rhoudini
Rock Star
Platinum Level
Recently we have seen another heated discussion involving two controversial players: on one side, Doug Polk, a No-Limit Hold'em Heads-up specialist; on the other side, Mike Matusow, one of the most known names in the poker scenario for many decades, even mentioned to deserve a place in the Hall of Fame.
These two players share one aspect in common: they divide peoples' opinions about their behavior. But one thing we can't deny: their skills in our beloved game of poker. While Polk is very well known for his battles in the High Stakes scenario, specially recently with his $100k Heads-up Challenge, Matusow's skills are extender much far beyond Hold'em: he is always playing almost all other variants at the wsop events. What could make two (not so) different players like that clash in a Heads-up battle?!
How it all started
Some days ago, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow opened a poll in his X (formerly Twitter) profile, saying he was considering to start a coaching program for Omaha H/L and Stud H/L, and also asking his followers if they were interested. Maybe for his surprise, 62.1% of the 1,639 people who voted, said that Mike "sucks" and should not start coaching.
Despite the "meme" and fun people make from these Twitter polls, this is where Polk came to leave his provocative comment, which, of couse, caught Matusow's attention quite easily.
After this reply, Matusow quickly put the cards at the table, proposing a Heads-up match with Polk in these two games.
Match proposal
And Polk, probably for Mike's (and everyone else) surprise, quickly accepted, inviting Matusow to play at The Lodge Card Club and proposing a battle at $1k/$2k limits.
Matusow's terms
While everything was looking settled, Matusow stated that would not like to play with his hole cards exposed on stream, only the board cards revealed.
Doug quickly replied, saying that, if Mike's intention was to teach people how to play these games, the best way to get more students was beating Polk at his own home, in a big show for the fans. That was enough to spark Matusow's anger.
Polk just said to him to transfer $500k to the Lodge and come over to Texas, to play some Mixed Games Heads-up, promising to crush Matusow, despite being a relatively inexperienced player. He agreed to play only showing flops/open cards, no hole cards exposed. But no reply from Matusow up to now.
Conclusion
The poker community believes the Matusow will back out and find any reason not to play this match. Doug is eager to play.
What do you think? Do you believe that Polk has some other things in mind with this match where, in theory, he seems the underdog? What can he earn from this match, besides a lot of views and revenue from the stream, if he loses? Do you think that the "new generation" powerful and quick study can beat the experience of the old school?
Personally, I think that Polk has one of the best Mixed Games player and coach at his side, Jake "Jllama" Abdalla, which also offers a Mixed Games strategy course at Upswing Poker (founded by Doug Polk), plus a lot of Heads-up skills, and certainly can surprise in this match. However, Mike's experience makes him the "theory favorite", despite having two things against him: (1) his age, 65-years-old, while not a determining factor, can have tremendous impact, (2) and his anger management issues.
Would you be interested in following a battle between these two controversial poker figures? I am looking forward to hear from you.
These two players share one aspect in common: they divide peoples' opinions about their behavior. But one thing we can't deny: their skills in our beloved game of poker. While Polk is very well known for his battles in the High Stakes scenario, specially recently with his $100k Heads-up Challenge, Matusow's skills are extender much far beyond Hold'em: he is always playing almost all other variants at the wsop events. What could make two (not so) different players like that clash in a Heads-up battle?!
How it all started
Some days ago, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow opened a poll in his X (formerly Twitter) profile, saying he was considering to start a coaching program for Omaha H/L and Stud H/L, and also asking his followers if they were interested. Maybe for his surprise, 62.1% of the 1,639 people who voted, said that Mike "sucks" and should not start coaching.
Despite the "meme" and fun people make from these Twitter polls, this is where Polk came to leave his provocative comment, which, of couse, caught Matusow's attention quite easily.
After this reply, Matusow quickly put the cards at the table, proposing a Heads-up match with Polk in these two games.
Match proposal
And Polk, probably for Mike's (and everyone else) surprise, quickly accepted, inviting Matusow to play at The Lodge Card Club and proposing a battle at $1k/$2k limits.
Matusow's terms
While everything was looking settled, Matusow stated that would not like to play with his hole cards exposed on stream, only the board cards revealed.
Doug quickly replied, saying that, if Mike's intention was to teach people how to play these games, the best way to get more students was beating Polk at his own home, in a big show for the fans. That was enough to spark Matusow's anger.
Polk just said to him to transfer $500k to the Lodge and come over to Texas, to play some Mixed Games Heads-up, promising to crush Matusow, despite being a relatively inexperienced player. He agreed to play only showing flops/open cards, no hole cards exposed. But no reply from Matusow up to now.
Conclusion
The poker community believes the Matusow will back out and find any reason not to play this match. Doug is eager to play.
What do you think? Do you believe that Polk has some other things in mind with this match where, in theory, he seems the underdog? What can he earn from this match, besides a lot of views and revenue from the stream, if he loses? Do you think that the "new generation" powerful and quick study can beat the experience of the old school?
Personally, I think that Polk has one of the best Mixed Games player and coach at his side, Jake "Jllama" Abdalla, which also offers a Mixed Games strategy course at Upswing Poker (founded by Doug Polk), plus a lot of Heads-up skills, and certainly can surprise in this match. However, Mike's experience makes him the "theory favorite", despite having two things against him: (1) his age, 65-years-old, while not a determining factor, can have tremendous impact, (2) and his anger management issues.
Would you be interested in following a battle between these two controversial poker figures? I am looking forward to hear from you.
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