SCOTT ON - INAUGURAL NOVEMBER NINER SCOTT MONTGOMERY NABS VICTORY IN WSOP EVENT 36
2008 Main Event Fifth-Place Finisher Earns First Major Victory

Scott Montgomery Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event 36

Canadian Poker Pro Collects $481,760 in Prize Money

For the tournament portal page for this event, including official results, click HERE.

OVERVIEW

Scott Montgomery was the winner of the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker.  This marked his first career WSOP gold bracelet victory after eight previous cashes here in Las Vegas.  Montgomery is best known for his fifth-place finish in the 2008 WSOP Main Event.  He earned $3,096,078 for that outstanding performance and came up big again at this year’s series, with a first-place cash totaling $481,760.

Montgomery is 28-year-old professional poker player from Ottawa, Ontario (Canada).  He became the fourth Canadian player this year to win a gold bracelet – following wins by fellow countrymen Miguel Proulx, Aadam Daya, and Pascal LeFrancois.

Montgomery appears to have no difficulty overcoming huge field-sizes.  When he final tabled the 2008 world championship, Montgomery outlasted 6,839 players.  This time, he overcame 3,101 players en route to his first major victory.

The runner up was Mick Carlson, from Plymouth, IN.  His first WSOP in-the-money finish was worth $297,996 – quite an impressive consolation prize.

The tournament’s top 324 finishers collected prize money.  Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Peter Traply (14th), Svetlana Gromenkova (33rd), Fred Berger (67th), Mike Carson (230th), and Andre Boyer (252nd).

THE CHAMPION – SCOTT MONTGOMERY

The $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em champion (Event #36) is Scott Montgomery, from Ottawa, Ontario (Canada).

Montgomery is a professional poker player.  

Montgomery is 28 years old.  He was born in Perth, Ontario (Canada).

Montgomery attended the University of Waterloo, where he studied mathematics.

After he finished college, Montgomery moved to Japan to teach English.  

While living in Japan, Montgomery discovered online poker.  He made a few small deposits and lost his initial bankroll.  He made another $50 deposit and managed to win a small tournament.  That gave Montgomery enough money to start playing more seriously, and he eventually starting winning satellite entries into major tournaments.

Montgomery finished fifth in the 2008 WSOP Main Event.  He outlasted 6,839 players.  Fifth place paid $3,096,078.

The huge score allowed Montgomery to play more poker and travel.  He spent time traveling around Europe and elsewhere.

This was Montgomery’s third time to cash at this year’s WSOP.

Montgomery collected $481,760 for first place.

According to official records, Scott Montgomery now has one win, two final table appearances, and nine in-the-money finishes at the WSOP.   His career WSOP earnings now total $3,670,228.

With this cash, Montgomery moves into the top 25 all-time in WSOP earnings (knocking Dan Harrington to the 26th position).

Montgomery became the fourth Canadian player this year to win a gold bracelet – following wins by fellow countrymen Miguel Proulx, Aadam Daya, and Pascal LeFrancois.

Montgomery was cheered to victory by his father, who came to Las Vegas to watch his son play at the final table.  Montgomery said he plans to take his father to see the Penn and Teller Show at the Rio.

WINNER QUOTES

On winning his first WSOP gold bracelet:  “I feel good.  I had a couple of deep runs this year and fizzled out towards the end.  I feel good to finally get here.”

On his 2008 Main Event fifth-place finish and what he learned from the experience:  “I was pretty nervous going into that final table (in 2008).  It was pretty intense.  I think I dealt with that a little better today.”

On rowdy final tables with lots of cheering fans:  “I think it’s a bit distracting, cheering in the middle of hands.  It takes away from the game.”

On how his big cash in 2008 changed his life:  “Nothing changed substantially.  I’m still playing poker full-time.  It did give me the freedom to play in any tournament I wanted and to travel all over Europe and North America and go wherever and play poker, which is what I always wanted to do.”

On earning a breakthrough victory after coming close a number of times:  “I’ve had like 10 final tables, and I have never had anything in the top three.  I keep getting fifth and whatever.  I started to think I wasn’t that good at final tables.  It’s good to finally get here.”

On his odds of winning another gold bracelet the rest of this year and the next:  “It’s pretty slim.  I’m not much of a Mixed Game player.  So, I just play the No-Limit Hold’em and PLO fields, which are like 1,000- and 2,000-plus.  So, I know my skill level.  I am not a world class player.  I put my odds of winning another bracelet in the next year at 10-to-1.”

When down to the final six, on his thought process when calling an all-in re-raise during a big hand holding K-Q against, what turned out to be A-K:  “Truthfully, I was thinking that every other time I made a final table, I was in a fold-here situation because it was the right play.  And I kept folding and folding and I would get down and be short.  I thought I needed to make a stand.  It was a pretty big pot and there was a chance (John Dolan) was bluffing.  Even if he had A-J or A-T, I was still not that big of a dog.  I thought if I could call here and win, it would give me such a reputation of no one being able to bluff me the rest of the way.  It would give me enough chips that I would be able to steamroll the table.  I decided to make a big risk.  It turned out to be a bad call, because he had A-K.  But I caught a flush, and no one was able to challenge me after that.”

THE FINAL TABLE

The final table included no former WSOP gold bracelet winners, which guaranteed a first-time champion.

The runner up was Mick Carlson, from Plymouth, IN.  He is a 23-year-old student and part-time poker player.  Carlson has several previous cashes in online poker tournaments.  But this marked his first time to cash in a live tournament.  Carlson collected a consolation prize of $297,996.

The third-place finisher was Adam “Admo” Richardson, from San Diego, CA.  He is a former rodeo clown.  Richardson received $210,892.

The fourth-place finisher was Daniel Fuhs, from Long Beach, CA.  He is a 37-year-old poker pro.  This marked his 12th time to cash at the WSOP.  He added $152,655 to his poker bankroll and now has $314,618 in earnings.

The fifth-place finisher was Sebastien Roy, from Cap Rouge, near Quebec City (Canada).  He is a 24-year-old poker pro.  This was his first time to cash in a WSOP event.  Fifth place paid $111,783.

The sixth-place finisher was John Dolan, from Bonita Springs, FL.  He is a 24-year-old poker pro.  This was his fifth WSOP cash, which paid $82,804.

The seventh-place finisher was Peter Dufek, from Las Vegas, NV.  He is a 29-year-old power plant operations supervisor.  This was Dufek’s first time to cash, and he made it count with a payout totaling $62,033.

The eighth-place finisher was Tim Beeman, from Chino Valley, AZ.  He is 47 years old and originally comes from the same small town in Western Maryland as last year’s WSOP Main Event runner up Darvin Moon.  Beeman cashed for the first time at the WSOP, collecting $46,985.

The ninth-place finisher was Michael Michnik, from Hollywood, FL.  He is 24-year-old graduate of Rutgers University.  This was his third time to cash this year, which paid $35,986.

Daniel Carbonari, from Cordoba, Argentina, just missed making it to the final table, ultimately finishing in 10th place.  Carbonari would have become the first finalist from Argentina this year had he made it into the final nine.

The final table began at 3:15 pm.  It ended at 11:45.  Play lasted 8 hours and 30 minutes.

OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS

The top 324 finishers collected prize money.  Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Peter Traply (14th), Svetlana Gromenkova (33rd), Fred Berger (67th), Mike Carson (230th), and Andre Boyer (252nd).

Peter Traply came within striking distance of becoming the third Hungarian player to win a gold bracelet this year.  Trapley, who won his WSOP victory last year, ended up in 14th place.  

Antoine Saout, who finished third in last year’s WSOP Main Event, cashed for the first time in 2010 when he took 111th place.

ODDS AND ENDS

This is the 865th gold bracelet event in World Series of Poker history.  Note:  This figure includes every official WSOP event played, including tournaments during the early years when there were no actual gold bracelets awarded.  It also includes the 11 gold bracelets awarded at WSOP Europe (to date).

This was the fourth (of six) $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event held at this year’s WSOP.  Every weekend three huge No-Limit Hold’em events are played.  Most Fridays include a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament.  A $1,000 buy-in event takes place on Saturday and Sunday (two flights/starting days).  Each Monday includes another $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event.  All Day One starting times are noon.

The size of the field was so large there were two Day Ones, splits into two roughly 1,500-player fields.  Players were given the option of starting on either Saturday or Sunday.

The other $1,000 buy-in NLHE winners were:

EVENT #3 -- Aadam Daya, from Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
EVENT #13 – Steve Gee, from Sacramento, CA (USA)
EVENT #24 – Jeffrey Tebben from Overland Park, KS (USA)

Poker has grown so popular in the last decade that a 3,000+ player field hardly attracts much attention.  This was one of the bigger tournaments ever held anywhere.  But the turnout was far short of being a record.

LARGEST WSOP EVENTS IN HISTORY: Here’s a ranking of the six largest live poker tournaments in history:

8,773 players -- 2006 WSOP Main Event
6,844 players -- 2008 WSOP Main Event
6,494 players – 2009 WSOP Main Event
6,358 players -- 2007 WSOP Main Event
6,012 players -- 2009 WSOP Event 4
4,345 players -- 2010 WSOP Event 3

The official WSOP gold bracelet ceremony takes place on the day following the winner’s victory (or some hours later when the tournament runs past midnight).  The ceremony takes place inside The Pavilion, which is the expansive main tournament room hosting all noon starts this year.  The ceremony begins at the conclusion of the first break of the noon tournament, usually around 2:20 pm.  The national anthem of the winner’s nation is played.  The entire presentation is open to public and media.  Video and photography are permitted by both public and members of the media.

Montgomery requested that the national anthem of Canada be played at his WSOP gold bracelet ceremony.

TOURNAMENT PLAY

The tournament was played over six consecutive days, from June 19-24, 2010.

The $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship attracted 3,102 entries.  The total prize pool amounted to $2,791,800.  

When play was 10-handed, eventual winner Scott Montgomery was in tenth place.  He pushed all-in four times and was never called.

Montgomery experienced one scare at the final table.  At six-handed, he had his opponent covered but was all-in holding K-Q against A-K.  Four suited cards came on board, making a flush for Montgomery.  That gave him a big chip lead and he held his advantage the remainder of the tournament.

The final hand of the tournament came when Montgomery was dealt     against Mick Carlson’s    .  The final board showed          .  Montgomery’s ace-high played and won the final pot of the night.

2010 WSOP STATISTICS

Through the conclusion of Event #37, the nationalities of winners have been:

United States (25)
Great Britain (4)
Canada (4)
Hungary (1)
New Zealand (1)
France (1)
Russia (1)

Through the conclusion of Event #37, the national origin (birthplace) of winners has been:

United States (18)
Great Britain (4)
Canada (4)
Vietnam (2)
China (2)
Hungary (1)
New Zealand (1)
France (1)
Lebanon (1)
Russia (1)
Mexico (1)
Bangladesh (1)

Through the conclusion of Event #37, the ratio of professional poker players to semi-pros and amateurs who won gold bracelets is as follows:

Professional Players (25):  Michael Chow, Michael Mizrachi, Praz Bansi, Josh Tieman, Peter Gelencser, James Dempsey, Men “the Master” Nguyen, Matt Matros, Yan R. Chen, Steve Gee, Carter Phillips, Jason DeWitt, Eric Buchman, David Baker, Richard Ashby, Dutch Boyd, Sammy Farha, David Warga, Will Haydon, Matt Keikoan, Mike Ellis, Luis Velador, Ayaz Mahmood, Phil Ivey, Scott Montgomery

Semi-Pros (4):  Frank Kassela, Tex Barch, Miguel Proulx, Jeffrey Papola

Amateurs (8):  Duc Pham, Aadam Daya, Pascal LeFrancois, Simon Watt, Vanessa Hellebuyck, Jeff Tebben, Konstantin Puchkov, Harold Angle

Through the conclusion of Event #37, here is the list of repeat WSOP gold bracelet winners at the 2010 WSOP:

Praz Bansi
Men “the Master” Nguyen
Russ “Dutch” Boyd
Sammy Farha
David Warga (* his first WSOP win was in a non-open event)
Matt Keikoan
Luis Velador
Phil Ivey