Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow

If you were to choose one TV table for ESPN at the 2005 World Series of Poker, which would it be: table A with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and nine unknown amateurs, or table B with certain Hall of Famers Phil Ivey and John Juanda alongside great players Can Hua and Farzad "Freddy" Bonyadi? Not surprisingly, ESPN chose "The Mouth" and the nine amateurs.



Poker is about entertainment these days, and whether or not Matusow ever reaches the Hall of Fame, he is certainly entertaining to watch. You never know whether he will laugh or break down and cry, needle someone else, display the now famous "Matusow blowup" (in which he gives away all of his chips in one fell swoop after days of great play), or get into a verbal fight with another player – which he did, resulting in a 10-minute penalty for both himself and the other player. (By the way, when ESPN starts televising the main event, you will see all of the above in its coverage.)

Oh, let's not forget that Mike was the only great player to make the final table; he finished ninth in a field of 5,619 players. Let's also not forget that Mike has a good heart. For the record, the other table would have exhibited much more advanced poker play, but all of the aforementioned great players at that table tend to be very quiet, and therefore are not as exciting to watch on television.



During his 2005 WSOP run, Matusow picked up a key tell on a fairly new brick-and-mortar casino player, Dustin Woolf. Although Woolf is relatively new to the brick-and-mortar casino game, he is a legend in the Internet poker world.



Ironically, Woolf's online name is "neverwin," but believe me when I tell you that neverwin has won a lot of money playing online poker. Still, the difference between playing online poker and brick-and-mortar casino poker, face to face, is like night and day.



One key difference is that you do not have to disguise yourself online and worry about tells. After all, when you are in your den, it's just you and your computer, with no one looking you in the eye when you're attempting a bluff. Thus, when Woolf had a strong hand, he always threw his chips into the pot in a splashing sort of way; imagine a stack of chips falling over when someone flings them into the pot. But when Woolf had a weak hand, he always said, "I raise," and then carefully placed his chips in the pot. Matusow picked up on this and was ready to take advantage when the time was right.



A little while later, one player called the $10,000 big blind, Matusow called with the Q J, and Woolf raised, making it about $80,000; he said, "I raise," and then carefully set his chips down in the pot. Matusow, having picked up on this weak tell, thought he could take advantage of it. But rather than reraise right then and there and win the $100,000-plus pot, Matusow thought, "I'll just call and then wait for him to bluff on the flop, as well."



The flop was a decent one for Matusow, giving him an open-end straight draw with a board of K-10-4. Woolf bet out $250,000, saying, "I bet," and setting his chips in the pot carefully. Matusow decided to let Woolf bluff one more time (on the next round of betting), and just called. With a 6 on the turn, Woolf checked, and Matusow said, "I'm all in." Woolf folded his hand lightning fast, and Matusow put the extra $330,000 from Woolf into his stack.



Let's see, that's $330,000 extra for Matusow simply because he had a strong tell on Woolf, and the skill and panache to take full advantage of it. Maybe Matusow was a good choice for the television table after all. I am looking forward to seeing that hand again on ESPN soon.