatively meager and stand at $7,818 inclusive of all the tournaments he’s played so far.
Quotes
In interviews, Ch0ppy has said that patience and bet sizing are his biggest strengths. He attributes years of practice to his patient demeanor at the tables.
Controversies
In 2011, Matthew announced on his blog that he wanted to give up poker and get a real job. He didn’t want to carry on with poker as his main source of income, and confessed that he might be happier with a conventional 9 to 6 job. Rumor has it that this talented player’s brief decision to give up poker was based on his break-up with his girlfriend at the time. On his blog he announced that his girlfriend and him had broken up due to unnecessary reasons. The whole confession had a few flashes of some physical abuse in their relationship as well.
What Ch0ppy is up to presently
The player has taken up coaching, though he admits he’s only just testing it out with one person at the moment. He believes in one-on-one coaching and says that training videos don’t help enthusiasts learn effectively.