Mike Matusow

Biography

Never one to crawl into a shell at the table, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow got his nickname for his reputation of talking trash at the poker table. Of these well-known rants, Matusow’s most famous incident might be when he berated eventual champion Greg Raymer in the 2004 Main Event.

Matusow took up poker at a young age when a friend introduced him to the game just before the 1990s. The game would soon become more and more serious for him. He took up a job as a poker dealer where he was able to pick up on various strategies and watch others play hand after hand, which helped him greatly. Following dealing, Mike took up the game professionally and never looked back.

Everyone may remember that Scotty Nguyen won the 1998 WSOP Main Event for a cool $1 million. If you watch the footage of the event, you’ll see Mike Matusow rooting Scotty on from the rail. The Mouth paid one-third of Scotty’s satellite buy-in, which he ended up parlaying into an overall victory in the Main Event. For this, Matusow was given a third of Nguyen’s winnings.

One year later, Matusow would win his first bracelet. He followed that up the next year with some more WSOP cashes before making a very deep run at the 2001 Main Event. He placed sixth and earned almost $240,000. In 2002, Matusow won his second bracelet and in 2005 he made another deep run in the Main Event. This time around, he finish was slightly worse when he placed ninth, but it was worth more than four times what he earned in his previous Main Event final table. He took home $1 million. Later that same year, the WSOP Tournament of Champions was held and Matusow won the event for another $1 million. He would eventually win his third bracelet in 2008, cashing multiple other times along the way.

The Mouth also has made a few WPT final tables. He’s cashed in many other events, some of which include the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, the Aruba Classic, and the Wynn Classic.

Matusow has also been featured on High Stakes Poker and is a regular fixture on Poker After Dark, which he won once. You can also regularly find Matusow playing a wide range of games and tournaments on Full Tilt Poker where he is a member of Team Full Tilt.