Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

What do you think it will do for the public opinion of poker if he wins. Aside from the fact of weather or not you love him or hate him, the fact that our " World Champion " could have spent half of the last year in jail on a drug charges. What you guys think?

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

It'll be good for poker. The more drug addicts and ex-cons playing on Party the better. Definately an untapped market.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

My mom told me I can't play poker anymore if he wins. She doesn't want me associating with the "type of seedy characters you see on TV." A 'Mouth' win will prolly kill the boom.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

I think people are worrying way too much about the winner needing to be someone who is good for poker. Poker is already in the mainstream and millions of people love playing it. The World Series is getting daily coverage in most major newspapers. People who think that poker is for scumbags will think that whether or not a drug dealer wins the WSOP.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

BAD! I hate this guy. He's a low-life scumbag drug dealer and him winning the WSOP will give poker a bad image. I'd understand if Matusow was in his teens/early 20's and got busted for drugs, but peddling drugs in his 30's equals TOTAL LOSER in my book [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Drugs are sweet.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
BAD! I hate this guy. He's a low-life scumbag drug dealer and him winning the WSOP will give poker a bad image. I'd understand if Matusow was in his teens/early 20's and got busted for drugs, but peddling drugs in his 30's equals TOTAL LOSER in my book [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

honest question: was matusow arrested for dealing or simply possession? because if it was just possession/being under the influence, to call him a "drug dealer" is pretty excessive. there are millions of people with drug problems/chemical dependencies (rush limbaugh comes to mind) -- they arent all lowlifes or drug dealers or dirtballs or whatever other term it makes you feel comfortable to categorize them with.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Definitely Good! Mike is an entertaining character, love him or hate him he's entertaining. This year even more so it seems from reading the excerpts from the updates. Can't wait to see the banter match between him and the other guy and Mike shipping him home.

The TV popularity of poker thrives on LOVE/HATE characters as they drive ratings (see reality TV). I think many TV execs will view this World Series and its ratings and think hmmm.. there is something here. The final two tables have had a load of characters, the crowds are HUGE and rowdy and their have been some Major River beats which are always good TV.

For Poker to grow it has to continue to be an entertaining viewers sport on TV and people like Matasow provide this.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Agreed. Having a foul-mouthed dope dealer winning the WSOP will give politicias a poster boy they can use to kill online poker.

Just watch. Matusow + WSOP victory = bad times ahead for online gaming.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
BAD! I hate this guy. He's a low-life scumbag drug dealer and him winning the WSOP will give poker a bad image. I'd understand if Matusow was in his teens/early 20's and got busted for drugs, but peddling drugs in his 30's equals TOTAL LOSER in my book [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
How about you people actually get the facts straight before posting. Mike Matusow basically got set-up by an undercover NARC who became very close friends with Mike and asked him if he could get him some cocaine. Mike had a few connections and was able to obtain some and got busted for that. He wasn't selling drugs to little kids, he thought he was doing a favor for a friend and regrets that mistake.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
BAD! I hate this guy. He's a low-life scumbag drug dealer and him winning the WSOP will give poker a bad image. I'd understand if Matusow was in his teens/early 20's and got busted for drugs, but peddling drugs in his 30's equals TOTAL LOSER in my book [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
How about you people actually get the facts straight before posting. Mike Matusow basically got set-up by an undercover NARC who became very close friends with Mike and asked him if he could get him some cocaine. Mike had a few connections and was able to obtain some and got busted for that. He wasn't selling drugs to little kids, he thought he was doing a favor for a friend and regrets that mistake.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why don't you go tell that to the DA [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
I think people are worrying way too much about the winner needing to be someone who is good for poker. Poker is already in the mainstream and millions of people love playing it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. As long as a carbon based lifeform is victorious, I think poker will do just fine.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Bottom Line:

America LOVES a comeback.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Mike Matusow is currently one of the most most entertaining figures to watch in the entire poker world. Every interview he gave to Cardplayer before the ME became required viewing for everyone on 2+2 because of the outrageous comments he would make. I can't see how having such a flamboyant and outspoken figure could be anything but a great thing for poker in general.

A wallflower we don't need. Mike the Mouth was a born star.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

>>I can't see how having such a flamboyant and outspoken figure could be anything but a great thing for poker in general.<<

B & M poker will continue to do fine in places where it is now legal. But if you are aware of the growing will among certain US senators to kill online gaming, then you must realize they will use Matusow as a propaganda tool.

A 30-something foul-mouthed degenerage felon wins the WSOP.

Just marvelous.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Until I read this thread I was thinking that M" The M" M Winning the ME would be as bad for Poker as that Kergan fellow winning in the original Highlander Movie.

Now I'm rooting for him. It shouldn't amaze me but it still does that people can be so shallow. Everything I read about Mike's drug bust drives home the point that he was set up and did nothing that either of our past two presidents haven't done, except for the getting caught part.

Yea, Clinton inhaled and Dubya did coke and if they had been set up by and enterprising undercover, they'd of been busted too.

And,Oh my, oh my, oh dearie me. MM swears.Give me an F**-Bomb break people!!! Do any of these sanctimonius idiots say "Oh Darn" when sucked out on a 23-1 shot?

Go Mikey, it's your birthday, go Miekey!! Tilt the whole world if you like. ;~)

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

>>did nothing that either of our past two presidents haven't done<<

Please tell me you're not using American Presidents as your standard for acceptable behavior.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
BAD! I hate this guy. He's a low-life scumbag drug dealer and him winning the WSOP will give poker a bad image. I'd understand if Matusow was in his teens/early 20's and got busted for drugs, but peddling drugs in his 30's equals TOTAL LOSER in my book [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

you have picked the perfect username. Congrats.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
Bottom Line:

America LOVES a comeback.

[/ QUOTE ]

truer words were never spoken... at least in this thread

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

The poker world will explode leaving us all dead in it's aftermath. I am very worried.

GO Matusow

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
>>did nothing that either of our past two presidents haven't done<<

Please tell me you're not using American Presidents as your standard for acceptable behavior.

[/ QUOTE ]

nh

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

If only Van Vliet would make a comeback.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
BAD! I hate this guy. He's a low-life scumbag drug dealer and him winning the WSOP will give poker a bad image. I'd understand if Matusow was in his teens/early 20's and got busted for drugs, but peddling drugs in his 30's equals TOTAL LOSER in my book [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
How about you people actually get the facts straight before posting. Mike Matusow basically got set-up by an undercover NARC who became very close friends with Mike and asked him if he could get him some cocaine. Mike had a few connections and was able to obtain some and got busted for that. He wasn't selling drugs to little kids, he thought he was doing a favor for a friend and regrets that mistake.

[/ QUOTE ]

um, if my friends ask me to score them some coke I'm going to give them a ride to the nearest rehab center. I'm NOT going to hook them up.

This has to be the MOST ridiculous defense I've ever seen.

Thanks for playing though,
ThisHo

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

people have different views of drugs, don't just assume your view is correct and everyone should conform to it.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
BAD! I hate this guy. He's a low-life scumbag drug dealer and him winning the WSOP will give poker a bad image. I'd understand if Matusow was in his teens/early 20's and got busted for drugs, but peddling drugs in his 30's equals TOTAL LOSER in my book [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
How about you people actually get the facts straight before posting. Mike Matusow basically got set-up by an undercover NARC who became very close friends with Mike and asked him if he could get him some cocaine. Mike had a few connections and was able to obtain some and got busted for that. He wasn't selling drugs to little kids, he thought he was doing a favor for a friend and regrets that mistake.

[/ QUOTE ]

um, if my friends ask me to score them some coke I'm going to give them a ride to the nearest rehab center. I'm NOT going to hook them up.

This has to be the MOST ridiculous defense I've ever seen.

Thanks for playing though,
ThisHo

[/ QUOTE ]

The real world is over here. Come and join us.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
um, if my friends ask me to score them some coke I'm going to give them a ride to the nearest rehab center. I'm NOT going to hook them up.

This has to be the MOST ridiculous defense I've ever seen.

Thanks for playing though,
ThisHo

[/ QUOTE ]

The real world is over here. Come and join us.

[/ QUOTE ]

haha. nh.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
the fact that our " World Champion " could have spent half of the last year in jail on a drug charges.

[/ QUOTE ]

1. I think we need serious reforms to our recreational-drug laws.

2. It's all good for poker. No matter what happens. Poker doesn't need any help and it's hard to imagine any scandal coming along to reverse poker's fashionability.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
people have different views of drugs, don't just assume your view is correct and everyone should conform to it.

[/ QUOTE ]

fair enough, but it is illegal and Mike did supply them, thus he went to jail. The point that he wasn't selling to kids is a fair distinction and should be kept in mind, but he did in fact BREAK THE LAW. My point is that the circumstances around his "distribution" won't help any if the US Senate decides to make him the poster boy for all things wrong with poker.

Yes the guy is an entertaining inteview, but the antics at the table that are reported and shown on TV are generally over the top. I'm NOT looking forward to watching his verbal jousting from yesterday with the "Iron Sheik". People emulate success - I don't want to sit at a poker table with 5 "Mouth" impersonators who think its ok to tell me I have little nuts, who taunt and goad at me.

All that said... I'm not rooting against Mike. All reports seem to indicate that he is playing GREAT poker right now, and if he's playing better than the rest of the table, I hope that he wins it.

ThisHo

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

I think it would be good. I think most people want to see a "pro" win sine the last few years have been nobodies and most people aren't aware of Mike's non-poker issues.

Would it have been better if Ivey or Raymer won? Certainly.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
um, if my friends ask me to score them some coke I'm going to give them a ride to the nearest rehab center. I'm NOT going to hook them up.

This has to be the MOST ridiculous defense I've ever seen.

Thanks for playing though,
ThisHo

[/ QUOTE ]

The real world is over here. Come and join us.

[/ QUOTE ]

haha. nh.

[/ QUOTE ]

I suggest that perhaps a response to "Hey Mike, can you get me some blow?" should be "dude, coke kills, you're my friend, lets get you some help." and I'm told that I don't live in the real world and its followed by "nh"? If the real world involves "friends" scoring blow for each other then I'll stay where I'm at thanks.

ThisHo

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

What I think is really dump about this discussion, is the fact that people bad mouth Mike for doing Coke, and say he is bad for poker, blah blah blah...

But everyone praised Stu Ungar for being the best tournament poker player every. But it's well knowed the he was a HUGH Coke head.

Why is Mike so Hated and Stuy so lovewd?
[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

some of you kids are extremely judgemental. if you were to say mike comes off as an obnoxious prick, fine. you probly have a case. but to suggest he's bad for poker because of his legal problems and not his personality is a little ridiculous. poker has always been filled with "colorful" people. if mike is bad for poker, why isn't/wasn't benny binion? mike scored some dope. benny killed people. i tend to distinguish the two for some reason.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
How about you people actually get the facts straight before posting. Mike Matusow basically got set-up by an undercover NARC who became very close friends with Mike and asked him if he could get him some cocaine. Mike had a few connections and was able to obtain some and got busted for that. He wasn't selling drugs to little kids, he thought he was doing a favor for a friend and regrets that mistake.


[/ QUOTE ]

wow, give him a medal then.

I had no idea this lowlife was a drug dealer as well as whiny bitch. He's no good for poker period.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

I really think Mike's character could work either way. Furthermore, how ESPN edits/presents the table talk will have a lot to do with it also. And I also think that Mike's paast will not be a big factor because this is a very forgiving country.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

did he cry when he got arrested?

i hope so

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Wow, there sure is a lot of paranoia in this thread. In terms of "how it will look for/impact poker", I don't care who wins, the US Senate (both those who would support or oppose poker) don't care who wins, and virtually nobody else will have their opinion of poker changed by who wins. Unless you think major sports are in trouble every time a star player has some sort of run in with the law, the idea that a WSOP winner with a shady past would hurt poker is ridiculous. After all, nobody trots out Stu Ungar as a reason poker should be banned - and if individual players were going to be used as scapegoats against poker, his story would have been beaten to death in an effort to stop poker by now.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

Ummmmm,
Stu is dead and he isn't around anymore to prove anyone wrong. People generally sincerely feel the Ungar story is a tragedy, in that he was an addict who could not control himself.
Mike, OTOH, I believe (and could be wrong here) was arrested for selling a controlled substance. To the best of my knowledge, there is not an addiction problem there (someone please correct this if it's false). I get the impression that he is the kind of character who would do anything for a quick buck, even if it involves breaking the law and furthering a "friends" coke addiction. Sounds like a class A scumbag to me & I don't care about his playing skills in making that assertion.
X

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
Unless you think major sports are in trouble every time a star player has some sort of run in with the law, the idea that a WSOP winner with a shady past would hurt poker is ridiculous.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll give you 3 guesses why MLBaseball and the NFL were drug in front of Congress this year...

hint : think musclebound Giants slugger with HUGE head and on disabled list.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
um, if my friends ask me to score them some coke I'm going to give them a ride to the nearest rehab center. I'm NOT going to hook them up.

This has to be the MOST ridiculous defense I've ever seen.

Thanks for playing though,
ThisHo

[/ QUOTE ]
The undercover NARC was part of a task force that was assigned to bust a drug ring. They had been spending local and state funds for a very long period of time to try to get some leaks and ultimately failed. Why do you think Mike only got a few months as a pose to a maximum sentence of say four years? The case against Mike was very weak.

Don't come on here judging other people unless your Mother Theresa herself. You've never done marijuana, served alcohol to minors, engaged in some sort of illicit activity, etc.?

By the way your signature "Thanks for playing though" is super lame.

Re: Good or Bad for Poker if Matusow Wins??
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
um, if my friends ask me to score them some coke I'm going to give them a ride to the nearest rehab center. I'm NOT going to hook them up.

This has to be the MOST ridiculous defense I've ever seen.

Thanks for playing though,
ThisHo

[/ QUOTE ]
The undercover NARC was part of a task force that was assigned to bust a drug ring. They had been spending local and state funds for a very long period of time to try to get some leaks and ultimately failed. Why do you think Mike only got a few months as a pose to a maximum sentence of say four years? The case against Mike was very weak.

Don't come on here judging other people unless your Mother Theresa herself. You've never done marijuana, served alcohol to minors, engaged in some sort of illicit activity, etc.?

By the way your signature "Thanks for playing though" is super lame.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never done those things as you described above...

Do I get to judge?

(picking up the nearest virtual rock...)

Turn the flamethrower off, I don't plan to judge anyone. But I don't want Mike to win. His antics at the table do not humor me in the slightest. However, his antics cause debate, and if ESPN has anything to use to promote its show (better than what The Matador could have done in that ill-fated show Tilt), I'm sure they will use it to get everyone to watch.

Is that good for poker? Not sure...

PB