Poker's most recognizable and accomplished tournament director began his career as a lowly chip runner, worked his way into a front row seat to the poker boom and successfully standardized tournament poker rules around the world. He has helped guide the game's global growth in the modern era.
But what many people don't know about Matt Savage is that he started out as a poker player.
"I was always a player," he told PokerNews. "A bad player, but a player."
Savage was a service tech at a Bay Area alarm company in 1991 when he realized he could make more money as a chip runner at the Garden City Casino in San Jose, California.