Poker NewsMuch more than just a poker blog...
Mike "the Mouth" Matusow cashed seven times in this year's World Series but whoever believes this means the convicted felon (drug trafficking) poker pro doesn't have to worry about his bank accocunt balances is sadly mistaken, as an article on gambool.com points out.
If anyone searches for Mike Matusow's name on the internet they can easily find his Hendon Poker Database page [3] which says he's won over $9 million in live tournaments only.
9 million dollars is a huge sum of money, winning that much on poker is an impressive feat even over the course of a lifetime, but let's not forget that this number doesn't tell us how much the player is in profit, if he's in profit at all - they don't subtract the lost buy-ins from the total live tournament earnings which is in Matusow's case about $10K a piece, nor do they subtract the money he pays to his stakers. Stakers (or backers) are people who invest in a poker player's bankroll in exchange for a certain portion of their profit, usually around 50%. And then we haven't even considered things like taxation and travel expenses.
Knowing all that it's less surprising that in an 2014 interview Matusow said he has to worry how he would pay his bills each month. In that piece he mostly blamed the failed online poker room Full Tilt for his financial troubles. In reality, sports betting and online poker has also made a giant mark on Matusow's bankroll.
According to highstakesdb.com's numbers, he's down over $1 million online since 2007; and even before that year, according to Matusow himself he lost all of his 2005 and 2006 WSOP winnings, about $2 million just to Russ Hamilton on the internet. Matusow also claims he gave up sports betting in 2013 due to his consistent losses.
[4]
The four-time WSOP bracelet winner has been to prison too, and not for his debts or for his connections to Full Tilt, it was drug trafficking. In 2003 an undercover DEA agent (Drug Enforcement Agency in the US) posed as Matusow's friend and asked him to get him some cocaine. Matusow complied with the request, he got 2 ounces of coke which got him six months in jail in return.
"The Mouth" is going through happier days nowadays, he's cashed in seven different WSOP tournaments this year, reaching the final table in three ($10K Omaha Hi-Lo, $10K Dealers Choice, $10K 2-7 Triple Draw) - it is in question, however, that how much this good run can help his financial situation. On top of that, it looks like Matusow has some serious health problems too, as the 49-year-old appeared in one of Doug Polk's recent video blogs [5] in what seemed to be a wheelchair.