Would You Stake Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow for the WSOP 2016?

10:13
24 May

Multi-millionaires asking you for a loan of money might not be an everyday occurrence, but in the poker world it’s much more common than you’d imagine! So this week’s begging bowl plea by 4-time bracelet winner Mike Matusow for someone to fund his World Series of Poker plans isn’t a huge shock, but it does beg the question… where are all his millions?

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I'm finalizing my 2016 wsop schedule ,now all I got to do is find some rich guy who wants to make money to back me this yr#healthyandhungry

— Mike Matusow (@themouthmatusow) 17 May 2016

With career tournament earnings of over $9million some might be wondering just why he’d need staked in any event, but those in the know understand just how expensive playing big multi-event tournaments like the World Series can be.

There are 13 $10K buy-in events, not to mention the high-rollers, super-high rollers, one- for-one drop events and side games which proliferate the early summer poker jamboree.

A quarter of a million dollars would be a good, possibly conservative, estimate for anyone who, like Matusow, has the ability and desire to play them all.

Add to this the fact that Matusow has hardly played or cashed at all in the last two years owing to health problems, and you can see that funding such a big endeavour is often farmed out to interested investors.

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Any and all rich friends interested in staking me for wsopdirect message me and let me how much your interested (healthy and hungry) #focus

— Mike Matusow(@themouthmatusow) 17 May 2016

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Responses to his pleas for staking have been mixed on his Twitter feed " A Trump supporter begging for money? Weird,” said one, while another was more positive, tweeting,” Good luck! It would be good to see the Mouth back on tv!”

“I've always heard your credit is good. Good luck this WSOP!” came another plus for Mike the Mouth but as ever there were those ready to spoil the party.

After being questioned in several replies, Matusow continued his offers, tweeting: “And for all doubters I'll last longer or cross book any tourney we both play together#confident”.

This elicited the snarky comeback, “easy to cross book with others money, try paying Ted Forest the money u owe him first!” referring to a prop bet on weight loss which Matusow allegedly hasn’t paid off.

Cross-booking for those who haven’t heard of it is a specific type of bet whereby the players agree to pay each other the amount which the other wins in a tournament (or cash game).

So, if Matusow cross-books with, say, Greg Raymer– and Raymer goes on to win $100,000 then Matusow would have to give Raymer $100,000 also. And vice-versa.

In an episode of Poker After Dark, Daniel Negreanu told Phil Hellmuth that "I will cross-book you ALL DAY! Anytime you want. You're terrible!" So the basic plan is to cross-book with someone who you feel is less likely to cash than you – although obviously this doesn’t always work out!

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As it happens, 2004 Main Event winner Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer is also on the lookout for stakers this year, tweeting as recently as today that he is selling action in 7 different events at the WSOP.

Do you want to own me at the poker table? Here's your chance. https://t.co/jped1wloh0 Use signup code BACKGREG. Cheers!

— Greg Raymer (@FossilMan) 23 May 2016

Raymer’s action is for sale at YouStake.com, similar to other staking sites such as PokerVIP’s marketplace, where potential investors and players can do deals starting from very small amounts of money up to literally any amount.

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Often poker pros looks for backers not because they don’t have enough money themselves but they would prefer to gamble with other people’s money (wouldn’t we all!) but it’s not quite as one-sided as this sounds.

Many investors feel that having a ‘horse in the race’ is worth an investment not only for potential returns, but also for the enjoyment factor of watching top players ply their skills in games that the investor wouldn’t really be good enough, or overall wealthy enough, to play.

In Matusow’s case it’s unclear if he is actually broke (again) or if he is simply looking to offset some of the variance involved in huge events – particularly as he has been away from the game for so long.

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So, the big question is, would YOU back Mike Matusow? Answers below please!