"Mike Probably Has Nothing" - Q&A with Mike Matusow

Currently seated at the ESPN featured table with less than 150 players remaining in the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, Mike Matusow has many wondering whether 2008 could be the year for the Mouth to take the title. Matusow is no stranger to deep finishes in the main event, including a ninth place finish in 2005 and a sixth place finish in 2001. Matusow took a step towards another final table finish earlier today by doubling up when his AQ outdrew Phi Nguyen's 99, much to the delight of the spectators.

Card Player caught up with Matusow during a break at the featured table to discuss the hand and how the rest of the day has been treating him.

Alex Porter: Tell me about your double up from earlier today.

Mike Matusow: I raised from the cut-off and [Nguyen] came over the top of me, and he'd been doing that a lot. He came over the top of me a little bit smaller, and I put him on a middle pair. I just decided to put him to the test. I knew I was a coin flip at worst. He called, and I won.

AP: You've been somewhat quiet since that hand, at least in a relative Mike Matusow kind of way. Have you changed gears or are you short on good spots?

MM: I've just been folding every hand because I'm getting nothing but deuce-eight and deuce-nine. I never have a hand. I've opened the pot twice and gotten reraised twice. I think I've played four hands and in two of them I've gotten reraised. Once I had two tens and just flat called. That was a big hand for him, kings and queens.

I'm card dead. I think it's funny that you can sit there and never play a hand, and the second you raise they just reraise you. "Oh, Mike probably has nothing. He hasn't played a hand in like an hour."

AP: You have a lot of play experience with several of your tablemates. How do you rate their play?

MM: It's a tough table. Tough table.

Card Player's Live Player Database – Mike Matusow