 Check Raising the Devil is the recently published autobiography by Mike Matusow and gives a real character insight of Mike’s bipolar character disorder, his lifestyle of constant partying, frequent drug use and living with ADHD-Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The book starts with the following qoute, “My story starts in a trailer park out toward the Boulder Highway, in a dead-end patch of Las Vegas where people never lived their dreams, if they even had any” and it is a non-stop roller coaster from beginning to end.
I enjoyed the book thoroughly and I can say it is a completely honest recount by ‘the Mouth’. The most fascinating aspect was that through the book’s trail, we are able to see Matusow in a completely different light than the persona we have seen during T.V live tournaments and events. We sympathise with him but also want to kick some sense into him when he repeats the same mistakes over and again. As he says ‘ I will have to hit rock bottom before doing anything about his addictions and flaws, ecstasy drugs and meth ‘ ice’ abuse. After years and years of falling back into the same party lifestyle patterns, he gets the wakeup call needed, faces jail unfairly and eventually regains back his life control.
In the book, Mike Matusow explains in length about his battle with the bipolar disorder and ADHD, balancing all the side effects his medication brings about and trying to achieve mental stability. These are conditions that he has to live with his whole life but he achieved a control over his actions even with his ‘Bad med days’ where balancing meds is a constant battle.
Check Raising the Devil is a detailed account of all his wins and losses, a journey from his first poker encounter, through all the drama till now. Mike started out playing the Video poker machines on a daily basis, moved to dealing the boxes at the casinos and playing poker as he went along. Poker has been his driving force since 1997 when he played his first WSOP tournament and he has never looked back since then. He loves the games and compares players today with when he was starting out and how the game evolved to the hit it is today.
Happiness for Mike was measured in poker chips with everything revolving around the game. He struggled to establish himself and then finally achieved having a life outside poker. Each bracelet he won had a special meaning to it, a personal struggle; finally achieved.
We go through tedious schedules and long hours with endless poker circuits and the result of street drugs and medication on his brain and poker game. Matusow’s life used to depend on poker but he has turned it around with poker being just one facet of his life.
The book comes inclusive of a very enjoyable foreword by 11 time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth who has known Mike through thick and thin, when he was shy and avoiding the media as well as when he has high on a daily basis and partying like crazy, getting money and then blowing it away.
In 2002, Mike was hanging out with strippers, partying doing drugs, then he had to carry out an unfair jail term in 2005 which was still needed for him to snap and change. Hellmuth still shows admiration towards Mike as he is a strong player, and he compliments Mike giving him credit for his 2006 successful win. He met Mike in 1998 when Mike was staking Scotty Nguyen and won his share. In 2005 he saw a change and Mike progressed to then win the Tournament of Champions. Hellmuth states that Mike has provided entertainment with his ‘Matusow Meltdowns’ but as he quotes – he finally and foremost has ‘a heart of gold’.
The autobiography is a recount of adapting, changing and adjusting. Changing your game according to new times and surviving in poker with a new found change in attitude. Having a negative persona and then achieving a new power of positive thinking. At one point, he compares himself to poker legend Stu Ungar and is able to see he is heading in the same direction. Finally he regains control and is able to leave Stu’s ghosts and his personal life mistakes behind him. Mike wants to take a different path in life and by the end of the book has finally fought off his own demons and addictions.
The book gives an insight in his poker strategy with us seeing a better and improved Mike over the years. Mike ends the book saying that Poker has been good to him. The after effects of years of in-taking drugs are obvious and life lasting but Mike has found a way to carry on his life with these conditions and syndromes and still delivers some excellent poker games especially with the cash games.
The book is an Up and down tale of enormous success, downfalls and a major comeback, finally proving that Matusow still has his A-game. The auto-biography is a must read for all gamblers, amateurs and pros but is also recommended to those who do not know much about the game itself. This is because the life struggles and syndromes that Mike faces are applicable to many of us; just to mention 6 million Americans who suffer from the life-long condition of bipolar disorder. Despite the disorders and adversities he experienced, Mike’s success at the poker felts is definitely well deserved and he is surely a poker force to be reckoned with! He has an admirable lifelong dedication to poker and will once again win the hearts of poker fans and readers out there.
INFO - Mike Matusow is a three time WSOP bracelet winner, four careers World Poker Tour final tables and has hit the record a $671,000 payday for finishing as the runner-up in the Bellagio Cup III. He also won the 2005 Tournament of Champions, a “Poker After Dark” for $120,000 and finished 30th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for $193,000. Up to now, he holds over $1.5 million in WPT earnings and over $7 million in career prize money.
|
