Mike Matusow
One of scant professional poker players who started as a Las Vegas dealer, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow is a Los Angeles native who tells anyone who will listen how he lives, eats, and breathes poker, calling himself “the second most dedicated person in poker” (attributing top accolades to his good friend, and fellow poker star, Daniel Negreanu). He’s also reputed to be one of the best Omaha 8 or Better players in the world. Renowned for his sometimes amicable, sometimes off-putting motormouth (thus the nickname) Mike Matusow has a history of tournament successes, crowned by his big win at the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.
Mike Matusow has never been called the easiest player to sit down with. His notoriously incessant trash-talking and needling of his opponents and his more-than-periodic “Mike Matusow Meltdowns” (aka Mike Matusow Blowups) seems to do him well, as it’s seem him through two World Series of Poker wins (in 1999 for $3,500 No Limit Hold’Em and in 2002 for $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo). All in all, Mike Matusow has appeared at 9 World Series of Poker final tables.
Even as a kid Matusow was always an avid competitor from shooting pool to building racecars to excelling at bowling. He was first introduced to the game at 18 years of age by way of video poker, which he played at the Maxim Casino in the Westin Causarina Las Vegas Hotel, Casino, and Spa. He learned Texas Hold’Em from rounder Steve Samaroff in 1989, and proceeded to hone his skills at Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, also in Las Vegas.
  Visit Full Tilt Poker |
In 1998, Mike Matusow helped fund Scotty Nguyen’s entry fee to the satellite tournament that eventually led to his World Series of Poker win, earning Matusow a third of a million dollars for his investment. Interestingly enough, just one year prior, in 1997, Mike entered his first WSOP tournament ever, an Omaha 8 or Better and came in 2nd next to the same Scotty Nguyen.
At the 2001 main event, he was bluffed by ultimate winner Juan Carlos Mortensen into settling for 6th place. In 2005, he earned $1 million for placing 9th out of more than 5,500 players in that year’s World Series of Poker main event. And one year after beating out runner-up Hoyt Corkins to claim the 2005 Tournament of Champions title, he came in 3rd in the 2006 event.
Other noteworthy Mike Matusow showings include the WPT UltimateBetPoker Aruba Classic (3rd place), WPT Bad Boys of Poker II (2nd place), and Poker After Dark twice (finishing 3rd and 2nd, respectively). He also won the $500,000 winner takes all championship event of Poker Superstars III.
Mike Matusow has amassed a career winnings, as of 2006, of over $4 million. He was formerly the host of the Circuit, Card Player Magazine’s podcast, until they replaced him with Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow is currently a proud part of Team Full Tilt of FullTiltPoker com, where he plays regularly under “Mike Matusow”. He can also be spotted at UltimateBet as “dill pickle” and PokerStars under the name “mrpokejoke”.
-
Bodog Poker Satellites
-
PokerStars Satellites
