Mike "The Mouth" Matusow can't quit Texas poker, even if he's barely gotten into the Lone Star State's social-poker club scene. Just a few weeks after Matusow's announced plan to purchase a stake in a Dallas card room fell through unexpectedly, Matusow has instead signed on to represent 52 Social in Austin, the state's capital.
Matusow's second Texas club deal finds him already promoting the room on social media. Matusow first teased his signing on with 52 Social via Twitter:
As he promised, he then spent a chunk of his following night's "The Mouthpiece" podcast talking about his new deal. He'll be spending some time in Austin promoting the club, including a $200 buy-in event on April 11 where he'll be a bounty target for other players.
First Texas deal for Matusow fell through
In February, Matusow proclaimed that he was buying a stake in Poker House Dallas. However, that deal fell through for unpublicized reasons. Though Matusow had quickly begun promoting the site, he was asked to yank all Poker House Dallas-related posts from his Twitter feed.
Matusow spoke about that failed deal on a separate podcast earlier in May. “I’m pretty disappointed what happened there. To make a long story short, they got cold feet and told me they have no interest in doing business with me,” he said at the time.
Whether any of Poker House Dallas's "cold feet" had to do with the situation in Dallas wherein the city's attorney tried to revoke the certificates of occupancy of several rooms is unknown. Though that legal battle has ended in favor of the cardrooms, it's possible that Poker House Dallas rethought having a figure as colorful as Matusow as an owner might not be great for the club's image as it faced what could have been a drawn-out affair. Matusow has a felony drug-possession conviction in his past, and would likely have become a target of anti-gambling forces who might have sought to make a battle over Dallas card rooms' legality a cause celebre.
Whatever the reasons, it made Matusow available to do the new deal in Austin. Exactly what his larger role with 52 Social in Austin will encompass remains uncertain. According to 52 Social's general manager, Jason Sackler, "All I can say right now is that Matusow is affiliated with 52 Social." Matusow has indiciated that he plans on moving from Las Vegas to Austin to help run the room.
Featured image source: Haley Hintze
