Scotty Wins Stud Marathon!
Scotty Nguyen was the last man standing after a $500 7-card stud hi-lo marathon final table that took nearly five hours to complete. The victory was worth $26,000 for the World Series champ. At the late stages, West Virginia land realtor David Shumate held a commanding lead for a long time and looked like a shoo-in. But after being scooped several times, he lost the lead and then got knocked out, leaving Nguyen and David Pham to commence a heads-up battle that alone took 26 hands and stretched into the $10,000-$20,000 limit level.
Howard “Tahoe” Andrew finished ninth after he went all in on fifth street with two 8s, couldn’t help and lost to two jacks. At the final table, limits started at $1,000-$2,000, with $200 antes and a $300 low-card bring-in.
The first three players knocked out went in sequence. Thomas Ho, in seat number one, was first out. He raised on fourth street with A-2/5-7, and then Pham re-raised him all in for $1,500 more. Ho missed his low draw, made two deuces and lost to Pham’s two pair. Realtor George Rechnitzer, in seat two, was second out on hand nine. He showed two 3s when Jeffrey Han put him in for his last $800 on fifth street. Rechnitzer made 10s up, but Han was rolled up with kings and filled on the river. Third out, in seat three, was Tran Anh Tran, a doctor. Limits were now $1,500-$3,000, with $200 antes and a $400 bring-in. On hand 16, he had K-10/2 and had $1,400 left after the mandatory bring-in. Han Han raised with a 4 door-card, and after long indecision, Tran finally called. He made trip deuces while Han, with pocket queens, filled up. Ocean’s Eleven dealer Kenny Nguyen finished fifth. He started with 6-3/4 and made two pair while Shumate started with rolled-up 10s and made a straight.
It took 40 minutes to eliminate four players, but nearly an hour before the next seat was vacated. With limits at $2,000-$4,000, Pham went all in a couple of times, but escaped and built his stacks up again. With limits at $3,000-$6,000, $500 antes and a $1,000 bring-in, Han was now the chip leader with about $40,000. Scotty was second with $35,000 while Shumate and Pham trailed with about $28,000 each. Then Shumate took most of Pham’s chips and regained the lead when he made a wheel to beat Pham’s 7-6. He increased his count to about $60,000 when he beat Han with aces-up. As play dragged on, pot after pot was chopped or abandoned on an early street. Finally, Han finished fourth after he couldn’t help his split jacks while Shumate, starting with 3-5/2, made two pair to extend his lead.
With limits at $4,000-$8,000, Shumate now had a big lead of about $90,000, while Nguyen and Pham had roughly $20,000 each. Play continued with Pham and Scotty going all in several times but surviving. At the $6,000-$12,000 level, Shumate had dipped somewhat to about $70,000. Pham and Nguyen were again tied, now with about $30,000 each. After Nguyen scooped a rare three-way pot with three aces, and Nguyen scooped Shumate after he missed his flush and low draws, the West Virginia native was suddenly down to about $15,000. Finally, in another very infrequent three-way action pot, Shumate re-raised all in with split 9s. All three players made two pair, but Pham’s were the highest, and after more than four hours, the tournament was at last heads-up.
After a few hands, the finalists were dead even, but Scotty then began to pull ahead. On the last hand, Pham went all in after pairing an ace on fourth street. But Scotty had queens-up at that point, and that’s how the hands and the event ended. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Scotty Nguyen, whose many titles include four WSOP wins, said he hasn’t been doing that great lately. “But let me come to the final table and I’ll win it,” he emphasized. Scotty was down to about $4,000 with 16 players left, but never lost confidence. “I was just so comfortable. I let the other players knock each other out. If the cards break even, I’ll win it.” His greatest strength, he said, is being a “nice guy” and not showing emotion. “If I lose a big hand, so what, it’s not the end of the world.”
One of the onlookers, himself a world-class player, thought that Pham hurt himself a lot by frequently bringing it in for a full bet, which he emphasized is a bad play in hi-lo stud, something that Nguyen and Shumate were not doing. But Scotty disagreed. “When you’re heads-up, anything can happen,” he said.
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Thomas Ho
$4,700
George Rednacher
$6,900
Tran Anh Tran
$4,200
David Shumate
$35,100
Scotty Nguyen
$25,000
David Pham
$25,300
Jeffrey Hon
$20,900
Kenny Nguyen
$8,600
Chips raced and/or blinded off: $650
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Sam Sanusi 122
2. Marlon Delossantos 99
3. John Juanda 99
4. David Pham 97
5. Kenny Nguyen 95
6. Russell Rosen 94
7. Kathy Liebert 91
8. Ron Faltinsky 88
9. Paul Ladanyi 87
10.Daniel Negreanu 87
SUPER SATELLITE PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Jeff Yoak 280
2. Tony Cousineau 152
3. Randy Holland 146
4. Mickey Mouse 133
5. Jimmy Tran 121
6. Hassan Kamoei 88
7. Mike Fetter 79
8. Steve Kaufman 69
9. Coach 69
10.Can Hua 68
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