Tag: Mike Matusow

When you think of the cast members that have made the World Series of Poker (WSOP) such an epic story, the name Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, is towards the top of the IMDB Cast List. Every incredible narrative needs an equally incredible bad guy, and few have played the role more perfect than Matusow.

Matusow joined the 854-entrant field in Event #5: $1,000 No-Limit Hold ’em, when he looked down to see AQ in the big blind, facing a raise from ‘wolverine17’ from the small blind. Matusow three-bet, ‘wolverine17’ made the call, and did the same when Matusow shoved a ten-high flop.

The Hugh Jackman pseudonym won the hand with pocket aces, sending Matusow for an early bath, cue eruption. Matusow, who was streaming his play live at the time, didn’t realise he was playing in a freezeout. Coupled with ‘wolverine17’s’ 15-second tank-call on the flop, Matusow corrupted the airwaves with a series of foul expletives.

“This motherfucker,” said Matusow. “I’m gonna fuck him right in his fucking ass, man. Mark that name down, ‘wolverine17’. What the fuck is wrong with these fucking people?”

Matusow continued to describe in elucidatory fashion how he was going to track ‘wolverine17’ down and cause some grievous bodily harm, even volunteering to pay his tribe to track down ‘wolverine17’s’ true identity.

Whoops.

It turns out that the man that Matusow had promised to fuck in the arse was a woman after the WSOP released her name (Megan Milburn) after finishing 38th.

“I won’t hit no woman, I’ll just call her a c*** that she is when I see her,” said Matusow.

After the poker world ran with the story, Matusow decided against abdicating responsibility, reaching out to Milburn privately to apologise for his outburst.

“Lol, it wasn’t intentional!” Tweeted Milburn. “The next one might be though.”

“I am an idiot you all know that.” Said Matusow.

Bad.

Guy.

Material.

Given the current climate, one would assume that the promise of sexual and physical abuse after losing a hand wouldn’t go down well within the corridors of the WSOP.

PocketFives’ top man, Lance Bradley, reached out to the WSOP for a reaction to the Mouth’s outburst, and it seems he will escape a reprimand.

“We take prevention of abusive behavior at WSOP tournaments or on the WSOP.COM platform extremely seriously. We have a number of preventive measures online including recently disabling our chat entirely,” Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the WSOP told PocketFives. “But the regulation of content on our customer’s personal streams and social media accounts is a slippery slope, particularly as each of these third-party platforms have their own escalation procedures. We reserve the right to suspend the account of any individual going forward, but in this case, it appears the player had the perfect response to resolve the situation herself.”

The Results

Event #3: $400 No Limit Hold ’em

Event #3 attracted 2,091 entrants, and Robert’ bustinballs’ Kuhn captured the bracelet and $115,850 first prize. Kuhn is a gold ring winner, taking down a 370-entrant World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Main Event in Atlantic City for $122,098, back in 2016.

Daniel’ DNegs’ Negreanu finished 210th, and the reigning WSOP All-Time Casher, Roland Israelishvili cashed for the second time this series.

Results

  1. Robert ‘ bustinballs’ Kuhn – $115,850
  2. Ronald ‘rlksaces’ Keren – $71,587
  3. Richard ‘Doc33’ Federico – $52,242
  4. Theodore ‘klubot’ Lui – $38,466
  5. Max ‘ndirish50’ Huster – $28,605
  6. Evan ‘Escott121181’ Scott – $21,454
  7. Chris ‘pokerher2014’ Fuchs – $16,184
  8. Roland ‘prngis12’ Israelashvili – $12,345
  9. Andre ‘AndreFreund’ Freund – $9,560

Event #4: $500 No Limit Hold ’em Super Turbo

Matt’ Bodeyster’ Bode conquered the field of 1,179-entrants in a six-hour asthma attack of an event that made him $97,091 the richer. Bode’s first bracelet came a month after declaring on Twitter his intention to turn into an online grinder and ship a bracelet. The former World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event winner, Kevin MacPhee finished fifth.

Results

  1. Matt’ Bodeyster’ Bode – $97.091
  2. Brian ‘XcrazylegsX’ Frasca – $59,952
  3. Caitlin ‘KTUUUH’ Dillon – $42,603
  4. Frank ‘spaghetti’ Marasco – $30,772
  5. Kevin ‘ImaLuckSac’ MacPhee – $22,389
  6. David ‘DrJayTrotter’Bernsen – $16,500
  7. Ryan’ Whosyourdodd’ Dodd – $12,362
  8. Shawn’ Saygoodnight- Daniels – 9,338
  9. Jason’ Daluxxx’ Luxenberg – $7,162

Event #5: $1,000 No Limit Hold ’em Freezeout

Allen’ Acnyc718′ Chang won the $161,286 first prize in the game that contained the Matusow outburst.

Results

  1. Allen ‘Acnyc718’ Chang – $161,286
  2. Philip ‘tomte’ Yeh – $99,709.
  3. Felipe ‘McBain’ Leme – $69,772
  4. Andrew ‘Iseefoodtuna’ Campbell – $49,750
  5. Tim ‘married’ Begley – $35,697
  6. Alex ‘ShadowFiend1’ Condon – $26,124
  7. John. ’Slapshot1085’ Forlenza – $19,390
  8. Josh ‘charliefrog’ Greenberg – $14,603
  9. Quintin ‘AA_QTIP_KK’ Trammell – $11,196

With the results now in of Mike Noori’s prop bet to eat $1,000 of McDonald’s in just 36 hours, Paul Phua lists five more poker prop bets that were even crazier

In the first part of my top 10, I wrote that poker player Mike Noori would be attempting to eat $1,000 of McDonald’s food in just 36 hours for a prop bet. The results of the weekend’s food-fest are in, and… he failed. To be fair, most people thought it was physically impossible!
Mike Noori entered the event in good spirit, dressed up as McDonald’s character the Hamburglar, and Tweeting video clips and updates as @McHamburgler1k. However, the writing was on the wall when he Tweeted: “10 hours in, $90 worth of food consumed. Mental state = shaky”. The final Tweet conceding defeat said that it had been “a fun time” and that the event had raised $14k for charity.
Will poker players go to any lengths for a prop bet? Judge for yourself, with the final five entries in my top 10, below.

Ashton Griffin and the ultra marathon

Poker players don’t always take the greatest care of themselves, which makes Ashton Griffin’s prop bet feat particularly impressive. In 2011, he claimed he could run 70 miles on a treadmill within 24 hours, and got enough people interested in the action to have $300,000 riding on success. Griffin was just 22, and hugely fit; he must have known he could do it, because he went out partying the night before his physical ordeal. Despite concerns for his health – his own parents turned up halfway through to plead with him to stop – he completed the 70 miles with 45 minutes to spare. Talk about “running good”!

Dan Bilzerian and the Vegas bike challenge

You might more readily associate Dan Bilzerian with private jets than bicycles, but the poker-playing playboy also completed an impressive physical challenge for a prop bet. He was bet $600,000 that he couldn’t cycle from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in less than 48 hours. Bilzerian had hardly touched a bicycle in years, so he left nothing to chance. He says he spent nearly $150,000 on preparing for the feat of endurance, including getting coaching from Lance Armstrong. In the end, it wasn’t even close: Bilzerian aced it in just 33 hours.

Joe Sebek and the face tattoos

Many prop bets involve tattoos, or haircuts. After being eliminated from the 2002 WSOP Main Event by Robert Varkonyi, Phil Hellmuth said he would shave his head if Varkonyi went on to win. He did, and Hellmuth honoured the bet. But the one the players likely regret most was a “last longer” bet between Joe Sebok, Jeff Madsen, and Gavin Smith: the loser had to get tattooed with the others’ faces. Sebok is the one with a permanent ink reminder on his skin of both men, while Jeff Madsen, who busted out next, “only” had to have a tattoo of Gavin Smith.

Ted Forrest, Mike Matusow and the crash diet

In 2008, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow won a $100,000 bet from Ted Forrest by losing 60lbs in a year. Two years later, the tables were turned: this time it was Forrest who had to get down to a trim 140lbs, by losing 48lbs. Forrest bet $50,000 at 10:1 he could do it in just four months, and another $100,000 at 20:1 he could do it in two. Two months to lose 40lbs is a tall order, but with $2 million riding on his crash diet, Forrest literally starved himself for the last ten days and made it just before the shorter deadline.

John Hennigan and the exile to Iowa

One of the most telling of all prop bet stories is told by Howard Lederer. Poker player John Hennigan was once bet that he couldn’t spend a quiet six weeks in casino-free Des Moines, Iowa. Some say the bet was $50,000, some say it was $100,000, but it certainly sounds like an easy enough bet to win. Hennigan even said he was looking forward to working on his golf. But after just two days he bought out of the bet and returned sheepishly to Vegas. It seems like the only prop bet a dedicated gambler can’t possibly win is a bet not to gamble!