Poker Pro Mike Matusow Looks For Financial Backers For 2016 WSOP

The 2016 season of World Series of Poker (WSOP) is all set to kick off on May 31. Lasting for six weeks, the WSOP offers numerous events with lucrative prize pools including the prestigious Main Event.

The WSOP is expected to draw poker professionals from all over the world who would like to complete for a WSOP bracelet and have a crack at winning the Main Event.

Mike Matusow is an established poker pro with winnings of over $9 million and 4 WSOP bracelets is one of the players looking to make a splash at the 2016 WSOP.

Matusow unfortunately has not been very active on the poker scene for the last 3 years as a result of health issues.

Matusow’s last major win was back in 2013 when he cashed $750,000 after winning the $ 20,000 No Limit Hold’em – Heads Up main event at the NBC Heads-Up Championship in Las Vegas.

After making a full recovery, Matusow is attempting to make a comeback and win big at the WSOP. The poker pro recently created a stir when he announced via Twitter that he was looking for sponsors to stake him at this year’s WSOP season. Matusow has won more than $9 million in prize money but it is not clear if he is short of cash and looking for a stake or if he is following the trend of lowering his risk by having others stake his buy-ins in exchange for a percentage share of the winnings.

Staking or backing or percentage swapping is not new in poker tournaments. But Matusow’s bid has attracted attention given his seniority as a player. But according to the Hendon Mob, his last live win was in 2014 when he won $ 7,784 in the 2014 WSOP. Since then he has not won anything significant and this might be the reason why he is looking for a sponsor.

A player looking to play in the key events in WSOP would need to have at least $130,000, since there are around thirteen events with $10,000 as the buy-in at this year’s WSOP which includes the Main Event. This estimate excludes the buy-ins needed for the major high-roller tournaments and other side events. Thus given the extent of the investment needed, it is no surprise that Matusow is looking for financial backing.

Matusow is not the only one this year looking for sponsors for this WSOP series. Another poker pro Greg Raymer has been tweeting about his plan to get backers for his plays this year using a crowdfunding website.