Mike Matusow is a native of Los Angeles, California and has made himself into one of the most recognizable poker players in history. Even more so than his poker play, his attitude at the table has set him apart from the rest of the players in the game. He earned the nickname “The Mouth” not by any accident. He is known to trash talk other players at the table and use brash language. Another one of Matusow’s characteristics is not something that any poker player wants to be associated with. He is known to have an exceedingly bad explosion in some tournaments where he ruins days of great play by making one inexplicably bad decision.
Matusow is experienced in the game of poker. He began playing more than fifteen years ago. He started out in a usual way, dealing cards as a professional dealer, before moving on up to playing himself. Matusow recently released information about his early years as a dealer. When he was dealing at Sam’s Town casino, he had an older, more affluent player stake him in games. Though Mike would often blow his huge poker winnings in other parts of the casino, the older gentleman continued to put up a stake for him to play. This is why Mike “The Mouth” has always seemed ready to help out a fellow player in need. According to him, there is no way he could have gotten to this point of the game without taking the help of his friend.
Mike has had good success in the world of tournament poker. He has twice won a bracelet at the World Series of Poker and also won the Tournament of Champions at that event in 2005. His tournament winnings put him near the top of the lifetime earning chart as he has made an astounding $6,000,000 playing poker in live tournaments.
When Mike was a youngster, he was often the victim of bullying at his local school. This somewhat explains why he is so brash in nature in his more mature age. He went through school having to put up with this torment and never made it to college. After high school, he tried his hand at auto work, but never had the discipline to finish his education for that job. Before starting out in poker, he also worked a job at his family’s local furniture outlet.
Matusow got an early start at playing poker. He first played video poker at the Maxim Casino and then began to play more regularly. It has been reported that Mike Matusow played so much video poker during that time that he suffered injuries to his upper arms and his shoulders. In order to fund his habit, Mike would steal money from his mother’s purse and would often use any means necessary to get his fix. He even attended numerous Gamblers Anonymous group meetings in order to try to get his gambling under control. He learned No Limit Texas Hold’em from a man by the name of Steve Samaroff. After learning the basics of the game, he went on to have great early success, winning more than a quarter of a million dollars in his first 53 sessions.
One of Mike Matusow’s best bets came in the 1998 World Series of Poker, and it didn’t happen during any hand. He took the chance on up and comer Scotty Nguyen, staking a portion of Nguyen’s satellite entrance fee. He could have never guessed that Nguyen would go on to win the entire event, but he did. From that, Mike got $333,333 back from Nguyen. He did well in the 2001 Main Event, as well, finishing in 6th place. Matusow’s popularity grew during the 2004 Main Event, when ESPN television coverage spent a great deal of time on him. He went so far as to berate the eventual winner, Greg Raymer, something that made for great television. A year later at the same event, Matusow finished 9th, winning $1 million in process.
Matusow has had success playing World Poker Tour events, as well. He finished in the final table during the Aruba Classic in 2004. In 2006, he fell to fellow mouthy poker player Tony G Guoga in the World Poker Tour Bad Boys of Poker tournament. He has also made appearances at plenty of other events, making sure that he talked enough to make an impact there.
His EPT debut wasn’t nearly as pretty as his other starts. He tried to play in Barcelona, but didn’t make it out of the first day. Mike Matusow has also been a mainstay on NBC’s Poker After Dark, where his legend has steadily grown. If you play at various online poker sites, you might find him playing under strange aliases. For Mike, it’s all about attention and he knows exactly how to get it.
Mike Matusow’s success in poker has led to some pretty trying times for him in his personal life. He has been, at times, mixed up with illegal drugs that have landed him in big trouble. He hosted a party in 2002 at The Palms resort, where he was found to have provided ecstasy to his fellow party goers. He ran into trouble in 2002, when he got mixed up with undercover agent Mike Fento. Fento had Mike believe that he was a part of Chicago’s organized crime ring and that he wanted to open up a strip club in the near future. Over the course of a few months, Fento continued to pressure Matusow into getting drugs for him and doing other illegal activities. Though Mike eventually discovered that Fento was an agent, it was too late, as he was arrested on September 25 of 2003 at his home. Matusow was offered a deal, where he would rat out a certain nightclub owner, but “The Mouth” declined the offer because of the fear that he might be killed by that owner. He spent almost nine months in prison for his crime and even lost money betting on sports while he was in jail. Few poker players kept up with Matusow while he was in prison, though John Juanda was one who came by for frequent visits.
When he got out of jail, Matusow got a small loan from Phil Hellmuth in order to start a brand new bankroll. Matusow quickly went to work and turned that small loan into almost $750,000 within a few months. He blew almost all of that while playing in the 2005 World Series of Poker, though, and struggled during that time. Matusow has since made something of a recovery, and continues to be a Las Vegas mainstay and one of the most popular players in the world.
Matusow is known to spend large amounts of money on personal items, like his 3,700 square foot home and his nearly $100,000 BMW. He is highly involved in all forms of poker and even does work to promote the game through his website and his online article writing.
Mike Matusow is playing at Full Tilt Poker!
