Ted Forrest Accuses Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow of Welching on the Bet

9 years ago
Ted Forrest Accuses Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow of Welching on the Bet
12:44
19 Sep

There’s been a big drama happening last couple days on the Twitter feeds of two poker legend – Ted Forrest and Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow. Ted accused Mike of welching on the weight-loss bet they had going four years ago. Basically, Mike bet Ted that he couldn’t lose nearly 50 pounds and when Forrest did it ‘The Mouth’ was on the line for the $2 million he set against Ted’s $100K at 20:1 odds.

Soon after the bet was completed, there were complications regarding payment and from what was revealed back then, Mike agreed to pay $5,000 monthly increments until full amount of $2 million is paid. But, according to what’s been published on Forrest’s Twitter, Mike has only paid $70,500 of the entire amount so far.

It is uncertain what caused this outburst by Forrest after four years – perhaps he simply got tired of waiting or something else took place that prompted him to publicly disclose what has been going on with the bet. Either way, his Twitter feed has been bursting with accusations and claims to the money owed.

All this happening close to the Hall of Fame announcements prompted some discussion that Forrest could be doing it do discredit ‘The Mouth’, but Ted denied any such accusations and expressed his stance that regardless of what is going on between them two, he fully support’s Mike’s nomination for the Poker HOF.

Mike reacted to these accusations, pretty much calling it all ‘a bull’, explaining that he didn’t want to go through with the bet in the first place, but Ted told him he would have to pay $500K cancellation fee. So he went with it but insisted that he would not change his lifestyle for anyone.

This and some other tweets explaining the situation further have since mysteriously disappeared from Mike’s Twitter feed however and right now there is no single mention of the situation on there. Some speculated that Mattusow did this following his lawyer’s advice in the event there is a lawsuit.

However, latest tweets from Forrest, published just couple hours ago, explained that he and Mike were trying to work out a settlement. According to Forrest, Mike was at the doctor’s office when he last contacted him and Ted put the animosities aside and wished him well.

It is highly unlikely that this case would end up in the courtroom as poker players tend to stay away from these as much as possible, especially when settling gambling related debts. Apart from that, even when money is big, these are often people that spent their lives playing together and there is a special type of bond and special set of rules they all live by.

One thing we know – Mike is not and has never been a bad guy. On the other hand, he has always had his demons he had to fight with and those who know him are well aware of these things. The most likely outcome will be, as Forrest mentioned, some type of settlement that will most likely be partially upheld.

That’s how things work in the world of high stakes gambling and crazy prop bets, even if we want to believe that people will always honor their word. Sometimes the bets are made in the heat of the moment or they simply look to juicy to pass on, but when the things go wrong and the time comes to pay the piper, that’s when the reality kicks in!


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Ivan Potocki is the editor in chief and one of the lead news writers for PokerTube. His natural flair and enthusiasm for journalism combined with a deep poker knowledge make him an exciting contributor for PokerTube.The experience garnered playing poker professionally for several years and the knowl...Read more

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