| SCOTTY PSYCHS OUT PHIL TO WIN OMAHA HI-LO STRUGGLE
Playing with Phil Hellmuth’s head as well as his cards, Scotty Nguyen overcame an 8-1 chip disadvantage to win the $5,000 Omaha hi-lo event and his fourth bracelet. His non-stop chatter, commentary, taunts and manic laughter seemed designed to put Hellmuth on tilt.
That was the idea, Nguyen later admitted. “I was blowing him out of his game. He didn’t know where he was at. He never believed what I had and was taking chances and calling every hand.”
The spectators, expecting a show when two world champions collided, got a textbook lesson in applied psychology. Once, when Hellmuth wished he had his Walkman to drown him out, Nguyen offered to buy him one. Another time, ahead in chips, Scotty offered to start even and play for winner take all, an offer which a surprised Hellmuth considered but did not take. Getting upset, Hellmuth at one point snapped at Nguyen to just play cards. Then, when the players agreed to a 10-minute break, he disappeared for 25 minutes, apparently trying to cool off.
For the second day in a row, the final table contained 20 bracelets. “I got watches too,” added the irrepressible John Bonetti. Limits started at $4,000-$8,000. On the 12th hand, Bonetti raised with A-3-8-10 double-suited and Chau Giang added his last $1,500 holding A-2-4-6. The board came J-J-2-J-7, and Bonetti’s A-10 put Giang away.
Later, when Hellmuth raised before the flop, Nguyen folded and flashed his suited A-2-J-7 to show how carefully he played. Right after that, “Houston” Harry Fitzpatrick (who lives in Canada) went all in, got quartered by Philip Ivey, but survived. Call him Harry Houdini, because he eventually escaped a total of six times, quartering, chopping and scooping before finally succumbing.
All-time money winner T.J. Cloutier went out in eighth place in a shabby manner. Holding 2-3-4-Q, he went all in looking for a low and a flush but missed everything and lost to Hellmuth’s unimproved Q-7. “Can you imagine?” he asked, shaking his head.
The biggest pot developed right after limits went to $3,000-$6,000. In three-way action, Hellmuth check-raised to three bets on a flop of J-6-5. He had a dream hand of A-A-2-3 suited, and when all the betting was done, he got three-quarters of a $147,000 pot.
“Houston” Harry, stuck in the small blind with just J-10-9-5, went into the tank for the seventh time, and this time couldn’t pick the lock, losing when Bonetti made a flush. “Bono,” who started with a sizeable chip lead of $130,000, was still in front at this point, but then the cards began to dry up for him and he experienced a steady decline.
Philip Ivey, who had been playing conservatively, raised holding aces. Scotty, in the big blind with K-J-5-2, decided to call and see what happened. What happened was that he flopped quad fives. He checked and let Ivey bet the flop and the river, then check-raised to put Ivey all in and all out.
Now Nguyen began to rag Hellmuth. At first it didn’t affect him, because Phil began to go on a rush. The capper came when he went against Brian Nadell, who earlier had his aces beaten when Hellmuth made three kings. Now he got another shocker. Making a set of queens, on a flop of Q-J-9, Brian bet and was check-raised by Phil, who only had two kings. But on the river, Hellmuth caught a third king. “You’ve got to be kidding!” Nadell yelled, jumping up and thumping the table. Hellmuth now had about $260,000 in chips, compared to $110,000 for the sinking Bonetti, $90,000 for Scotty, $60,000 for Nadell and $15,000 for Mike Wattel. With limits at $8,000-$16,000, Bonetti took another hit with a set of deuces when Scotty, with two pair, filled. In the big blind, Wattel went out holding Q-10-9-4. Hellmuth had Q-Q-K-A and caught another bullet. Still on a rampage, Hellmuth destroyed Nadell financially and emotionally. Nadell was all in with aces when Phil caught a third nine on the river.
But then Scotty moved into a narrow lead by taking a couple of pots and then knocking out a depleted Bonetti by pairing a king to beat Bono’s nines.
Heads-up, Scotty’s beer-fueled chatter went into overdrive. “I dare you to bet.” “He raised me? He has no idea what he has.” “See, I keep winning.” Etc., etc. When they returned from that ten-minute break that Phil stretched into 25, they were close to even. Later, when a fed-up Hellmuth snapped at Scotty: “That’s the way it’s going to be? Let’s play poker,” Scotty quieted for a bit. Suddenly getting hot instead of hot under the collar, Hellmuth made a couple of full houses and a wheel, driving Scotty down to only $60,000. “It’s not over yet,” a still confident Scotty said, turning up the chatter volume.
Now Scotty started his move. He made a wheel, got Phil to fold a couple of hands, and moved up to about $170,000, then later hit a flush, moved up to about $350,000 and tippeds the departing dealer who served him so well. Scotty had $330,000 to Phil’s $205,000 when he offered to start even for all the money. When the five-minute deadline passed, they continued to play. Scotty made two wheels in a row, and a stunned Hellmuth asked if he could wait for the next dealer.
There was no relief. On the last hand, Hellmuth, with 3-4-8-Q, picked the wrong time to bet all in on a flop of A-Q-10; Nguyen, with K-K-J-9, had a straight. Scotty gets his fourth bracelet and also merits an Academy Award nomination for his performance.
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