Mike "The Mouth" Matusow - Check Raising the Devil (go back »)

One of the most recognizable faces (and personalities) in Poker has recently released a great book, Check-Raising the Devil.  For those that don't know him, his nickname of "The Mouth" reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table.  He is also known for sometimes ruining hours or days of good play with a single spectacular misjudgment, known as a "Mike Matusow Blow-up" or "Mike Matusow Meltdown".  Matusow began playing poker seriously in the early 1990s, first while working as a poker dealer,  then as a professional player. His successes include being a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, and the winner of the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.

Unlike most poker books, Check-Raising the Devil takes you on a breathtaking, true-life roller coaster ride from his humble beginnings in a trailer park to a rock and roll lifestyle full of hot women, sex, wild drug-filled parties and million-dollar wins and losses.  Yet behind the glamour and glory of his high-stakes poker career lurked the flip side: a person torn between two debilitating mental illnesses; bipolar disorder and ADHD. To dig himself out of depression and suicidal despair, Matusow turned to dangerous street drugs to self-medicate a problem he didn’t understand, and spiraled deeper into the darker world of addiction, police narcotic stings, and jail time.

In this revealing and tumultuous autobiography, the combustible Matusow holds nothing back. You’ll get a mouthful of the man behind the infamous Matusow Meltdowns seen on national TV.

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