Poker Pro Matthew Hilger Wins Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed Poker Tournament

Matthew Hilger, poker author, poker publisher, and poker pro, won the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed Poker Tournament this past Sunday evening giving him over $132K for first place. When asked about playing at Full Tilt, Hilger admitted “I’ve actually done very well in this particular tournament. In 9 or 10 tries this year, I have 3 top 100’s, 2 final tables, and now the big win”.

Matthew now has his eyes set on the World Series of Poker (WSOP), where he has cashed three of the last four years in the main event and nine times overall. The WSOP has exploded in popularity over the last few years, thanks in large part, to the support of online poker sites where many of the players win online satellites in the WSOP main event.

Hilger became inextricably associated with Internet Poker when he released his best-selling book, ‘Internet Texas Hold’em’ aka “ITH” at the dawn of the explosion the Internet has brought to Texas Holdem. Following the book, Hilger created an online community, poker forums, read strategy articles, and get exclusive poker bonuses.

This win was the exclamation point for a great month for Hilger, as his third child and first daughter, Isabel Teresa Hilger was born earlier in the month on April 2nd. His wife and newborn daughter are both doing well. One interesting coincidence that one of his friends pointed out is that his daughter’s initials are “ITH”, like his first book and online community.

Hilger is also a contributor to Card Player Magazine, has been featured in magazines and periodicals including the Wall Street Journal, All-In, and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and serves on the board of directors for Colombianitos (http://www.colombianitos.org), a charity that helps disadvantaged children in Colombia.

Having had one of the busiest years imaginable thus far, including the birth of his daughter Isabel, the upcoming release of several new poker books, and growing the websites from his company Dimat Online, Matthew managed to find time to get back to what he likes to do best – play poker, and it sure has paid off. When asked if this would affect his WSOP plans, Hilger had this to say, “I definitely feel more ready than I ever have as I have played a lot more online than in past year so I won’t be rusty going into the WSOP. I must also say that working with Rizen, Pearljammer, and Apestyles on the poker hands book has been helpful in simply being able to talk with these guys on a regular basis as well as learning a few tricks here and there by reviewing their manuscript.” Rizen, Pearljammer, and Apestyles, are well known online pro’s whom he is working on upcoming books with.