One wonderful thing about chronicling the poker world is that you simply meet probably the most fascinating folks whereas on task. The latest Amazon Prime launch of his documentary jogged my memory of that very factor and confirmed what an incredible character (and a man with character) Mike “The Mouth” Matusow is.
The first time we spoke for an prolonged interval was again within the early 2000s. That was when a semi-cool journal known as Radar despatched me to Las Vegas to report a narrative a few skilled poker participant who went to jail within the wake of a wild ecstasy sting.
The participant in query, after all, was Matusow.
Improbably, he insisted that six months of incarceration gave him a greater view of life – even when it did nothing to mood his infamous willingness to gamble recklessly.
Matusow opened our interview by declaring, “I’m stuck $60,000. But that’s okay… Last night I was behind $100,000. I’ve still got $2 million, and, this football season, I’m telling all the bookies that after I fall behind $200,000 I’m f****** walking.”
Did he actually stroll? Who is aware of.
Incontestable is that Matusow’s lengthy reign as one of many sport’s most entertaining gamers might be attributed (a minimum of partly) to his hot-headed verbiage, love of profanity, and litany of ticks.
But these offbeat traits – which handily intimidate newbie opponents and garner him plenty of airtime on poker telecasts – generally masks his capability to get soul-bleeding reads on opponents and to play arms towards them completely. His skillfulness at deuce-to-seven lowball is such that, in the summertime 2021, after Phil Hellmuth gained his sixteenth WSOP bracelet, the very first thing he did was hug a railbirding Matusow.
Hellmuth later advised me that Matusow had been giving him classes in learn how to play lowball and that Matusow could be the most effective on the earth at it.
Beyond lowball, Matusow performs all of the video games. This was evidenced once I bumped into him at Resorts World, quickly after it opened, within the fall of ’21. Sporting a freshly shaved pate, he performed at a high-stakes mixed-games desk, bragging to me about his most enduring rush in a protracted whereas.
“I’m playing so good,” Matusow boasted, letting slip an outrageously excessive sum he’d gained over the yr. It was a welcome flip of occasions after having been broke due to an enormous streak of dangerous beats, crippling ache (his again bought screwed up from a mishap within the entrance seat of Dan Bilzerian’s sports activities automotive), a laundry-list of mind-numbing prescribed drugs, and who is aware of what else. “Right now, I’m making big folds and am correct every time.”
I’ve at all times discovered Matusow to be compelling, even when my editor at Radar didn’t. (She killed the ecstasy-sting story. I wound up promoting it to the now lifeless US version of FHM journal.)
I final noticed him whereas reporting a Golf Digest article about skilled poker gamers playing on the hyperlinks. Matusow’s bought no real interest in driving, chipping, and placing, however after listening to that Hellmuth can be taking part in, he couldn’t resist tagging alongside, heckling everybody and making an attempt to win cash off them by throwing out prop bets.
Riding to the primary gap, he made clear that high-flying playing tendencies by no means utterly fade. “I don’t know s*** about golf,” Matusow stated with a shrug. Fingering a $5,000 chip, which, to his eventual dismay, would one way or the other get misplaced.
“But I’ll bet on anything.”
Check out Matusow – or, even higher, attempt participating him in a goofy wager – and also you’ll possible see that it’s true for all the most effective causes.
Michael Kaplan is a journalist primarily based in New York City. He is the writer of 5 books (“The Advantage Players” comes out in 2024) and has labored for publications that embrace Wired, GQ and the New York Post. He has written extensively on know-how, playing, and enterprise — with a selected curiosity in spots the place all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Sun and Phil Ivey is at the moment in growth as a function movie.
