Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow find themselves at the center of a debate after “going south” during a televised cash game at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.
The pair are in Los Angeles for the WPT Legends of Poker festival but took some time away from the tournament grind to play the televised cash known worldwide as Live At The Bike. Hellmuth and Matusow were playing $50/$100 no-limit hold’em on a live feed and Matusow was showing a profit.
The Incident
Fifteen-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Hellmuth got up to leave mid-session and it quickly became apparent he had staked Matusow, or at least bought some of his action.
“Mike, I’m going to have to quit, bro,” Hellmuth said as he gathered his chips from the table, before adding, “It’s only fair I can get off, bro. The first one is your money, so just give me half, bro."
As Matusow was cutting Hellmuth’s share of his stack, one of the players at the table asked what was going on. Hellmuth explained that Matusow was not quitting, he would still be playing. Matusow confirmed this and continued to count out chips from his stack.
Eventually, Matusow paid Hellmuth what appeared to be approximately $20,000, and “The Poker Brat” exclaimed, “Woo hoo hoo, yum yum yum!”
One player sounded disappointed that Hellmuth had removed chips from play while the game was proceeding, stating they were all deep-stacked before Matusow halved his stack.
“You can quit if you like,” Hellmuth said.
Matusow then said Hellmuth should have asked the other players for their thoughts before taking chips off the table.
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