Mike Matusow - "The Mouth"

Fans of Mike Matusow are familiar with terms such as Mike Matusow Meltdown or Mike Matusow Blow Up, a typical Matusow poker phenomenon in which the professional poker player simply wrecks a wonderful game of poker with a misjudgment. Matusow has been nicknamed “The Mouth” for his bad habit of talking nonsense while playing poker.

Matusow’s Early Poker Career

Born on April 30, 1968, Matusow began taking the game of poker serious only in the early nineties, when he was employed as a croupier. When he was 18, he played so much of video poker at Maxim Casino that he developed an injury in his arms and shoulders. Matusow also stands guilty of stealing from his mother just to gamble. Having developed an addiction to gambling, Matusow even joined the Gamblers Anonymous at a certain point in his life. In 1989, Steve Samaroff taught Matusow how to play Texas Hold’em.

Matusow’s Poker Achievements

Matusow has 3 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets to his credit and has also won the WSOP Tournament of Champions in 2005. Matusow won WSOP bracelets in 1999, 2002, and 2008. In 2001, he finished sixth in the WSOP Main Event, a $10,000 No Limit Hold’em event; and in 2005, he finished in the ninth place during the WSOP event, adding a cool prize of $1,000,000 to his bankroll.

Matusow emerged as the finalist at the World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2004, finishing third and winning $250,000. He also participated in the Poker Superstars III, emerging as one of the top eight players and then beating the other players to win a generous prize of $500,000.

In 2007, he participated in two Poker After Dark episodes, finishing at the top third and second places. He also finished second at the WPT Bellagio Cup III and won a prize of $671,320.

By 2010, Mike Matusow had made over $7,400,000 winning live tournaments alone.

Matusow’s Personal Life

The poker gaming community cannot help loving Matusow for his poker skills and expertise, at the same time, it cannot help disliking him for his abusive language while playing poker.

Matusow has been fighting a number of battles with numerous issues such as excessive physical weight, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse all his life. He even had to spend 6 months in jail after being found in illegal possession of cocaine.

During WSOP 2007, Matusow bet Ted Forrest $100,000 that he could lose weight and weigh 181 pounds before June 3, 2008. When he checked his weight on June 3, 2008, he weighed 179, thereby winning the $100,000 bet.

The poker player was the host of the poker radio show and podcast presented by Card Player before Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith took over. He also hosted Card Players The Mouthpiece, which no longer exists.

In 2009, Mike Matusow got associated with deepstacks.com, a place where online poker is interactively taught. He can be heard at scottmatusow.com, where he presents regular live online poker shows called Mike The Mouth Live and posts informative articles on poker.