On Thursday night, Canadian high-stakes regular Matthew Bergart was killed in Toronto. Police were called to the residence at 2:25 a.m.

Later, the police said that three armed robbers broke into the Etobicoke home area and demanded valuables and money. The target of the criminals was the owner of the house and it was a targeted situation. Matthew Bergart was visiting and became an accidental victim. A struggle ensued between the attackers and as a result, Bergart was struck multiple times by gunfire. He was fatally wounded and later died in hospital.

It was rumored that the raided house may have hosted a high-stakes private game, but police haven't confirmed a link yet.

Who Was Matthew Bergart?

Matthew rose to the poker Olympus relatively recently, although some regulars have known him for a long time. A couple of years ago, the general public had not heard of him at all, but in 2023 he was the leader at NL5k+ over a large number of hands.

On GipsyTeam he is mentioned in one of the high stakes reviews .

In that article, we translated his conversation with Wouter Beumers in a chat at one of the expensive tables. Like many other high rollers, MMAsherdog was wary of the newcomer at first:

Wouter Beumers: So, you were banned from Stars and ACR, you also disappeared from GG, and now you’ve suddenly returned and are ready to play HU with anyone?
Matthew Bergart: I banned myself from Stars when I was 18. Because of my parents. They blocked me on ACR because I played under the account of Isidro Pereira, and they also suspected me of using a tipster. GG acted despicably, because in 2019 I won a lot.
Wouter Beumers: The whole world is against you.
Matthew Bergart: But now I'm allowed to play here under my own account.
Wouter Beumers: All this does not inspire confidence in me. HU I won't play with you.
Matthew Bergart: You can add me on discord and you'll see that I'm playing myself.

In 2021, Matt played on GGPoker under the username Isidro Pereira.

– Who is it? – asked one of the readers on 2+2. – I heard that he is suspected of using a tipster.

“I rule out RTA,” George Froggatt replied. – He doesn’t play on Stars, he rose to Bodog and GG. He's definitely not a GTO guy, just crazy. Many high stakes regs have already communicated with him on discord. The rumors started because we didn’t immediately figure out who he was. It’s always suspicious when an unknown player appears at NL5k-10k and starts giving battle to everyone.

Here is one of his hands. It's not every day you see a 6-bet pot for 10k.

Friends and Poker Players Remember Matthew Bergart

The news of Matt's death shocked the poker community. His friends and acquaintances shared their memories on 2+2.

KidCudi147:

– One of my favorite players on the rail, crazy how he skyrocketed out of nowhere playing everyone. When I got to play him last year for a bit he was fearless and the way he played it made sense to me that he was ready to play with the big boys on HS.

Sad news, RIP

ggbruce:

– Rip to the legend matt.

Will share my thoughts and whatnot. I stumbled upon him early in my career, we both worked with the same coach as did Linus and a couple of other big names. He was a guy who seemingly had a great talent for poker while working hard. Matt was suspected for being a bot even pre solver era, he loved to reg war at deep ante high stakes tables on stars. He was mainly sus of being a bot because of his fierceful style. It's just not a thing or was that random guys would show up to reg war everyone deep ante at hs. Back in this day he had access to some great games (i.e Bodog) but regularly challenged himself to play the best. It was clear early one that he didn't care about money and he just loved the competition. I don't want to talk too much out of position but he was a hero in nvg but also outside of it. He fought some amazing battles while coming out on top in private games vs the top of the crop. While I never know him outside of random small talk and our mutual friend who coached me at one point, I always had a lot of respect for him. I have regwarred vs pretty much all sickos for the last decade. Matt was one of the opponents i disliked playing the most. I would happily agree that OTB in his heyday and Linus at any time was killing me (and plenty of others). But the issue with Matt was that he didn't play a pseudo-GTO style so it didn't seem obvious at all that he was better than me. He would make theoretical mistakes and play this deep stacked lag style that was hard to combat and would also piss me off. It just wasn't easy to accept him owning me. Close to 99% of people who are better than me always felt like they studied harder/knew equilibrium better. He was an outlier, his heart, and brain was just big enough to take on almost everyone.

I will try to dig out some hands to post here if i can find any. As mentioned before i don't feel comfortable sharing some things but if there was such a thing as hall of fame HSNL regs he certainly belongs there. Feels mandatory to salute him for his nvg nickname Berkey, rip again Berkey.

Ed. – On the screenshots with hands, Matt’s last name was always cropped. The last name Bergart had never been heard before, leading someone to joke that it was actually Matt Berkey playing the role. The joke was quickly picked up and it became a classic 2+2 meme.

TimM846:

– I was playing mid-stakes about a decade ago and when Matt moved up to my games he immediately became my toughest opponent. We battled a ton HU and were shorthanded and I spent a bunch of time off the tables trying to figure out how to exploit him because his style was clearly exploitable. But it seemed like he was always one step ahead. He would make the most ****ing insane value shoves and just repeatedly adjust and own me.

Eventually, I got to know him off the tables and realized he was not only a genius when it comes to the game of poker but also just a genuinely solid guy. We talked a ton about hands/strategy over the years and he was always extremely generous with his time even as he had moved up to far bigger stakes. I learned so much from him about how to approach the game. I never had a single bad experience with him except when we were battling at the tables. Just one of the most positive people I've had the pleasure of knowing.

Stupidhead:

– Matt's been a stealthy crusher since 2015. He climbed his way from small stakes to high stakes at impressive speeds. I first encountered him at mid-stakes on 888poker. The dude fought for every goddamn pot. At first I thought the dude was just an aggro monkey, but over time it became clear there was method to his madness. Years later I was fortunate to be one of his students. His poker knowledge was uncanny. His game was not built on solvers but on raw intuition and trial by fire. If he thought blasting off the river for 300bb was right, he'd do it. If he thought you were bluffing too much he'd snap you off with Q high. It was so impressive to see him carry that style all the way to the highest stakes. That's where he wanted to be. He didn't care about the money. He cared about being the best possible player he could be.

Beyond the poker player, he was just a great friend. I got to hang out with him a bunch of times in Ontario and Vegas. He was always in good spirits and knew how to enjoy life. RIP my friend.

George "PlasticElephant" Froggatt:

– Rest in peace to a true legend.

In the HS world it's become increasingly important to manage your edge to survive, studying, game selection, lobby politics etc.

Isidro/Matt didn't give a **** about any of these things. He was a true gangster, playing anyone at insane stakes, always with a completely unique style and an absolute lack of fear.
He was a pure poker player, felt like he absolutely loved the game.

I can't believe he's gone and I'll never be put in the blender again by his ridiculous 1bb river bets into 3b all in, won't get to rail him playing 1knl one second then the next minute at 20k blasting stacks into the middle.

He was a real one, one of the most annoying opponents I ever played, seemed a hilarious guy and as bruce alluded to, behind the scenes played and beat some of the biggest names away from tracked sites too.

RIP

Searched 'Isidro' in our discord as he will forever be known, and going to share some of the best hands here. 108 hits, and the average message just encapsulates what a gangster he was to play vs:

Linus "Deepz" Loeliger:

– RIP Matt
I first came across Matt/pmachine/Isidro on Stars, a new high-stakes player who would battle anyone at HU and 3handed at 2k. The way he played you could feel his passion for the game through the other end of your monitor while playing against him; a true redline warrior.

A few years later I saw him playing on GG, playing everyone at 5k and 10k HU and 3max+. His playstyle and dedication to the game immediately sparked my interest and we connected through his coach and mentor who used to be also my coach.

Sure enough, Matt and I started working together, bouncing ideas off of each other and deeply studying single hand histories in hours-long discord calls during 2022/2023. His creativity and talent for poker was one of a kind.

He would find the 3x+pot overbet shoves in spots no one would even think about those sizings at the time and to me that was mindblowing.

I felt so proud seeing Matt rising through the stakes and eventually we started playing against each other a lot at the 20k+ tables. With his talented, creative and hardworking mindset there has never been any doubt he would reach the highest stakes and beat the toughest games out there.. he became a true legend of high-stakes poker

I wish the Isidro Legacy will live on forever

You will be missed, Matt

Rdrr:

– Can't really add much that hasn't already been said about Matt's talents and heart with regards to poker. He was fearless and even reckless at times, taking on all lineups at the highest stakes. You can call this "cope", and I'm sure it probably is, but it makes it a little bit easier for me to swallow how he was killed. He was just wired that way not to back down from anything.

Off the tables, Matt was one-of-a-kind. Despite his rags-to-riches story he didn't give a **** about wealth or status. As far as I could tell, the majority of his money went to helping out his friends who were in worse financial shape than he was, paying for anything and everything when with them, even their living costs.

I don't think I ever remember seeing him annoyed or angry. Never heard a single bad-beat story from him. At worst, maybe he would have some choice words about another player's play but it was meant just to be funny. He was always just being a goofball, smile on his face, cracking ridiculous jokes.

You'll be missed, Matt.

RIP