liked the book a lot. very earthy and very revealing. No stuff about mike as a kid that i remember. starts out when he is working for his parents, as a teenager and older. I am not a huge Mouth fan but i think i understand him better, and wish him some luck...........

I thought it was a fun read and felt it was money well spent. Hopefully one day I can get him to sign it. Doyle has a book out as well coming out Nov 10 (I saw this as I was buying Mikey's book on Amazon)

Overall very entertaining read, but not a must-own classic or anything. I'd probably give it an 8/10. It's definitely a book that can be read from cover to cover in one sitting, as it keeps the reader glued to see what happens next in Mike's life, and that alone makes it worth buying.

The Good: The best sections were the ones detailing his "ecstasy period" leading up to his arrest and the time spent in jail dealing with CO's and his frequent trips to "The Hole".

The Bad: imo the book should have been at least some light shed on Matusow's early/childhood years. This would have given the reader more insight into his entire life rather than just starting the book when Matusow is in his 20's and playing video poker. I know it's a book for poker fans, but it's kind of strange to read an autobiography with so many years missing. Also, no mention of his time spent on HSP was kind of surprising.

He was sitting a table and doing signings at the WSOP, and I've seen him stop many, many times to take a picture or sign something for a fan.

i liked the book -def entertaining imo

I won one of that autographed by him in one of this FTP freerolls.

Just waiting ... then I post my opinion.

remember, mike knows poker

Where does Mike play nowadays?

[QUOTE=LocustHorde;11555032]Where does Mike play nowadays?[/
QUOTE]

he was playing plo on ftp before the series lol

Got it a couple of days ago.. and in the first chapter he admits to having only read one book.. DS's Holdem Poker

Great book

Is this book gonna come out on Kindle?

It was an entertaining read. I would recommend to read it if you have nothing better to do.

I just finished reading the book.

I must say that this book exceeded my expectations big time. My expectations were low because I have been very disappointed in the past with other poker biographies (most notably Annie Duke's and the Aces and Kings book). I really bought it because I just felt like reading something poker related and different from the strategy books. It is actually a surprise that I bought this book because I never was a Mike Matusow fan until now.

There is no content in this book that would really help your poker game although I did enjoy the poker stories.

This book is as much as about depression and drug abuse as it is about poker. To be honest, I never used to care for Mike and he was never one of my favorite players but I began to really like him when I was watching him and his new attitude at the 2008 WSOP.

After reading this book, I have become a huge fan of Mike the Mouth. I really commend him for his honesty and for all the demons and obstacles that he had to battle through. He truly is a talented poker player and much better than I had previously given him credit for.

I really believe this would be a great book for people who are thinking of taking drugs and/or currently abusing drugs. Mike held little back when he discusses the problems with drug abuse.

Really glad I got this book and I must say that it is one of my favorite poker biographies.

One thing I wished he did was talk more about the 2008 WSOP. I am actually surprised that very little was written on that because it is the most recent WSOP and he made such an incredible run. Yet, the chapter on it seemed very brief... I was hoping he'd talk more about some of the great hands he played which were aired on ESPN.

Anyways, still a great read... I'd be definitely watching Mike with more interest now.

Avatar77, your take on the book agrees with mine. I used to look at Mike as an obnoxious a**. I was open to the possibility that there was more to him based on things that Michael Craig, who I have a lot of respect for, has said about him in his blog. Reading this book finally helped me understand.

Seriously. How can so many of you say that this is "a great read", "the best book I've ever read" etc etc? Have you ever read a book that was not published by 2+2?

It's not very well written, doesn't really capture the reader, and way too much uninteresting information about every hand at every final table he has ever played. "He sucked out on me in that hand. I hit trip kings in another hand. I called a shortstack all-in". Who cares? It doesn't really add much to the story more than some pages of text. Besides, I have a really hard time believing that he actually remembers all these hands and the exact bet sizes.

That said, there is definitely an interesting story behind told about his life, and the parts focusing on his way to the top, doing drugs, partying, mental illness, trouble with the law etc are really fascinating.

All in all, I'd give it a score of 3/5. Worth a read but I have definitely read a lot better. Even when it comes to poker books I'd rank both "The professor, the banker & the suicide king" along with "Stuey Ungar: One of a kind" a pip or two higher than Matusows book.

This book was absolutely ****ing brilliant. Anyone who doesn’t love this book clearly doesn’t love poker. Mikes degen life is both gripping and hilarious so what if the style is trashy - this is poker not art!

That's one of the most stupid thing I've heard. You're basically saying that any book is a good book as long as it's about a subject that interests you?

Besides, this book's main focus isn't poker like you seem to suggest, and that's why I demand a little more from a story-telling perspective.

Could have been a great book with a better writer. Now it's just a good book.

And yes, I do love poker.

I really wish this book had a better writer too. All these two did was write down what Mike said about his life, hell anybody can do that.

It seemed to me that Amy did a fine job. I think any problems in writing down what Mike said had to be that other guy.

I was looking through this book at B&N & I've got to get it. It looks pretty good.

Good to see you're still around, pokershrink.

It is.

It was a very interesting read, but I feel that the quality of the writing might not be to par.

Also I wanted a bit more information of his beginning years, the book just starts off with Mike playing video poker.

I enjoyed it, but eventually got into a WTF mode similar to comedian Artie Lange's "Too Fat to Fish". Both interesting, but you spend a third of your time wondering what the hell they were thinking.