Matt Maroon began playing poker seriously at the age of 18. At that time, he was ranked the world’s No. 1 player of Battletech, a sci-fi wargame. It was during his high school years that the movie Rounders generated a wave of young poker players, including Maroon. Since he excelled at most games and enjoyed earning a consistently sizeable income, the combination of the two was very appealing to the young graduate.

In 2003, Maroon began competing professionally. Seven months later he started his own blog called The Poker Chronicles. His writings are now a staple for thousands of readers around the world, and intellectually appealing enough to professionals for Maroon to carve out a respectable name in the industry. So much so that ESPN actually zeroed in on and followed the young poker player/blogger at the onset of the 2006 World Series of Poker. “The ending was as anticlimactic as they come,” said Maroon, “but the first week was a lot of fun.”

Today “themaroon” can be found playing in several online poker rooms at a time, and usually at the $10-$20 no-limit or other high-stakes games.