Player Profile - Mike Matusow
February 14, 2007 - Jon Watson
Mike is one of those rare poker pros who wasn’t raised on the lap of poker player relatives. His family even moved to Las Vegas when he was around 10 years old, and still Mike didn’t gamble. Then one day, at 18, he tried a game of video poker. After winning $85 he was hooked; literally. Mike became a gambling addict, stealing when he couldn’t earn the money he needed to get his fix.
He even went to Gamblers Anonymous; twice, quitting when he decided he would never be able to stop gambling. In an ironic twist of fate Mike was introduced to real poker, an event he says weaned him off his problem gambling, but from the evidence around him seems to have simply propelled him high enough into the stratosphere that his problem can’t affect him the way it used to.
Mike learned poker so that he would never have to work again, yet working is what he did at first. He became a grinder, playing hour after hour, day after day to make $400 a week playing $4-$8. Living in a trailer his parents bought for him, he kept his expenses down and grinded away. When he got exhausted from all the grinding he began dealing cards. After some time he found 10-$20, $20-$40, and $30-$60 games, and the $400 a week turned into $600 a night. But then he found he had new degenerate problem- betting on sports.
It is a good thing for Mike that he has such a complete disregard for money, because he goes through it faster than most people can earn it. Hundreds of thousands of dollars make their way into the hands of bookies everywhere, who give Mike a ring when football season is underway. Mike’s thoughts on the whole matter of blowing so much money? He can always make it back, and he can always borrow money. As long as he is good at poker, people will lend him the money he needs.
And he is very good at poker. Considered one of the best Omaha players in the world, Mike also feels he is one of the very best at no-limit Hold’em, stating that it is the one thing he does well. Making a couple of World Series of Poker final tables might have something to do with his confidence level.
Being backed by FullTilt Poker has got to be a shot in the arm as well, although Mike characteristically had a few choice words to say about the other members of the Full Tilt pro team, calling Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer “dry toast” in an interview. He knows his “charm” gets the TV producers salivating, and the choice bits are his on tournament TV, such as this year when a series of banned curse words earned him a 40-minute time out at the 2005 WSOP.
Mike has two WSOP bracelets to his name and a reputation for being a world class player. He will continue to bet on sports, play at the Bellagio, and show up for the cameras at WSOP final tables, and that means plenty of entertainment for the poker crowd, one way or the other.
Keep talking, Mike.
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