Mike “The Mouth” Matusow: Player Profile

Mike “The Mouth” Matusow can be considered the bad boy of the professional poker industry. Aside from his incredible talent with the cards, Matusow is widely known for constantly provoking, teasing, and bad mouthing his opponents. You better have the best poker hands when you’re up against this guy because he is sure to play mind games with you!

Aside from being known as “The Mouth,” Matusow is also remembered for his “Matusow Meltdowns” or “Matusow Blow-ups.” He often judges a hand badly and would put himself completely out of the game, ruining hours or even days of good play. He has finished in the money in a number of popular poker tournaments. On the other hand, Matusow did find success in poker tournaments. He has won a World Series of Poker bracelet for four times and he was the sole victor at the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.

Mike Matusow Net Worth

Matusow has been a popular name in the poker realm and we can’t help but wonder how much the Mike Matusow worth is. If we review the stats from The Hendon Mob Poker Database, we can see that the recorded Mike Matusow winnings from live tournaments are around $9,055,998. In Nevada, he ranks 6th in the All Time Money List. In the Americas, the Mike Matusow winnings are recorded to be around $8,981,24 while in Europe, he has won around $74,574. His biggest live cash was worth $1 million.

Mike Matusow Early Years

Matusow was born in Los Angeles, California on April 30, 1968. Before he joined the ranks of the best poker players, he worked as a poker dealer. In the 1990s he realised that the Mike Matusow worth could grow and he decided to become a professional poker player.

Matusow first experienced playing video poker when he was 18. He regularly played at the Maxim casino, to the extent that he experienced constant strain injury in his arms and shoulders. Occasionally, he would steal from his mother’s purse just to sustain his poker addiction. At one point, he attended Gamblers Anonymous meetings. Everything changed when he met Steve Samaroff, a rounder who taught him how to play Texas Hold’em poker.

Mike Matusow in the World Series of Poker

In 1998, Matusow paid a portion of Scotty Nguyen’s registration fee at the World Series of Poker. When Nugyen won at the $10,000 no-limit Texas Hold’em main event, he gave Matusow a cut worth $333,333. The following year, Matusow defeated Alex Brenes heads up in the $3,500 No Limit Hold’em event. This was the first time he won a World Series of Poker bracelet.

In 2001, he joined the WSOP $10,000 no limit Hold’em main event and finished 6th. Matusow mentioned that the critical point of the game was when eventual champion Juan Carlos Mortensen bluffed, but he did not trust his instincts to call.

Matusow earned his second bracelet when he won $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better event at the 2002 WSOP. In this event, he was able to defeat his friend and fellow professional poker player Daniel Negreanu. After three years, Matusow finished 9th out of 5,619 players in the main event of the WSOP. He won $1 million from this feat. After a few months, he joined the WSOP Tournament of Champions and won against Hoyt Corkings, earning another $1 million. He is the first professional poker player to win two million dollar prizes within one year. The following year, he joined the same tournament and placed third, winning $250,000.

Matusow won his third WSOP bracelet in 2008 when he joined the $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw with rebuys event. He defeated Jeff Lisandro heads up and won $537,862. Later that year, he joined the Main Event and finished 30th out of 6,844 players. In 2013, Matusow joined the $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split 8 or Better tournament. He defeated Matthew Ashton heads up and won his fourth bracelet along with the $266,503 prize.

Mike Matusow in Other Poker Events

In October 2004, Matusow joined the World Poker Tour (WPT) and reached the final table for the first time. He finished third and earned $250,000. In 2006, Matusow joined the WPT Bad Boys of Poker II and finished behind Tony G. Matusow also joined Poker Superstars II and made it to the Elite Eight. He won $500,000 when he beat seven other players in the winner-take-all championship match. He also appeared in several seasons of High Stakes Poker – the second, third, fourth and sixth seasons in particular. In September 2006, Matusow went to Barcelona and competed in his first European Poker Tour (EPT). However, on the first day of the competition, he was eliminated. In 2007, Matusow finished 3rd and 2nd in two episodes of Poker After Dark.

Aside from competing in live tournaments, Matusow also plays online poker. He goes by the alias dill pickle when playing at UltimateBet and mrpokejoke when he’s at PokerStars. He also used to play at Full Tilt Poker where he was a former member of Team Full Tilt.

In July 2007, Matusow joined the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup III Championship, finished second, and won $671,320. Professional online poker player Kevin Saul defeated him in a heads up match, On November 11, 2008. Matusow reached another WPT final table when he competed at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals. He finished sixth in the said tournament and earned $124,048. One of his notable victories was when he joined the NBC National Heads-Up Championship in 2013. He defeated Phil Hellmuth 2-1 in the final. By 2014, Mike Matusow winnings exceeded $9 million with $3.5 million out of this amount coming from his victories at the WSOP.

Mike Matusow’s Activities Off the Felt

Matusow used to host the radio podcast/show The Circuit until he was replaced by Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith. He also hosted the online video segment of Card Player – The Mouthpiece. In 2009, Matusow released his autobiography entitled Check Raising the Devil.

Mike Matusow Career Highlights