Mike Matusow wins 4th bracelet after head scratching boast

Poker is a high variance game, so what Mike Matusow did this weekend at the 2013 World Series of Poker is something along the lines of Babe Ruth calling his home-run shot. Matusow was making a deep-run in the $5k Seven Card Stud 8-or-better tournament when Cardplayer Magazine published an interview with “The Mouth” where he ranks the all-time best tournament players as #1: Carlos Mortensen, and #2: Himself!

While I give you a moment to compose yourself it should be noted that he does have a fairly valid reason for his assertions, especially with Mortensen who is someone I consider among the best of all-time –although I still think Matusow is overestimating his own tournament record. Matusow’s explanation, that, “I play my three or four tournaments, and I win them. You know what I’m saying? Per tournaments played, there’s probably no one in the world except Carlos Mortensen that has ever done better than me. I don’t play many of them. It’s quality, not quantity.”

Obviously Matusow plays more than three or four tournaments, and he doesn’t win them all or even close to that, but he does raise a valid point, and while he may be accused of hyperbole, he did go out that day and back-up his words by winning Event #13, adding another bracelet to his resume.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from Mike Matusow’s fourth WSOP bracelet win:

Event #13: $5k Seven Card Stud 8-or-better

1. Mike Matusow – $266,503
2. Matthew Ashton – $164,700
3. Mike Leah – $108,412
4. David Baker – $79,078
5. Yuval Bronshtein – $58,835
6. Tony Cousineau – $44,543
7. Gavin Smith – $34,268
8. Vladimir Shchemelev – $26,757

Considering his assertion that he is one of the best tournament players of all-time I decided to take a closer look at Mike’s track-record. While he does have $9 million in career tournament earnings, two of his top three cashes were in invitational events. Matusow is 25^th on the all-time money-list, but only 50^th when we exclude invitational tournaments according to thehendonmob.com. Still, he does have a more impressive resume than I initially expected to see:

• 4 WSOP bracelets
• 2 WSOP Main Event final tables
• 2013 NBC National Heads-Up Champion
• 2005 Tournament of Champions winner
• 5 WPT final tables

Now I wouldn’t say this is one of the most impressive resumes in tournament poker (even factoring in a limited schedule) but should Mike notch a few more big wins he may have a strong case to argue down the road.

*Resources: www.thehendonmob.com