favorite degen stories (part I):
Mike Matusow
http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/14935
some excerpts from the interview:
MK: Did you do much gambling while you were incarcerated?
MM: They played a game called Casino, which I don't even remember how to play. But I managed to lose $200,000 in jail. Before going away, I put a couple hundred thousand in my sports-betting account. I knew I would be bored and needed to be in action on Saturdays and Sundays. I did really well for a while, but toward the end of the football season, I went crazy and bet $100,000 on a couple games and lost them both.
MK: Did you care?
MM: Not really.
MK: Does the notion of going broke bother you?
MM: I have people I can borrow money from. I don't worry about money. When things get bad, my mom asks how I will pay bills. I say, "Ma, shut up. Have I ever worried about money?" I don't worry about money. Somebody will always loan me money. I'm a great poker player. People will always loan money to great poker players. If they think you can't play, though, you're f---ed. Plus, I know I can borrow $300,000 cash on my house in one day.
MK: Yeah. But you wouldn't risk your house on poker, especially if you've already lost enough money to have gotten to that point in the first place.
MM: Sure I would. I've done it many times and paid it back.
MK: How did you get into playing poker?
MM: My family moved from L.A. to Las Vegas when I was 10, and I was never into gambling till after I turned 18. That's when my friend Loren had me play video poker. I won $85 and that was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life. I became completely addicted to video poker.
MK: Literally addicted?
MM: Literally. I was a compulsive degenerate. It got to the point where I would steal money so I could go play.
MK: You must have realized that it was a losing proposition.
MM: I'm telling you, I was addicted. And I enjoyed it. There was something about the speed and compulsiveness. Finally, I went to G.A. - only twice, though - after I realized that I couldn't quit. But then I found real poker, and it helped me to wean my way off this sickness.
MK: It's pretty funny that a guy would use poker to wean himself off gambling.
MM: I first learned to play poker in 1991. I was playing video poker alongside Steve Samaroff, a guy who grinds it out at $20-$40. He asked if I'd like to learn something that would keep me from ever having to work again. I looked at him like he was nuts. But he taught me how to play.
MK: That sounds pretty self-destructive.
MM: I loved football. I still do. I'm still a degenerate. Come football season, the bookies all call me. I go off for anywhere from $200,000 to half a million every football season. I know I will lose all the money, but I can't quit because I love it so much.
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I remember reading somewhere that when he was addicted to video poker Mike Matusow developed repetitive stress disorder in his arm from pulling the lever on the machine.