Mike Matusow in 2006

After watching Mike's performance in the televised Tournament of Champions and seeing an unrelated interview on FSN I'm convinced that 2006 will be Mike's breakout year.

He's adjusted well to the publicity, toned down his attitude (but kept just enough to be entertaining on TV), and perhaps the meds are playing a big role as well. Either way, I expect to see Mike come out of the gates running in '06 starting with the first WSOP circuit event in Tunica in January.

I spoke with Mike briefly the other night via chat at an online poker table and he mentioned he would be at Bellagio playing the first of January. I'll be there as well and we agreed to try and catch up if possible. I hope to get an interview for the blog here so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I hope 2005 was a great year for you and 2006 is even better!

You can play poker online with Mike at Full Tilt Poker. Mike plays there weekly along with pros like Phil Ivey, Jesus Ferguson, and Jennifer Harman.

Neat new sites I've found lately

Up till now the vast majority of my blog has focused on Mike and his big wins, antics, etc.

Since my readership is reaching new levels, I figured I'd try to contribute and let you all know about some neat sites that I've found that may be of interest to you.

The first is Build My Bankroll.com, a site that let's you try and guess how many poker chips are stuffed inside of a cookie jar. If you guess right, you win that amount in cash. Pretty good waste of three minutes of your time.

You should all have seen the link about the Mike Matusow.com site that's giving away a free Mike Matusow Full Tilt Poker jersey. If you haven't, toss your name into the hat and try to win a free jersey.

And last but not least, I found a site where you can get paid to test out new poker software. It's called Poker Testers.com and it's pretty simple. You sign up and download a free poker game, test it out, take a quick survey, and you can get paid based on feedback. I've tried it but haven't had enough time to try out the software yet. I'll let you know when I do.

Hopefully you will find a good use for one of these sites. If you do, drop me a line and let me know what you think!

Mike Matusow eliminated from the Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Tourney on Day Two

Mike made it day two but unfortunately, busted out about three hours into the action.

The good news? He's going to be hosting "The Circuit" webcast from CardPlayer.com taking questions from fans. If you'd like to check that out, please go to http://www.cardplayer.com/audio/bellagio_5diamond_2005.php

You can play poker online with Mike at Full Tilt Poker. Mike plays there weekly along with pros like Phil Ivey, Jesus Ferguson, and Jennifer Harman.