A few days ago, Mike Matusow started thinking about opening a poker school:
Should I open a teaching site on Omaha 8 tourneys and Stud 8 tourneys or even teach mix games?
Mike attached a poll with answer options to the message:
– Yes def split tourneys
– No don’t give away secrets
– Do all mix, cash, and tournaments
– You suck don't do any
The last option won by a huge margin:
– Hello, police! “I want to report a crime,” Doug Polk responded to this proposal .
“If you’re that confident, we can play Omaha-8/stud-8 at any stakes,” Mike replied.
– Is this offer open to everyone? – Chris Hook clarified.
“No one knows how to provoke people into such gifts like Doug,” Brandon Meyers was impressed.
If Mike expected Polk to be frightened by his proposal, he clearly miscalculated.
– "Do you agree to $1k/$2k? I’ll be happy to organize everything at the Lodge,” Doug suggested.
“It’s a difficult situation for Mike,” Timex sympathized, “the community that respects his game so much may simply not understand the refusal.”
Chris Hook suggested additional factors to consider:
– The main question is whether this is a high enough limit to listen to his chatter for hours, which is unlikely to differ from the flow of nonsense on his Twitter. It hardly makes sense to play for less than $5k/$10k here.
“Of course, I agree,” Matusow himself answered, “but I don’t want to play on stream so that you can’t analyze my game.” I’m ready to play without streaming or with hole cards so that viewers only see flops.
– You were going to give paid lessons, but now you don’t want to show your cards? – Polk was surprised. – I’m sure that playing well on stream will only bring you more clients and recognition. Do it for the fans. We won't play more than a few sessions anyway.
But Mike remained adamant:
– When I kick your ass, there will be a line lining up for me! I'm betting real money, I don't care about views and clicks! I'm not as rich as you, so the $1 million I win will be very useful to me! I don’t play poker to compare my pussy, I’m always looking for an advantage.
“It’s strange, you play better and a couple of decades longer, but there is no money,” Jason Mo was surprised.
“Okay, you don’t have to show your cards,” Doug agreed. “I’ll destroy you anyway.” Transfer $500k and we can set a date. I haven't played Omaha-8 or Stud-8 at all in the last few years, and I've played very little before. But none of this matters. I'm looking forward to the start of the match!
– How do you manage to get such action all the time? – Daniel Cates was amazed. – I deliberately play too loosely on streams, but no one offers me heads-up. I begged to be given the opportunity to play with Negreanu and Hellmuth, but instead, I have to grind against Polk and Galfond in their best games.
Doug set up a Twitter poll for the winner of the match, should it happen.
“When I saw that Mike challenged me, I thought no one would pay attention to this,” Polk added a little later. – Firstly, we are talking about hi-lo games. Secondly, there is almost no chance that Mike will actually agree to play (let's set a date already!) But in the end, everyone is discussing this story. The poker world loves high-profile HU challenges.
Shaun Deeb was also interested:
– Doug, when Mike refuses to play/transfer money, maybe you can challenge me? We will play HU in mix games, but with one condition – you will only find out the specific game on the day of the session :)
Polk put forward a counterproposal:
– We play HUNL/any game 50/50 and we can sit down at the table at any minute! You can even come up with a game yourself. All for the fans.
“I challenge you too,” Cates turned to Deeb. – You choose any two games in HU, I’ll pick one, and let’s go.
This proposal remained unanswered.
“I will destroy him in any mix game,” Matusov reminded everyone, “but I love money more than clicks, so we will only play those games where he has strictly 0 chances against me!” My advantage is that I perfectly understand what I’m good at, what I’m better at than everyone else, and what I’m inferior to. That’s why I chose split games!
This whole discussion surprised WSOP commentator Norman Chad:
– "Let me understand this, @DougPolkVids: You’re gonna play 1k-2k Omaha8/stud8 against @themouthmatusow? What, suddenly you woke up this morning as Chip Reese? Even if the deck hits you three times over, The Mouth should be able to prevail standing upside down blindfolded."
“Heads-up is a completely different beast,” Phil Galfond explained. – Mike is probably stronger at a full table, but in heads-up, I wouldn’t be surprised by any developments.
– Doesn’t Mike’s years of experience playing at the highest level make him a strong favorite against a man who has practically never played? – Chad clarified.
“If they play a couple of days at the Lodge, Mike will probably be the favorite.” But if they agree to play for three months, and Doug has a month to prepare, it’s unlikely. But I'm far from an expert in mixed games and I could be very wrong. I can say that in heads-up I would take myself against many players who would beat me at a full table, and the game is not so important. And Doug has much more experience there.
“Doug will tear it apart, there’s nothing to talk about,” Brian Paris is sure. – A difference of 50+ IQ points compensates for any experience in a particular game.
“A week will be enough for Doug to easily beat anyone who has not specialized in at least 30/60 HU O8 online,” Robert Campbell also has no doubt about the outcome. – He is a machine when it comes to learning, his resources are unlimited, and besides, he will not start from scratch.
– Doug has been collaborating with JLlama99 for a long time ( ed. – Jake Abdalla ), I have no doubt that everything will be fine with him, – David “ODB” Baker is also confident in Polk’s victory.
– So Doug would only need a few sessions of intensive training to magically reach Mike’s level and experience? – Norman still doesn’t believe it. – Yes, this is probably possible. And I can hire a new stylist and become Brad Pitt.
“I won’t train Doug,” Abdallah assured him. “We might even make it a requirement of the match if someone agrees to take my bet on Doug vs. Mike.” I’m ready to bet on them heads-up in any game. My store is open, Norm!
– Do you want to say that Doug’s experience and skills in heads-up are enough regardless of his opponent’s skill? – Nathan Gamble clarified.
– No, I don't think he can beat any player in any game. I think he can beat Mike at any game.
“Mike is a HUGE limit favorite…” Josh Arieh said. – But I’m always for the underdogs, so I want to bet on Doug. Join us!
“The beauty of such dramas is that less than 100 people know the correct answer, but more than 100,000 think they know,” Scott Seiver chose the role of an outside observer. “That’s why it’s always funny to watch this.”
“And one of the participants clearly does not belong to these less than 100,” Matt Glanz hinted.
“It’s like the debate about Jordan and LeBron,” Timex remained true to the humorous mood. – It doesn’t matter who the real 🐐 is, we should just be grateful that we can watch it.
“The poker world is going crazy again, arguing about the match between Matusow and Polk in HU OE🤣,” Melissa Burr said cheerfully. – You just don't understand how quickly Doug can get to the "competitive" level in mixed games. And he doesn’t need more to beat any average reg in HU. I think the reason for the misunderstanding is that people just don't realize how weak the field is in mixed events 🤣. I will never understand why you still play this stupid two-card game.
The well-known mixed games regular Raúl Gonzalez categorically wrote that Mike's chances are zero. True, he later clarified that he estimates the probability that Matusov will have an advantage in this match at 0%, but he may well win at a short distance – luck has not been canceled.
