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#670 – What You Can Learn From Watching Mike Matusow Do Nothing, Part III – After the First Hour

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

By the time the first break ended at about 8:10 PM, I was getting deep into the $65,000 Guarantee. I figured I wouldn’t be able to watch as closely, but Mike Matusow helped me out by not playing very many hands.

8:21 PM – 13 minutes after play restated, Mike is treading water with about 8,900.

9:20 PM – I was very disappointed to bust out of the $65,000 Guarantee in 29th place, earning just $262. But since I was watching Mike Matusow try to play through a dead deck, I felt I should play SOMETHING. Just before registration closed, I signed up for the $100 + $9 NLHE $30,000 Guarantee (6-max). About two years ago, I felt like I owned this tournament. Then I became a total donator, rarely making it to the first break. Maybe I could channel some of Matusow’s patience and regain my form and/or confidence in short-handed tournament play.

9:33 PM – Antes just kicked in for Mike’s tournament. He has barely played a hand in an hour and certainly no big pots. 7,313.

9:47 PM – 140-280/25 ante level. Mike is at 7,333. The chip average is 16,500. There are 379 left out of the original field of 1,091. Mike is 316th. Just as I note this, he pulls a classic Matusow move to get some chips. In this big blind, it’s folded to the small blind, who raises. Mike calls. Flop: 2d-Jh-3c. The raiser in the small blind leads out, betting a little less than half the pot. Matusow pushes all in, and the raiser, who is short but not as short as Mike, folds. [By the way, I didn't note when Mike's table broke but he is at a new table. At his previous table, this stunt - if indeed it was a stunt - would have been more difficult to attempt.]

10:35 PM – 200-400/50 ante level. 239 players left. The average stack is 26,000. Mike is 213th with 9,003.

10:40 PM – Mike finally gets a hand, gets action, and doubles up. He gets it all-in with A-A against A-Q and is up to 20,000.

11:20 PM – 17,500. The average is about 45,000. He is 119th out of 137. The tournament pays 120 places.

11:42 PM – With 14 big blinds, Mike raised the 1,000 BB to 2,755. The button called. The flop was 8d-Js-Ac. Mike moved all-in and was called. He had Th-9h for a straight draw. The called had Ah-Qh for a pair of aces. Matusow didn’t hit his draw and busted in 115th place, earning $1,767.
NOTES FROM AFTER THE FACT

1. During the rebuy period, Mike was clearly willing to gamble with his starting chips, getting it all-in with two others with 3-3.

2. Once he got some chips, however, he tightened up, and even said he was tightening up. If you are playing in a rebuy tourament where you have an adequate bankroll, the message to take from this would be to be willing to gamble. But once you get some chips, you have to reverse direction. If you believe Mike – and ultimately, I do – he would fold pocket aces when there was a good chance they were the best hand rather than sacrifice half of his tripled-up stack.

3. Matusow didn’t fight the deck. He played 4 1/2 hours in this tournament and, after the first hour, played just 2 big pots – the one with A-A where he doubled up, and the hand where he busted, where he tried to play a small pot but had no choice after hitting a draw (and a scare card if his opponent didn’t have an ace).

Mike Matusow is an extremely disciplined player. He was willing to wait almost endlessly for his opportunity, always patient, never panicked. He looked for chances to pick up small pots – which are sometimes risky if you don’t know what you’re doing – but he also knew when to give it up, even with a great hand.

4. I was inspired by Mike’s patience, almost as if it was a soundtrack playing in the background during the $30,000 Guarantee. After 5 1/2 hours of play – 3 1/2 after Matusow finished his tournament – I won my event. If Mike hits me up for a cut, I’ll tell him is contribution was nominal.

But between us, players of Mike Matusow’s caliber have a level of patience and resilience that we can only understand by observing their play. Just watching him do nothing but fold was inspiring. It gave me something to work on, and something to aspire to.

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