Matt Keikoan, an American poker professional player, living in Richmond, California, was born in 1968. He attended San Francisco State University and started playing poker at the Casino San Pablo in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before taking up poker as a full-time career, Matt Keikoan worked for nearly eight years as a poker prop.
In February 2003, Matt Keikoan played a good game which won him third place at the Golden Gate Classic – Shootout – No-Limit Hold’em (Event #7) and $1,440 in prize money. He finished 15th and made $4,115 in the LA Poker Classic – World Poker Tour (WPT) Season 2 – Limit Hold’em (Event #16) held in February 2004. In the same tournament, his amazing performance got him third place in Event #19 – Limit Seven Card Stud and a good sum of $13,680. In April 2004, Matt Keikoan finished 14th at the Five-Star World Poker Classic – WPT Championship Season 2 – No-Limit Hold’em (Event #8) and took away $8,738 as cash prize. Matt Keikoan secured 17th place in the same tournament in the No-Limit Hold’em event and made $4,767. At the 35th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) – Event #29 – Limit Hold’em, he walked away with $12,020 for his 11th-place finish. Twenty-fifth place at the Mirage Poker Showdown – WPT Season 3 – No-Limit Hold’em in August 2004 fetched Matt Keikoan $16,201. At the Festa al Lago III/Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship held on 22, October 2004, Matt Keikoan received $12,000 for his 49th finish in the No-Limit Hold’em event.
At the Five-Star World Poker Classic – WPT Championship Season 3 – Main Event – No-Limit Hold’em held in April 2005, Matt Keikoan had an impressive win and bagged a huge sum of $56,615 for his 23rd-place finish. He grabbed $44,050 and secured 9th place at the Goldstrike World Poker Open/WPT Season 4 – No-Limit Hold’em Championship (Event #8) in January 2006. The Mirage Poker Showdown/WPT Event Season 5 – No-Limit Hold’em Championship held in May 2006, witnessed another good game from Matt Keikoan, for he finished 13th and walked away with $35,143. In June 2006, he finished 49th at the 37th Annual WSOP – Short Handed (Event #5) and made a decent sum of $6,633. In the same tournament, he made $1,437 in Event #22 –No-Limit Hold’em in July.
Matt Keikoan finished 35th at the 38th Annual WSOP – Heads Up – No-Limit Hold’em World Championship (Event #31) held in June 2007 and took away $9,212. In the same tournament, he walked away with prize money of $154,194 for his good performance in Event #55 – WSOP No-Limit Hold’em Championship held in July 2007.
The moment of glory arrived for Matt Keikoan, when he defeated Shannon Shorr in the 39th WSOP – No-Limit Hold’em (Event #7) in June 2008. He defeated Shorr by gradually accumulating Shorr's stack over several hours of heads-up play. Matt Keikoan outlasted 1,592 players in the $2,000 No-Limit tournament to take away an awesome $550,529 and the coveted WSOP bracelet for his first place win. His total live tournament earnings have exceeded $935,000, as of the year 2008.