Mike Matusow Makes Incredible Poker Read On Opponent

Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, with 3 WSOP bracelets and $7,422,170 in live tournament winnings is not only a unique poker talent, but also a great draw for TV poker fans.
This was succinctly demonstrated in 2005 by ESPN’s decision during the WSOP Main Event to televise and follow the action at Matusow’s table, where he was the only really recognisable poker celebrity, rather than the one featuring Phil Ivey and John Juanda.
The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) were richly rewarded with their decision, as captured on film was an incredible read by Matusow on one of his unfortunate table opponents.
Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf is a prodigious online poker pro, but was only really starting out on the live tournament circuit in 2005, when the eagle-eyed Matusow picked-up a lucrative tell on the Californian poker pro.
Apparently, Matusow noticed that Woolf would always splash his chips into the pot when he had a strong hand, but would always announce a raise and then carefully place his chips in the pot with a weak holding.
Matusow then waited for the right opportunity to exploit his opponent, which presented itself when one player called a $10,000 bet, Mike with Qh-Jh called and an out of position Woolf then announced a raise to $80,000, before carefully placing the stack of chips into the pot.
Matusow recognised the sign immediately and then devised a plan to extract maximum value out of his opponent by merely calling Woolf’s $250,000 bluff on a K-10-4 flop, before taking advantage of Woolf’s check on the turn. After Woolf checked the 6 on the turn, Matusow pushed all-in and immediately added $330,000 of Woolf’s chips to his own stack after his opponent folded.
Picking up key tells such as these are an integral part of being a live poker pro and Mike Matusow then went on to place 9th during the 2005 WSOP Main Event, for an impressive pay-day of $1 million. Matusow is also currently placed 26th on poker’s All Time Money List.