Book details poker champ’s journey to depths and back

By Mark Lasser

“Check Raising the Devil” is the autobiography to date of one of poker’s more colorful characters, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow.

I’ve been watching Mike play for years and haven’t known much about him beyond what I’ve seen on TV. His reputation is that he’s a constant talker and can be a little – no, considerably – inconsiderate of his fellow players. That said, he’s moneyed in a bunch of WSOP and WPT events and has three WSOP bracelets dangling from his wrists as well. He’s won over $7,200,000 in tournaments and millions more in live play. He’s very good, to say the least.

What I didn’t know is how dramatic a life he’s lived away from the poker tables. In this book, Matusow comes clean in a very candid and often unflattering light that is sometimes shocking and often engaging. I couldn’t help but feel empathy and admiration for some of the life events he’s endured.

Mike started gambling the way many of us do, on slots and video poker. He discovered live poker while living in a trailer park in Las Vegas and working part time in his parent’s furniture store. He eventually went on to deal cards at a local’s favorite casino called Sam’s Town on Boulder Highway and lucked into a player willing to stake his live game. From there, he accelerated his play and became one of the best player’s in the world.

I recently mentioned Mike’s book to a poker friend who kinda snarled and said something about Mike being a jerk and that he’d never pay for a book where he’d get a royalty. I’m sure he’d feel differently after reading it. What most people don’t know about Matusow is that he has bipolar disorder as well as ADHD. These are not what most would consider advantages for a poker player. Big mood swings, depression and lack of focus are on no one’s short list for successful gambling attributes.

To deal with these problems, he initially self medicated with Ecstasy and meth. Things got bad enough that you’d think he was headed to the same fate as Stu Unger, the poker legend that died from drugs at 45 years old with two WSOP main event championship bracelets. Of course, we know Matusow is still alive, so the book is really a journey of his way down into the depths of drugs and eventually prison, and his climb back out.

Along the way, Mike describes some crazy parties at the Palms and even crazier X-rated ones at his home. (Sorry, you’ll have to buy the book to get the details on this episode.) The story of how he eventually wound up in prison and his – how shall we put it – escapades while in prison, make for some of the more interesting chapters. It’s also interesting to read about some of the people that poker watchers think are his mortal enemies.

Conflicts with Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer and Daniel Negreanu have been very visible and immortalized on You Tube but Matusow insists they’re all friends now. Phil even wrote an incredibly warm foreword for the book. This is a fun book and I easily recommend it.

You can find the book at www.gamblersbook.com, from the publisher at www.cardozabooks.com and at many retailers.

Mark B. Lasser is Denver writer and international poker player. He regularly plays in Colorado, Arizona, California, Missouri and Nevada. You can hear him talk about gambling and casinos every Friday at 5 PM on KEZW AM 1430. Readers can send questions and comments to him at ColoradoPokerMark@comcast.net.