Matt "ch0ppy" Kay's climb up the 2007 Online Player of the Year (OPOY) leader board took one big break and a lot of follow-through. Kay lived every Internet poker player's dream when he took down the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament (ironically, without chopping) for... more

Matt “ch0ppy” Kay’s climb up the 2007 Online Player of the Year (OPOY) leader board took one big break and a lot of follow-through. Kay lived every Internet poker player’s dream when he took down the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament (ironically, without chopping) for $201,000 on Jan. 7.

Kay’s win allowed him to continue playing in the big buy-in tournaments, and he kept up the pace by making tons of deep finishes in OPOY-qualified tournaments. One of those deep finishes was yet another first-place finish in a big tournament, the PokerStars Sunday Million Second Chance tournament on April 22. He earned almost $51,000 for that win and put himself in a tenuous lead on the OPOY leader board. He has been in and out of the No. 1 spot since that time, but has remained consistently in the top five.

Kay is currently attending the University of Waterloo for mathematics and chartered accountancy, but he admits that he was never too interested in his majors and that the poker bug bit him with a vengeance. He hopes to “never have to work a day of my life in a ‘conventional job.’”

Kay is one of many up-and-coming Internet poker players hailing from Waterloo, Canada. Included in that list of rising stars is Kay’s friend and mentor “hit21hit,” who he says helped his game tremendously.

Check out Card Player’s exclusive interview with Kay here. You can also watch an exclusive interview with him on Card Player TV here. close bio