Thursday, January 16, 2025

Is the Mike Matusow documentary worth watching?

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I rented the Matusow documentary on Amazon Prime. Cost me $2.95, and I feel fine saying I got my money’s worth. What the film lacks in production and well-crafted narrative, it makes up for in behind-the-scenes access and explanations for lots of stories we’ve only known bits and pieces about in the past.

I won’t spoil them all, but one too-short moment in the documentary gives an explanation for why Matusow and 2004 WSOP Champion Greg Rayer were at odds. While it was clear to anyone watching that Matusow was being an ass, Matusow explains he was acting that way because he considered Raymer the only other good player at the table and took offense when Raymer played back at him. Matusow had hoped Raymer would engage in a tacit soft-playing scheme to chop up the rest of the table, and Raymer wasn’t having it.

Matusow is presented as a likable if unreliable narrator throughout, and if a viewer accepts that fact, it’s a cautionary tale of a often shirtless antihero with a thing for cats and strippers. You’ve been warned. 

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