Mike Matusow's new book.

Ok for those of you who dont know.
Mike "the mouth" Matusow has come out with a new book.
Its called Check Raising The Devil,
Should be pretty cool story of the life of the mouth.
I have an autographed copy coming in the mail soon.

I saw this like a week or two ago. Looks like it should be an enjoyable book. I'll probably buy in once I get done reading the million poker books I already have lol.

Ill have to keep an eye for that one

I wonder how long until all the possible poker pun book titles get used up.

It might be an entertaining book but if he writes like he talks it'll be 4,000 pages.

It's about him, but not written by him, FWIW - even though the cover says it's an autobiography. It was written by Amy Calistri and Dr Tim Lavalli (aka The Poker Shrink).

I'd still be interested to check it out at some point though.

I'll have to take a look at it.

Thanks for the heads up .............

Sounds interesting...guess i`m going to read it..once i finish reading all my other books..Does somebody know what's the price of the book? or where can I find it?

[quote]Sounds interesting...guess i`m going to read it..once i finish reading all my other books..Does somebody know what's the price of the book? or where can I find it?[quote]
You can just google it and there are tons of places that have it listed.
The price is between 15.00 and 20.00.
From what I havw noticed.

This is Tim Lavalli, the Poker Shrink, and co-author of the Matusow autobiography. I would be happy to discuss the book with the CardsChat members, anything at all you want to ask. 2+2 and other forums do not allow authors to discuss their books in great detail because, of course, they publish poker books and we are competition.

If you have any questions, before or after you read; I will be here to answer them.

The book is in most big stores already, Barnes & Noble will be featuring it in a week or so. Amazon ships the same day and most pre-orders from Amazon are in the mail now.

thanks left52side.... i`ll run it on google...
poker shrink... i have a question... how is the book compared to others like super/system , harrington's books ?

If i get one more poker book i'll need a new shelf lol the other one is chaulk full. Thanks for the heads up, i'll be watching for it

Question: How many Matusow rants are in this book.
And did you have to bleep much of the text out ?

Check-Raising the Devil is Mike's autobiography not a strategy book at all. Mike is considering a tournament book and we may start working on that during the Series this summer.

i like mike , but i'll wait for the movie. jk

There are a few rants but what I hope you will find more interesting are Mike's explanations of some of the rants you have seen on television. Like the 2004 WSOP Raymer confrontations, as Mike (and Greg) will tell you, there was a lot more to that then what made it onto the ESPN telecast. Mike tells you all the background of that and other TV blowups.

We did edit some of Mike's language but by no means did we censor him and there are a fair number of direct quotes with all four letter words included.

Does the book go into any details about how Russ Hamilton(the Ultimatebet guy) screwed Mike?

Oh and thanks for joining Poker Shrink, always nice to get a respected author to the site.

+1

As a fan of Mikes i am glad this book is out & also welcome to the forum (a friendly bunch of poker nuts ).

Is Mike still thinking the positive way and does he believe its 'helped' his game/results?

i've got three poker books started already and more to begin. but thanks for the heads-up. i sorta like mike, lol. have fun reading your book. peace

MIke does give the details of how he was cheated on Ultimatebet. That was perhaps the only section of the book we had any debate about publishing but by the time we went to press the information was out there and we just couldn't or wouldn't ignore it.

Mike's new "positive attitude" will get a big test this summer, I will be following him closely at the Series and giving weekly "Mike" updates on my blog.

FWIW, PokerNews just came out with a review of the book that was extremely positive and made me want to read it.

Yes I have heard nothing but good stuff about it.
Don't think it is to much a poker tutorial book,but more a biography.
Cant wait till my autographed copy gets here.

Where & when were the autographed books on offer?

Well I know mike matusow was giving the first 6 callers to his show free autographed books.
I just asked scott matusow if he could get me a autographed copy.

Hey Tim, great to have you here on the site!!
I'll be sure to take you up on this once I read the book.
.... an autographed copy to the winner of the CCOHE series would be kinda cool

I'm reading the book and am about a third of the way through it. Mike's story is definitely fascinating. The writing is well crafted--the authors certainly succeeded in capturing his voice. I'm really enjoying the details of how he got into "the life", as well as learning about his approach to and philosophy about the game.

One thing he says, however, has me really puzzled:

"Eventually I started using pot odds more in my game. Pot odds take into account the cost of a bet compared to the amount of money in the pot, and the percentages of winning the hand."

So far, so good, right? Then he goes on to say:

"I'm not a big fan of pot odds, although I use it and know the winning percentages like the back of my hand. But I swear I was probably a better player before I learned all that."

What?! By way of explanation, he says:

"Forget what's in the f'ing pot! You gotta get lucky...I think nowadays, too many players rely strictly on pot odds and percentages. And that hurts their game."

Thoughts, anyone?

where has mike matasow been.

I finished it about a week ago and it left me wanting more.

It was a good quick read. Don't read it if your looking for strategy. It is a nice look into the ups and downs of what living poker is like. I also liked how it talked about the way stakes were growing in recent years and how the game changed. I think that helps understand the above quote.

Its a common complaint against internet poker. In summary...the internet guys are all math and the live guys are all feel. The live guys say the math is over rated. The internet guys say the feel is over rated.

Esfandiari had an interesting take on this in a recent card player mag.

CP: "For many players learning on the internet, it can be difficult to transition to live cash games. Do you have any advice for them?"

AE: "Stay out of my games, you little internet geniuses (laughing). No, but sometimes, internet players will come to a game and play solely on math. They don't look at your opponents and get a read on them."

It echos the same thing that Mike was referring to IMO. There is more to live games than just math. You have more information and shouldn't rely solely on math.

There's a lot of psychology going on in live games, especially at the top levels - that's one reason pot odds are irrelevant much of the time - and, that's one reason the top players need a Poker Shrink, right Tim?!

I have to admit, i used to hate the mouth when i started watching poker about five years ago, but lately he has taken some more respec to the game and doesnt pull a bunch of hellmuth's. I hope he can take down some tourney soon

I like Mike. His Brother is the idiot. If you ever listened to Scotts "internet show" you'll understand why. He plays poker and offers to teach people how to become a better player, all while telling anyone whos willing to listen how rigged Full Tilt Poker is. Great way to support his Brother there. As for the book, I've heard great things and I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Regarding Mike's mixed comments about pot odds. I remember what a wise instructor said to me about doing therapy. He said that you had to learn as much as you could about how and why people get their lives messed up and study all of the responses a therapist could make to such situations. Then you had to put all of that learning aside and just listen to the what the client is saying.

With Pot Odds you have another piece of the poker puzzle but at the table you have to go with your pure instincts and not get hung up in the math.

I have always liked mike lol he always seems to get very unlucky so id love to hear his story i know he has had his up and downs will defiantly look into this

Just got my copy and will begin reading asap