THE INSIDE STRAIGHT:
Jeff Haney on the ‘prince of poker,’ Scotty Nguyen, who finished first in the game’s ultimate test of skill and who stops at nothing to accommodate fans
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Tiffany Brown
Scotty Nguyen is confident at the World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. event final table. Nguyen went on to win the event and nearly two million dollars.
<!-- close leadPhoto -->By <CITE>Jeff Haney</CITE>
Wed, Jul 2, 2008 (2 a.m.)
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HORSE players
<!-- /inline-content --><!-- /text-inline -->At 4 o’clock in the morning on the biggest day of the World Series of Poker’s summer session, Scotty Nguyen was steaming.
On a nearly deserted red carpet outside the Rio Pavilion entranceway, Nguyen was muttering about a brutal hand that had just taken place in the world championship HORSE tournament inside.
A few straggling fans, oblivious to Nguyen’s pacing, ranting, raving and apparently sour mood, approached with their digital cameras to request an impromptu photo session with the poker icon.
Though he was more than 12 hours into a punishing session at the final table with a $1.9 million top prize at stake, Nguyen’s demeanor changed instantly.
“You got it, Baby,” said Nguyen, always the poker ambassador, his smile now as bright as the Strip hotel lights in the middle distance.
“Bring home that bracelet, Scotty,” one of the fans said.
A little more than an hour later, Nguyen did, finishing atop a field of 148 players Monday in the $50,000-entry mixed-games event that poker professionals consider the game’s most demanding test of all-around skill.
It was the fifth World Series gold championship bracelet for Nguyen, the 1998 main event winner known as the “prince of poker” for his flamboyant style and popularity with the crowd at tournaments.
“The fan is No. 1 for a poker player,” Nguyen said. “Without the fans, I would never be who I am now. There would never be a Scotty Nguyen.
“It’s so important to give the fans what they want. It’s important to give them a good game.”
With the final table of the no-limit Texas hold ’em championship event moved to November this year for the first time, the HORSE tournament, with its hefty entry fee and field loaded with top pros, emerged as the most significant title settled during the World Series’ seven-week summer run at the Rio.
Driven by a desire to watch history happen, an enthusiastic, even rowdy audience pulled an all-nighter to see the conclusion of the HORSE event.
(Well, except for the guy who was lying on his back sound asleep on the floor of the Milwaukee’s Best Light All In Lounge, a prime viewing area for the final table. Everyone politely stepped around him as they walked by: just another night at the World Series of Poker.)
Each player at the final table had a rooting section, but the crowd’s sentiments drifted toward Nguyen as the early morning wore on.
“They fly here from all over the world,” Nguyen, 45, said. “They’re not just from here. They fly from Germany, Australia, London, Paris to see you and ask for pictures or autographs. You can’t say no to them. I always stop. Even if I’m playing $100,000-$200,000 blinds and I just want to run to the bathroom, I always stop. The fans are so important to me.
“You’ve got to give them what they fly out here for, and they fly out here to see Scotty Nguyen. That’s why wherever I go, I’m the home team, Baby. I’m the fan favorite.”
Since its inception in 2006, the $50,000 HORSE tournament has generated a compelling final table each year.
In the inaugural event, Chip Reese defeated runner-up Andy Bloch after seven hours of heads-up play.
Last year, Freddy Deeb had the shortest stack of chips at the final table before rallying to win the $2.2 million top prize.
A trophy named for Reese was introduced this year and awarded to Nguyen, who became the third Las Vegas-based pro to win the HORSE tournament.
“Chip Reese, Baby,” Nguyen said. “He was so important to poker and this is something I dreamed of. When you grow up you want to be the one and only.
“People think, oh, the pros cannot win the big events anymore. I proved them wrong. The best player will come through.”
As a modern-day complement to the annual no-limit hold ’em championship tournament, the signature event of the World Series since 1970, the HORSE tournament carries a special meaning to World Series Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.
“I think it really is our all-star event,” Pollack said. “Unlike the all-star events in other sports, this one counts. I think this one is probably the best indicator in any given year of who the best all-around player is.”
The acronym HORSE is derived from the five forms of poker played in rotation: Hold ’em, Omaha, razz, 7-card (s)tud and stud high-low (e)ight or better.
Each version is played with fixed betting limits, a structure that at the professional level provides for a more nuanced game that allows pure poker skill to predominate.
Familiar faces such as Barry Greenstein, Huck Seed, Lyle Berman and Erick Lindgren advanced to this year’s final table, with Lindgren, of Las Vegas, finishing third to earn $781,440. Michael DeMichele of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., placed second to collect $1.2 million.
Nguyen, the first HORSE champ to also have won a World Series main event and a World Poker Tour title, saw his victory as redemption for a disappointing performance in the 2007 World Series main event.
Nguyen held an imposing chip stack and appeared poised to breeze to the final table in last year’s “Big One” before a late meltdown sent him home in 11th place in the field of 6,358.
“Last year, the reason that I did not win was I made a mistake,” Nguyen said. “I blew it. I was angry. I got personal. You can’t get personal when you play the game. I let one of the players get to me and I wanted to knock him out so bad. Instead of knocking him out, I ended up giving him more money, you know what I mean?
“I said, no more personal. You make me mad, I’m walking (away from the table), which I did a lot. If it came to the point I would blow up, I walked.”
At least a couple of times he walked right out of the Rio, calming his nerves after a tough loss in a hand with quick autograph sessions or fan photos. For Scotty Nguyen, the tournament could wait.
“I would talk to myself,” Nguyen said. “Come back. Don’t make the same mistake as last year’s, man. Win the HORSE event. And the main event. Everything will be erased.
“You’ve got to come back strong. Last year is gone, Baby. It’s done now. I’ve got to focus on 2008.”
Jeff Haney on the ‘prince of poker,’ Scotty Nguyen, who finished first in the game’s ultimate test of skill and who stops at nothing to accommodate fans
<!-- end story-header -->
Scotty Nguyen is confident at the World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. event final table. Nguyen went on to win the event and nearly two million dollars.
<!-- close leadPhoto -->By <CITE>Jeff Haney</CITE>
Wed, Jul 2, 2008 (2 a.m.)
<!-- begin ad tag--><SCRIPT language=JavaScript type=text/javascript> //<![CDATA[ document.write('<script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/gmg.lasvegassun/storysports;tile=3;sz=300x100;ord=' + ord + '?" type="text/javascript"><\/script>'); //]]> </SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/gmg.lasvegassun/storysports;tile=3;sz=300x100;ord=9965957122066232?" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>
<NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT> <!-- End ad tag -->HORSE players
<!-- /inline-content --><!-- /text-inline -->At 4 o’clock in the morning on the biggest day of the World Series of Poker’s summer session, Scotty Nguyen was steaming.
On a nearly deserted red carpet outside the Rio Pavilion entranceway, Nguyen was muttering about a brutal hand that had just taken place in the world championship HORSE tournament inside.
A few straggling fans, oblivious to Nguyen’s pacing, ranting, raving and apparently sour mood, approached with their digital cameras to request an impromptu photo session with the poker icon.
Though he was more than 12 hours into a punishing session at the final table with a $1.9 million top prize at stake, Nguyen’s demeanor changed instantly.
“You got it, Baby,” said Nguyen, always the poker ambassador, his smile now as bright as the Strip hotel lights in the middle distance.
“Bring home that bracelet, Scotty,” one of the fans said.
A little more than an hour later, Nguyen did, finishing atop a field of 148 players Monday in the $50,000-entry mixed-games event that poker professionals consider the game’s most demanding test of all-around skill.
It was the fifth World Series gold championship bracelet for Nguyen, the 1998 main event winner known as the “prince of poker” for his flamboyant style and popularity with the crowd at tournaments.
“The fan is No. 1 for a poker player,” Nguyen said. “Without the fans, I would never be who I am now. There would never be a Scotty Nguyen.
“It’s so important to give the fans what they want. It’s important to give them a good game.”
With the final table of the no-limit Texas hold ’em championship event moved to November this year for the first time, the HORSE tournament, with its hefty entry fee and field loaded with top pros, emerged as the most significant title settled during the World Series’ seven-week summer run at the Rio.
Driven by a desire to watch history happen, an enthusiastic, even rowdy audience pulled an all-nighter to see the conclusion of the HORSE event.
(Well, except for the guy who was lying on his back sound asleep on the floor of the Milwaukee’s Best Light All In Lounge, a prime viewing area for the final table. Everyone politely stepped around him as they walked by: just another night at the World Series of Poker.)
Each player at the final table had a rooting section, but the crowd’s sentiments drifted toward Nguyen as the early morning wore on.
“They fly here from all over the world,” Nguyen, 45, said. “They’re not just from here. They fly from Germany, Australia, London, Paris to see you and ask for pictures or autographs. You can’t say no to them. I always stop. Even if I’m playing $100,000-$200,000 blinds and I just want to run to the bathroom, I always stop. The fans are so important to me.
“You’ve got to give them what they fly out here for, and they fly out here to see Scotty Nguyen. That’s why wherever I go, I’m the home team, Baby. I’m the fan favorite.”
Since its inception in 2006, the $50,000 HORSE tournament has generated a compelling final table each year.
In the inaugural event, Chip Reese defeated runner-up Andy Bloch after seven hours of heads-up play.
Last year, Freddy Deeb had the shortest stack of chips at the final table before rallying to win the $2.2 million top prize.
A trophy named for Reese was introduced this year and awarded to Nguyen, who became the third Las Vegas-based pro to win the HORSE tournament.
“Chip Reese, Baby,” Nguyen said. “He was so important to poker and this is something I dreamed of. When you grow up you want to be the one and only.
“People think, oh, the pros cannot win the big events anymore. I proved them wrong. The best player will come through.”
As a modern-day complement to the annual no-limit hold ’em championship tournament, the signature event of the World Series since 1970, the HORSE tournament carries a special meaning to World Series Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.
“I think it really is our all-star event,” Pollack said. “Unlike the all-star events in other sports, this one counts. I think this one is probably the best indicator in any given year of who the best all-around player is.”
The acronym HORSE is derived from the five forms of poker played in rotation: Hold ’em, Omaha, razz, 7-card (s)tud and stud high-low (e)ight or better.
Each version is played with fixed betting limits, a structure that at the professional level provides for a more nuanced game that allows pure poker skill to predominate.
Familiar faces such as Barry Greenstein, Huck Seed, Lyle Berman and Erick Lindgren advanced to this year’s final table, with Lindgren, of Las Vegas, finishing third to earn $781,440. Michael DeMichele of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., placed second to collect $1.2 million.
Nguyen, the first HORSE champ to also have won a World Series main event and a World Poker Tour title, saw his victory as redemption for a disappointing performance in the 2007 World Series main event.
Nguyen held an imposing chip stack and appeared poised to breeze to the final table in last year’s “Big One” before a late meltdown sent him home in 11th place in the field of 6,358.
“Last year, the reason that I did not win was I made a mistake,” Nguyen said. “I blew it. I was angry. I got personal. You can’t get personal when you play the game. I let one of the players get to me and I wanted to knock him out so bad. Instead of knocking him out, I ended up giving him more money, you know what I mean?
“I said, no more personal. You make me mad, I’m walking (away from the table), which I did a lot. If it came to the point I would blow up, I walked.”
At least a couple of times he walked right out of the Rio, calming his nerves after a tough loss in a hand with quick autograph sessions or fan photos. For Scotty Nguyen, the tournament could wait.
“I would talk to myself,” Nguyen said. “Come back. Don’t make the same mistake as last year’s, man. Win the HORSE event. And the main event. Everything will be erased.
“You’ve got to come back strong. Last year is gone, Baby. It’s done now. I’ve got to focus on 2008.”
