Matusow Defeats Phil Hellmuth in Final To Take Home $750,000

Published on January 27th, 2013 1:29 pm EST

Mike "The Mouth" Matusow defeated Phil Hellmuth to win the 2013 National Heads-Up Poker Championship earlier this morning. For his victory, Matusow walked away with $750,000, while Hellmuth collected $300,000 for his runner-up finish.

Matusow, who has had his well-documented ups and downs, was obviously overjoyed by the victory, posting this on Twitter:

"Im laying here in bed overcome with emotion truly wondering if me and hellmuth have changed the game of poker for Americans on tv once again"

and

"And god said let the cards break even a, and they did thanks to all my supporters and fans was such a great win ? #lovinglife?"

--

The final match of the NHUPC was a best-of-three affair, with Matusow eventually taking the content 2-1. The final hand of the tournament came when Hellmuth decided to commit the last of his chips with the board reading Kd-Js-2d-6s. After some thought, Matusow made the call, and the two players turned over:

Hellmuth - Ks-Th
Matusow - 8d-4d

Hellmuth had a pair of Kings, but Matusow had plenty of outs with his flush draw. The river brought the Qd, giving Matusow the flush and the victory.

--

It wasn't an easy path to the finals for Matusow or Hellmuth.

Matusow had to go through Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, Barry Greenstein, John Hennigan and Scott Seiver to reach the finals, while Hellmuth had to beat Mike Sexton, Justin Smith, David "Doc" Sands, Eugene Katchalov and Joe Serock.

With his win, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow now has well over $8.5 million in total lifetime tournament cashes. His $750,000 payday was the largest single cash that Matusow has had since 2005.

Phil Hellmuth, on the other hand, continues to enjoy the positive momentum that was built in 2012, when he posted the single best year of his career. Hellmuth's second place cash solidifies his #2 spot on the all-time money list.

--

Here is how the tournament ended up finishing out:

1. Mike Matusow, $750,000
2. Phil Hellmuth, $300,000
3. Scott Seiver, $100,000
3. Joe Serock, $100,000
5. Eugene Katchalov, $50,000
5. Brian Hastings, $50,000
5. John Hennigan, $50,000
5. Daniel Cates, $50,000
9. Antonio Esfandiari, $25,000
9. Vanessa Rousso, $25,000
9. David Sands, $25,000
9. Barry Greenstein, $25,000
9. Phil Ivey, $25,000
9. Joseph Cheong, $25,000
9. Tom Dwan, $25,000
9. Dan Smith, $25,000


--

Filed Under: Tournament Results