Mike Matusow

Some people call it the toughest cash game in the world. Others say it is the most fun. Whatever it is, great poker television comes out of the Party Poker-Poker Den. The Den involves handful of the most-seasoned professional poker players fighting it out in a marathon high-stakes cash game in front of television cameras. Poker TV doesn’t get any better than this.

The poker pros set to make an appearance are some of the most colorful personalities in the game. Scheduled to play are Phil Hellmuth, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, Tony G, Jamie Gold, Brian Townsend, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Jennifer Tilly, Andrew Feldman, Sammy “Any Two” George, Robert Williamson III, Phil Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari.

This year the Den is going to be even more interesting for the players and the audience. While the first two Den Games were 24 hour events, this year, the Big Game will run for 36 hours straight.

Eddie Hearn, head of online gaming at Matchroom Sport said:

“The Poker Den has come a long way since we started back in the summer of 2005, the Big Game has been such a huge success, and the two series so far have attracted the best players in the world.”

Players will sit down with a minimum of $10,000 but no more than $20,000 and play with $25-$50 blinds. As usual, there will be a lot of straddling, guaranteeing a lot of action. Players are free to leave the table at any time; up, down or busted.

The show will be filmed September 30 and October 1; and will be shown on Channel 5 in the U.K. next year. Commenter Jesse May will be present during the entire duration of the event. To learn more about the cash game, go to Match Room Poker.

Whatever your favorite four letter word is, today is the time to mutter it under your breath. No need to shout it out loud, no need to shake your fist and rant to the gods, just mutter it quietly and dream of what might have been. There will be no "big" name at the World Series final table in November. I know the odds were long on someone making it but yesterday they played down to 27 and lost Hellmuth and Matusow. Damn that would have been great. Four months of either of those guys would have been just amazing for poker.

Now the publicity machines will have to focus on the nine who survive today and try to create some interesting characters. Tiffany Michelle is the one player remaining who it might be possible to elevate to some real level of celebrity. Also in the mix are Brandon Cantu and Phi Nguyen both are "know professionals" to the poker world. But it was sad and painful when Matusow left the field in 30th place. The last chance at a truly big show for November was resting on his shoulders and, of course, he got nailed by a 3 outer; but the real bad beat was delivered not to Mike but to the Fall Final.

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The $10,000 Omaha 8 or better is down to the final two tables and early this evening, we could have another (over)loaded final table. Here is where they stand at present, I will keep updating until the lure of being at the Rio watching my guy play becomes overwhelming.

Ten Handed -the final table technically begins at nine players but it appears they may keep playing rather than break for the traditional Final Table dinner, so I am off to the Rio to sweat the final nine.

1 Hieu "Tony" Ma
2 Jason Gray
3 Ram Vaswani
4 Toto Leonidas
5 Berry Johnston
6 David Chiu
7 Mike Matusow 5th place
8 David Benyamine Champion
9 Greg Jamison
10 Eugene Katchalov

X Ray Dehkharghani 18th place
X William McMahan 17th place
X Danny Dang 13th place
X Brent Carter 16th place
X Shun Uchida 11th place
X Pat Pezzin 14th place
X Chau Giang 12th place
X Stuart Paterson 15th place

In a masterful performance at an epic final table, Mike Matusow took down the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball evening early this morning. The Poker Shrink was there for every hand at what truly was a final table for the ages. Tomorrow I will give you some details that you will find nowhere else; as many of you know I am working on Mike's biography and we spoke often during the twelve hour final table. In addition, we are going to get together after we both have had some sleep and then we will go over the entire final table from Mike's perspective. I will share some of that insight with you just as soon as Mike and I talk later today.

Until then congratulations Mike and good night or good morning from all of us here in the wee morning hours from Las Vegas.

[I apologize for the lingering promise of a follow-up article on Mike's win, but the truth is that the truth is so good, I am afraid it is going to have to wait for the final chapter of Mike's book.]

I am going to attend a final table today at the World Series of Poker. I wish you could be here, it's not another No Limit Hold'em tournament either. In fact, this is a game very few players play well and most don't even understand: Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball. The game is played with a limit betting structure and there is a single draw. Two rounds of betting; one before and one after the draw.

But what is going to be exciting about this final table is the cast of characters who have made it to this seven-handed party:

Erick Lindgren
Mike Matusow
Jeffery Lisandro
Barry Greenstein
Tony "G" Guoga
David Benyamine
Tom Schneider

The fun kicks off at 3 PM PDT. My reports will come during breaks in the action, no chance I am going to miss one moment of this table. Do I have a favorite for the bracelet? Well, yes I do but you will never guess who.