A Round of Quotes from Mike Matusow
Mike "The Mouth" Matusow has long been known for his loquacious ways at the table. He has a seat at the edge of Amazon Purple, and with the lull in early-level action, we thought we'd hang around his table for an orbit and see if he would drop any choice quotes. He didn't disappoint, as he had plenty to say.
In the first hand we saw, Matusow was in the big blind and someone opened early. While waiting his turn, Matusow reflected on the modern chip structure of the WSOP Main Event, which sees 50,000 starting stacks, up from 30,000 recently and 10,000 before that.
"That was the best part of the old days," Matusow said. "People lost a few chips and thought they were short. They'd have 10,000 and lose 700 and start panicking."
Matusow added that he didn't think there was any need for the 50K stacks.
The Mouth continued to fold the next few hands, engaging in conversation with Pratyush Buddiga.
"You've had a pretty good summer, right?"
Buddiga said he has, and they discussed Buddiga's sixth-place finish in the $300K Super High Roller Bowl for $1 million and then his fourth-place finish in a $1,500 event here at the WSOP for $124,615.
"I knew I had a good table when I saw you were here," Matusow mused. "Old school wizard, Donkey Kong bomber, and new school wizard."
Matusow was referencing Tom "DonkeyBomber" Schneider, who is in Seat 1 at their table.
Shortly after that, Matusow played the only hand he voluntarily entered while we were at his table. He opened for 400 in middle position and got callers on his immediate left and in the big blind. Everyone checked the 
flop, and Matusow bet 1,000 on the 
turn. That won him the pot.
With his big blind coming up, Matusow discussed his thoughts on the Main Event at large.
"It's the only tournament in the history of poker you never have to bluff," he said, folding his under-the-gun hand. "You just have to stay alive and wait for the idiots to give you their chips."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
44,400 | 900 |