- Nationality:
- USA
- Nickname:
- 'The Mouth'
- Age:
- 52 years
- Poker Earnings:
- $9 million
Mike Matusow is the ‘bad boy’ of poker and the poker world loves him for it.
Matusow was an A-List poker star when the game was at its biggest. He was part of Team Full Tilt Poker and easily one of the most recognizable poker players in the world. He’s won four WSOP bracelets and made the final table of the Main Event in 2001, finishing sixth. His career earnings in live tournaments total over $9.3 million. Tags: Mike Matusow, world series of poker, WSOP Online He’s not renowned for maintaining either his mood or a discreet distance from drama, but even for Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, the last. He’s not renowned for maintaining either his mood or a discreet distance from drama, but even for Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, the last week has been a rollercoaster one. The latest tweets from @themouthmatusow.
This status also means he is one of the most followed professionals on the tour, with both the fans and the TV cameras interested in his every move.
Mike has earned the nickname ‘The Mouth’ due to his loud personality and the fact that he will always be the one talking and voicing his opinion at the poker table.
Controversy has never been far away from Mike who has spent time in Prison after getting involved in Drugs in what he describes as the darkest period of his life.
Talking his way into Trouble
Mike Matusow was born in 1968 in Los Angeles California and now resides in Henderson, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mike was born in Los Angeles California, USA but now lives in Las Vegas
While Matusow was growing up it was this same personality and talkative nature that got him into trouble and he spent a lot of his childhood days as a target for the bullies.
This didn’t change Mike at all however and he continued to voice his opinion regardless of what trouble came his way.
Matusow left school as soon as he could and didn’t go onto College. He started off as a trainee mechanic but failed to apply himself to the academic side and eventually he ended up with a job in his family’s furniture business.
Mike first took to gambling at the age of 18 and he very quickly became a gambling addict stealing money from his parents in order to play all day long on the Video Poker machines and he went on to attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings as a result of his addiction.
A chance meeting with a regular poker player Steve Samaroff introduced Mike to Poker. Samaroff taught him how to play Texas Holdem in 1989 as it was emerging as the game of choice in the poker world.
![Mike matusow podcast Mike matusow podcast](/uploads/1/3/5/8/135817097/815332847.jpg)
He became a card dealer and went on to gather a bucket load of strategy tips from watching people play whilst he dealt in Las Vegas. He started to dabble in poker by taking part in late night games at Sam’s Town Casino in Las Vegas and he soon came to the realisation that he was good and could earn a regular income from poker. At this point he packed in the dealing and became a full time poker player.
In this funny video Mike demonstrates why he is called ‘The Mouth’ by berating an opponent telling him ‘The Kiddie game is down the hall
Heartbreak & Success: all at the same time
Agonisingly for Mike he missed out on his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 1997 when he finished 2nd in the Omaha Hi/Lo event losing out to Scotty Nguyen.
Two years later he made up for it when he sealed his first WSOP bracelet in the $3,500 No Limit Holdem event and went on to win a second bracelet in 2002 in the $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event.
He had a good run in the 2004 Main Event but infamously was knocked out by Greg Raymer who would go on to win the event. Mike again made great TV time here with an ongoing altercation with Raymer and their battle will forever be in the TV poker hall of fame.
In 2005 Matusow came heartbreakingly close to his dream and finished 9th out of nearly 7,000 entrants in the WSOP Main Event picking up over $1million for his final table finish. It was clear to the whole world how much this meant to Mike as he broke down in tears when he was knocked out.
On his way to the 2005 WSOP Main Event Final Table Mike had a now famous run in with Shawn Sheikhan
Soon after this Mike made history by becoming the first player to cash out $1million+ from two separate events in the same year. He achieved this by winning the WSOP tournament of Champions and beating Phil Helmuth in the process.
In 2007 Mike continued his successful career with a second place finish at the prestigious World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup collecting $671,320. Also ‘The Mouth’ had a good 2007 WSOP with three top 20 finishes and a total cash of over $125,000.
Mike Matusow's Major Title Record
- WSOP Bracelets
- 4
- EPT Wins
- 0
- WPT Wins
- 0
Drugs and the Dark Period of his Life
Matusow has had dark periods in his life, and he describes his darkest period being between 2004 and 2005. For the previous years Mike had battled with Drug issues and led a party lifestyle with lots of drugs, parties and women.
Mike Matusow Twitter
This culminated in Matusow being setup by the Las Vegas Police in a Sting operation where he was duped into selling Ecstasy and prescription painkillers to an undercover police officer who had befriended him. Matusow was charged and went to Clark County Jail for 6 months.
The Mike Matusow Blowup is famous at the poker tables, but getting sent to jail was the biggest blowup in his life
Hearing Mike’s side of the story he tells how much he regrets his actions during this period and that he had been charged for acting as the middle man for a friend who was buying drugs for personal use.
His release from Jail in April 2004 proved to be a turning point for Mike, who went on to turn his life around, move away from the drugs and concentrate on his poker career. He made a promise to himself to work hard on his poker game and had set himself a goal to win the WSOP Main Event.
In the 2005 World Series of Poker, as a new man, Matusow went on to make the final table of the World Series of Poker Main event, which started with a field of 5,619 players. He went on to finish 9th with a $1million prize. Although he was disappointed with this, it was a massive achievement especially after what he had been through.
Mike has gone on to tell his story of this dark period in his life in his autobiography called “Check Raising the Devil” which is an absolutely fascinating read about a gamblers lifestyle and the pitfalls that can so easily be fallen into. This is mixed in with the highs of his poker success.
Matusow has also battled with weight problems and entered into a prop bet with fellow poker player Ted Forrest that he could lose weight and reduce from 250 pounds to 181 pounds. He won this bet and took $100,000 from Forrest. However a few years later the bet was reversed and Forrest had to reduce his weight from 188 pounds to under 140 pounds. This time the bet was much larger for $2million and Forrest smashed it and took Matusow for a fortune.
Talking his way onto Team Full Tilt
Matusow’s wild life has been featured in the press numerous times, but he is a real live fire in the poker community and entertaining to follow and that’s why fans stick by him.
Mike was a popular member of Team Full Tilt for many years
Mike Matusow was an original member of Team Full Tilt Poker and his popularity amongst fans and high profile TV time made him one of the most followed members of the team. “The Mouth” is no longer sponsored by Full Tilt Poker but he continues to play online poker on the site whenever he can.
If you see this avatar on Full Tilt Poker then you are playing with Mike Matusow!
Just because he is behind a computer screen doesn’t stop ‘The Mouth’ from berating and joking with his opponents when he is playing at the Full Tilt tables and he will always join in with the banter going on with the large number of spectators that rail him at the tables he is playing at.
Mike Matusow net worth is
$8 Million
Mike Matusow Wife
Mike Matusow Wiki Biography
Michael Matusow was born on the 30th April 1968, in Los Angeles, California USA, and is an American professional poker player, better known by his nickname “The Mouth”. During his professional career, he has won four World Series of Poker bracelets, 13 final tables and 32 money finishes in tournaments. He is also known for hosting such poker podcasts as “The Circuit”, and “The Mouthpiece”. His career has been active since the early 1990s.
So, have you ever wondered just how rich Mike Matusow is, as of late 2016? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the total size of Mike’s net worth amounts to $8 million. Needless to say, he has earned most of his income during his successful career as a professional poker player. Additionally, another source is coming from his career as the host of several poker podcasts.
Mike Matusow Net Worth $8 Million
Mike Matusow was raised in Los Angeles. Even at a young age he was a passionate competitor, enjoying and excelling at activities such as pool, building race cars, and bowling. Information about his parents and education is unknown to the media.
![Mike Mike](/uploads/1/3/5/8/135817097/236993386.jpg)
Mike first discovered his passion for poker when he started playing video poker in the Maxim Casino at the age of 18. Although he had never played poker before, it wasn’t long before he started visiting the casinos regularly, to the extent that his shoulder and arms began to suffer from repetitive strain injury as a result of his rabid dedication. However, at the beginning he wasn’t too successful, and he occasionally stole money from his mother’s purse, and even attended Gamblers Anonymous meeting to cope with his problem. All of this changed when he met a rounder named Steve Samaroff in 1989, who introduced him to Texas hold’em poker.
Soon Mike became much more serious about a professional engagement to poker. He started working as a poker dealer at Sans Town Hotel and Gambling Hall in Las Vegas, which enabled him to observe other players and pick up on various tips and strategies. Furthermore, his work as a poker dealer helped him accumulate enough knowledge and experience to start competing in professional poker tournaments. His net worth began to rise.
Subsequently, Mike earned his first big income at the 1998 World Series of Poker, when he paid part of Scotty Nguyen’s entrance fee, who later went on to win and subsequently gave him $333,333 in return for his stake, adding a considerable amount to his net worth.
A year later, Mike defeated Alex Brenes and won the $3,500 No Limit Hold’em event which earned him his first World Series of Poker bracelet. In 2000, he won some more World Series of Poker cashes before his highly successful run at the 2001 Main Event. He finished sixth and earned approximately $240,000. He followed this success by winning his second bracelet in 2002 and making another deep run in the 2005 Main Event, all of which earned him over $1 million. He eventually went on to win his third and fourth bracelet in 2008 and in 2013, while cashing multiple other times along the way, increasing further his net worth.
Besides his success at the World Series of Poker, Matusow has also competed and cashed in at many other events, some of which included World Poker Tour, the National Heads-up Poker Championship, the Aruba Classic and the Wynn Classic. Additional to this, he has also competed in High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark, winning once. As a member of Team Full Tilt, he can be regularly found playing a variety of games and competitions on Full Tilt Poker. His net worth is certainly rising.
Beside his involvement in poker tournaments, Mike also hosted Card Player’s poker radio podcast “The Circuit” and is currently the host of Card Player’s online video segment “The Mouthpiece”. In 2009 he published his autobiography entitled “Check Raising the Devil”, which also increased his net worth by a large margin.
Regarding his personal life, Mike Matusow is single, and his current residence is in Henderson, Nevada.
Full Name | Mike Matusow |
Net Worth | $8 Million |
Date Of Birth | April 30, 1968 |
Place Of Birth | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Profession | Professional Poker Player |
Nationality | American |
Nicknames | Michael Matusow , The Mouth |
https://twitter.com/themouthmatusow | |
MySpace | http://www.myspace.com/mouthpoker |
IMDB | http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2118339/ |
TV Shows | National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Face the Ace, King of Vegas, High Stakes Poker, Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament, Pro-Am Poker Equalizer, World Series of Poker 2003 |
Self
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Poker Night in America | 2014 | TV Series | Himself |
2010 World Series of Poker | 2010 | TV Series | Himself |
Pass the Sugar | 2009 | Documentary | Himself |
2009 World Series of Poker | 2009 | TV Series | Himself |
World Poker Tour | 2004-2009 | TV Series | Himself |
National Heads-Up Poker Championship | 2009 | TV Series | Himself (2009) |
2008 World Series of Poker | 2008 | TV Series | Himself |
National Heads-Up Poker Championship | 2008 | TV Mini-Series | Himself |
Poker After Dark | 2007-2008 | TV Series | Himself |
2007 World Series of Poker | 2007 | TV Series | Himself |
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List | 2007 | TV Series | Himself |
National Heads-Up Poker Championship | 2007 | TV Series | Himself (2007) |
Lucky You | 2007 | Himself | |
High Stakes Poker | 2006 | TV Series | Himself |
National Heads-Up Poker Championship | 2006 | TV Series | Himself |
Poker Superstars III | 2006 | TV Series | Himself |
2004 World Series of Poker | 2004 | TV Series | Himself (2004) |