Mike Matusow Attacks Online Poker

There is no denying that Mike “The Mouth” Matusow is a unique talent in the live tournament poker arena with 3 WSOP bracelets and $7,907,302 in cashes to his name.
Playing online and especially cash games, however, is a different matter entirely and the outspoken 44 year old doesn’t mince his words when describing his lack of love for the format. As Matusow explained recently to pokerlistings.com:
“To me, I think they’re a bunch of criminals [online poker sites]. I just keep myself low. I don’t want to be around it. I’ve seen the downside of it. I’ve had millions stolen from me from Ultimate Bet. I’ve had my name smashed through the mud. God knows how much I had stolen from me by Full Tilt. I don’t need it. It’s disappointing to me.”
When discussing the Ultimate Bet incident, Matusow estimates he got scammed for around $1.5 million, but only received $375,000 back in compensation. The damage done to his game, however, was even more devastating as he said losing 51 out of 52 days caused him to lose his heart and his game has suffered ever since. In that respect, Matusow’s story is similar to that of Brad Booth‘s who has been in the news of late for being broke in the wake of his own Ultimate Bet disaster.
Matusow’s resentment of the online game runs deep and with all the talk about legalizing online poker in the US, the Las Vegas resident’s message hasn’t altered one bit. As he comments: “Everybody can’t wait for it to be legalized so then all the casinos can steal all their money. They ain’t going to change.”
Nevertheless, Matusow’s vitriolics aren’t just based on a distrust of the online game, and he admits to be being more than a little frustrated by his younger competitors. As Matusow commented back in 2010:
“It’s such a different game. My game is about seeing people, seeing how quickly they count their chips and how they react. I sense weakness. Online, nobody folds, so it makes me play a lot weaker and tighter and takes away my game. Internet poker isn’t real poker I don’t give a s**t what anyone says. It’s not.”
Mike Matusow’s full interview with pokerlistings can be read here. In the meantime, Matusow is currently in action at the 2012 WSOP, where he has already cashed twice for almost $75,000.