Matthew Jarvis plays online at Full Tilt Poker.

Born and raised near Vancouver in British Columbia, Matthew rose to prominence in the poker world when he was a member of the 2010 November Nine.

Shortly before the 2010 WSOP, Matthew learned his father had been diagnosed with cancer and almost didn’t go to Las Vegas. His father insisted that he take part, and Matthew used that support for inspiration as he moved through the field of 7,319. The decision to play paid off nicely, as Matthew reached the final table with the fifth largest chip stack.

At the final table, the Canadian fell victim to one of the most dramatic hands ever seen at the Main Event. His all-in move with 9c-9h was called by Michael Mizrachi holding Ad-Qd. With Matthew’s tournament life on the line, the Qs-8d-Qc sent the crowd wild, giving the Grinder three queens and left Jarvis with just two outs. The turn was the nine of spades, which gave Jarvis one of those outs and completed his full house. However, the ace of spades on the river gave Mizrachi a stronger full house to see Matthew finish in 8th place, worth $1,045,743.

Matthew only had to wait until the following summer to capture his first piece of WSOP gold, as he outlasted 731 other players to win Event #40 of the 2011 WSOP. In addition to securing a coveted bracelet, Matthew collected more than $800K for his first place finish.

Matthew’s father was a professional golfer and passed on his competitive nature to his son. Matthew was able to learn first hand about performing under pressure when he spent ten weeks caddying for his father on the Senior PGA Champions Tour in 2004.

"I've always been really good at math and I'm also a really competitive guy," he said. "I think between those two things... well, that's poker."

Though he now plays full time, Matthew admits to some ambivalence regarding taking up poker as a career. He worked in various odd jobs – including 12-hour graveyard shifts at a lumber yard – and studied business in university for a time before turning to poker. He has been playing seriously since 2008, and figured he might be on to something after a couple of large cashes in online tournaments.

Aside from taking time to read a lot of poker strategy books, Matthew improved his game by analyzing and learning from his mistakes. As he tightened his game, success started to come.

Watch for Matthew playing online at Full Tilt Poker.