Matusow was penalized with a one-round penalty for showing his hand in the WSOP Main Event.

Mike Matusow was penalized with a one-round penalty for revealing his hole cards at the 2026 WSOP Main Event livestream table. He was previously penalized in 2005 for a verbal altercation with Shawn Sheikhan.

Mike Matusow received a penalty round for revealing a card at the live broadcast table of Groups ABC on Day 2 of the 2026 WSOP Main Event.

"The Mouth" is known for decades of poker table rhetoric, including his famous spat with Shawn Sheikhan in the same tournament in 2005, but this time he's in trouble for a different kind of violation.

Matusow was forced to watch a lap of action from the sidelines before being allowed to return to the tournament. He left the table with approximately 75,500 chips—about half the average chip stack—and returned with the goal of packing a winning streak on Day Three. The following actions led to the penalty:

Matusow was given a penalty.

Real estate investor Steven Ross, holding A♣J♣, raised to 4,000. Matusow called from the button with K♣Q♠, and third player Lee called from the big blind with A♥7♣.

The flop came 9♦K♠5♣. Lee checked, Ross bet 3,000, Matusow called, and Lee folded.

The turn card, 8♣, appears, giving Ross a backdoor flush draw. Ross checks, Matusow bets 7,000, and Ross (wearing a diamond-encrusted watch) calls.

The river card is a 10♣. Ross bets 27,500, leaving him with about 41,000. Matusow has 75,500 behind him; he smiles and then falls into deep thought.

Finally, Matusow turned to Ross. "Show me one first," he said. "If you show me one first," Ross replied.

Matusow turned over one of his cards, and the dealer immediately called the tournament director. "We're heads-up, we can do this," Matusow protested, but the other players at the table immediately corrected him, "This is not allowed," their voices clearly audible. Matusow correctly folded and was taken off the table to speak with the tournament director.

When he returned, he announced to the table himself that he had received a penalty round. "That's a bit ridiculous, I didn't know," Matusow added. "I really didn't know, man," Ross told him.

Matusow continued arguing at the table for a while before finally leaving to enforce his penalty.

This is not the first time Matusow has been penalized in the WSOP Main Event...

This is not the first time Matusow has been penalized in the WSOP Main Event. Most notably, in 2005, he and Sheikhan were both given ten-minute penalties by WSOP Senior Vice President Jack Effel.

Poker fans will remember Sheikhan's frustrated slamming of the table after folding following the flop. Matusow yelled, "You know we're playing a hand, you fucking need to shut up!" Sheikhan retorted repeatedly, "What did you say, Mike?"

The two continued to provoke each other throughout the hand, and when Matusow won the pot, Sheikhan called him an idiot. This enraged "The Mouth," who jumped up and yelled, "You can't discuss the game while we're playing a hand! We're playing for a lot of money! You jump up from your chair as if you've lost a piece of the pot!"

Effel intervened and calmed the situation. "We're not going to start the tournament like this," he said. "So listen up, you're both in for a ten-minute penalty now. You're both on the sidelines for ten minutes, and listen, if I hear either of you say a word, it'll be twenty minutes."

This time there wasn't such a frenzy, but it was a fitting moment of cyclical change—Matusow, more than twenty years apart, showed clear signs of frustration in both of these tournaments.

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