Mike Matusow Biopic To Be Made Into A Movie

Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, one of poker’s most accomplished and colorful characters, is to have a biopic movie made about his life based upon his autobiography “Check-Raising the Devil“.
According to the Hollywood trade paper Variety, the film will not only deal with Matusow’s impressive poker career, in which he has earned 4 WSOP bracelets as well as $9,003,461 in tournament winnings, but also the battles he has faced over the years trying to overcome drug addiction, depression, as well as a stretch behind bars.
Taking on the project is a company called 1984 Professional Defense Contractors, with producers Adi Shankar, Spencer Silna and David Uslan invested in the movie. Amongst the company’s other film credits is The Grey (2011) starring Liam Neeson, Killing Them Softly (2012) with Brad Pitt, Lone Survivor (2013) with Mark Wahlberg, and The Voices (2014) with Ryan Reynolds.
Mike Matusow’s autobiography “Check-Raising the Devil” chronicles the wild swings associated with playing poker professionally, and the extremities of highs and lows of which Matusow suffered more than most. The 300 page book was published by the world’s foremost publisher of gambling books, Cardoza Publishing, and was described by prolific New York writer Paul ‘Dr. Pauly’ McGuire, as an “entertaining autobiography that depicted Matusow’s rise from humble beginnings in a Nevada trailer park to achieving rock-and-roll status after winning millions of dollars on the poker circuit. The dark side of Las Vegas, morbid addiction, and fame preyed on Matusow and he quickly fell from grace.”
The 1984 Professional Defense Contractors movie project is in the early stages of development, and consequently there is currently no timetable as to when the biopic is expected to be completed and released. In the meantime, members of the poker community have been having fun nominating their favourite Mike Matusow ‘blow-up’ moments they would most like to see included in the film.
On pokerstrategy.com, for instance, Barry Carter gave an honourable mention to the following events, namely: The Shahram Sheikhan bust up, Mike gets eliminated from the Main Event, The 7-2 hand with Phil Hellmuth, and The Shaun Deeb slowroll. Clips of those memorable scenes can be viewed here.