Second
Legends for Scotty
Scotty Nguyen, the colorful, charming
and charismatic 1998 World Series champ,
took down his second Legends tournament
this year by winning event #21, $300 limit
hold’em. First place paid an official
$38,475, because the event generated a
prize pool more than twice as large as
the $50,000 guarantee. Unofficially, there
was an even-money three-way chop at the
end.
Limits
at the final table started with $1,000-$2,000
blinds, playing for $2,000-$4,000. Immediately
after action started, Thang Cong Nguyen
was out of action. Arriving with only
5k, he went all in with pocket jacks against
Warren Karp, who had A-K and flopped a
king. Not long after, Karp claimed his
second victim. Ming Huang had even fewer
chips, only 4k, and couldn’t make
anything..
About
20 minutes later, Scotty Warbucks, aka
Charlie Shoten (or is it Charlie Shoten
aka Scotty Warbucks?) started with Kc-8c
against Men “The Master” Nguyen’s
10-8 offsuit. The flop was J-9-3 with
one club. A queen of clubs on the turn
gave Nguyen a straight and Warbucks a
flush draw which never came, leaving him
in eighth place.
Kathy
Liebert arrived at the final table with
40k, only $6,000 behind chip leader Chris
Karugulleyan. But she couldn’t seem
do much, and at $2,000-$4,000 limits,
her stacks dwindled quickly. Finally,
right after limits went to 3-6, she found
herself all in, in the big blind, with
a mere 6-5. Wing Wong, in the small blind,
had A-3. Neither player hit anything,
and Wong’s ace-high left Liebert
in eighth place.
A few hands later, Karp flopped a set
of jacks against Karagulleyan. With the
board showing J-2-7-10-A, Karp checked,
but Karagulleyan, who had bet the turn,
didn’t bite and saved a few chips.
Three
hands later, Men “The Master”
Nguyen, winner of event #20, was all in
for 5k against Karagulleyan, but easily
survived with pocket queens. But two hands
later, he went up against Chris again,
this time with K-Q. Under the gun, Men
raised, Chris re-raised and Men capped
it. With a board of 10-9-2-9-J, Chris
bet and Men called, with only one chip
left. Men rivered his straight, but he
had been drawing dead because Chris had
made quad nines on the turn.
On
the next hand, The Master posted his single
$1,000 chip in the big blind. There was
four-way action and the pot was checked
down. Though Lee had only K-10, it was
the best hand, and Men tossed in his cards
without showing them, cashing out sixth.
Three
hands later, a pot between Karagulleyan
and Anthony Lee was three-bet before the
flop. With a board of 6-3-2-10-10, Lee
bet, Karagulleyan called, lost to Lee’s
pocket jacks and was now down to two chips.
Chris had to post that in the big blind
holding just 3-2 of diamonds. Karp, in
the small blind, had A-J, flopped an ace,
and now the tournament was down to the
final four.
Scotty picked up chips from Karp by betting
blind on fourth street after flopping
kings and eights, but then lost them back
to Lee on the next hand when he tried
a bluff on the river with a board of K-K-5-9-7
and Lee picked him off with just ace-high.
Lee then took the lead with over 100k
when he held K-6 in a hand against Scotty
and Wong, won with a flopped six and broke
an all-in Wong. .
The
three finalists then agreed to lock up
$20,000 each and play for the rest. On
the next hand, however, after blinds went
to 2-4k with 4-8k limits, Scotty took
down a pot against Lee with pocket aces
and took over the lead. He then generously
agreed to an even three-way chop, and
event number 21 was over.
BIOGRAPHY
Scotty Nguyen had to psyche himself in
order to win this event. By the third
level he was down to $400. He then realized
that for the last couple of days he had
been “messing around.” But instead
of panicking, he said, he talked to himself,
and determined he would once again prove
to people that “Scotty knows how
to win.” He bore down, regained control,
and from that point on moved steadily
upward. “When I got to the final
table, as I’ve said before, everybody
knows it’s all over.”
Earlier
in Legends 2003, Scotty won event number
six, 7-card stud hi-lo. In the current
issue of Card Player magazine, he has
now jumped to fifth place in the overall
standings, and this win might move him
even higher. He said he agreed to an even
money chop even though he held the chip
lead because the money is less important
to him than respect from other players.
Max Shapiro
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