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Gabe Scott Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet

Published on 19-Jun-2012

Austin “Gabe” Scott has mixed emotions. Today was a great day in one respect, and a terrible day in another.
First – the bad news.
Scott’s beloved basketball team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, appearing in their first-ever NBA finals, lost a close game on
their home court and are now an underdog in the remainder of the championship series.
Indeed, the Thunder proved to be a heartbreaking disappointment.
Then, there’s the good news. Make that, very good news.
Gabe Scott just won a World Series of Poker gold bracelet. He also collected $361,797 in prize money.
This is just a guess, but something says that Scott might be able to live with the "split." Hey, you win some and you lose
some, right?
Alas, Scott won a thrilling victory in the $3,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha tournament, which concluded late on Thursday
night on the ESPN main stage at the Rio. The 23-year-old poker pro overcame a significant chip disadvantage during the
later stages of competition and managed to defeat a formidable final table lineup that included several outstanding
international players -- including Vadzim Kursevich, (Belarus), Huykheim Nguyen (Germany), and Thomas Pettersson
(Sweden). Also in the final table hunt were Brett Richey, Scott Stanko, Tom Chambers, Romik Vartzar, and two-time
former gold bracelet winner Russ "Dutch" Boyd.
This was Scott’s second time to cash in a WSOP event. Proving this year’s victory was no fluke, he final tabled the same
event in 2011, finishing in eighth place.
MEET THE LATEST WSOP CHAMPION – GABE SCOTT
Name: Austin “Gabe” Scott
Childhood: Norman, Oklahoma (USA)
Education: Attended Oklahoma University
Current Residence: Oklahoma City, OK (USA)
Profession: Professional Poker Player
Number of WSOP Cashes: 2
Number of WSOP final table appearances: 2
Number of WSOP gold bracelet victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP finish: 8th (2011)
Total Career WSOP Earnings: $402,545
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WINNER
Question: Totally aside from poker, you grew up in Norman. Did you go to school at Oklahoma University?
Scott: I did, for about a year and a half. Then, I started playing poker online and stopped going to school at that point
and just continued playing poker. It was mostly all online back then. But once I was no longer able to play online, I
started playing more live poker, and that’s how I got here.
Question: Oklahoma has become a hot bed of poker, with several places in Tulsa and the Texas border. Talk about the
Oklahoma poker scene.
Scott: Well, there are a few different games to choose from. We get a PLO game once in a while and in Norman, OK
they usually have a game at River Wind, the Indian casinos, they get PLO games quite often, actually.
Question: Did you watch the game (Oklahoma City Thunder) at all tonight?
Scott: No, I missed all of that.
Question: That’s probably a good thing right
Scott: I guess it is. They lost.
Question: I know you’re a really big fan. You won $361,000 tonight. How much of that would you give for the Thunder
to win the NBA championship?
Scott: Uhh, probably not that much of it (laughter all around)
Question: Would you consider PLO your game of choice or do you prefer a little variety?
Scott: Yes, I prefer PLO – cash games and tournaments.
Question: It is unusual to see so many people come out at once to cheer on one person. Are these all your friends and
did you consciously make a plan to come together. Tell us about how you have so many people from Oklahoma here?
Scott: Well, we didn’t necessarily all come out together. There are a lot of players from Oklahoma that come out here
and we all play together all the time. They’re not all from Oklahoma, but a lot of them are. We’re all good friends and I
would come out to support them if they were at a final table, too.
Question: What’s your next goal?
Scott: I’ll probably play some cash games then I will probably play the $10K PLO.
Question: Do you think making the final table last year helped you in your experience this year?
Scott: Yeah I think it did. Last year, I was pretty comfortable at the final table. Except I was probably playing a little too
high variance and it caused me to bust out early. I still played aggressively this year, but toned down the variance a little
bit.
ODDS AND ENDS
This was classified as WSOP schedule Event #26, since it’s the 26th gold bracelet of 61 to be awarded this summer in Las
Vegas. The tournament was played over three consecutive days and nights, starting on Tuesday at 5 p.m. and
concluding on a late Tuesday night.
The final table began at 5 p.m. and ended at 12:30 a.m. The total duration was 7.5 hours – minus a one-hour dinner
break.
The final table included just one former gold bracelet winner – Dutch Boyd (2 wins).
Another notable casher was former gold bracelet winner Robert Williamson III – who finished 11th. Williamson enjoyed a
huge run of success in PLO events between 1999 and 2004, with six cashes and one WSOP victory. He now has 11
cashes in PLO events, which is among the all-time leaders in this form of poker.
Erik Seidel cashed in 18th place. The eight-time gold bracelet winner and member of the Poker Hall of Fame now has 69
career cashes, which ranks third all-time.
The official WSOP gold bracelet ceremony takes place on the day following the winner’s victory (or some hours later when
the tournament end very late). The ceremony takes place inside Brasilia. The ceremony begins at the conclusion of the
first break of the noon tournament. The ceremony usually starts around 2:20 p.m. The national anthem of the winner’s
nation is played. The entire presentation is open to public and media. Video and photography is permitted by both public
and members of the media.
2012 WSOP STATISTICS
Through the conclusion of Event #26, the nationality of gold bracelet winners has been:
United States (20): Chip Saechao, Brent Hanks, Leif Force, Cory Zeidman, Andy Bloch, Herbert Tapscott, John
Monnette, Brian HastingsBrandon SchaeferAdam Friedman, Matt Matros, Andy Frankenberger, Phil
Hellmuth, Cliff Goldkind, Ben Scholl, Randy Ohel, Joe Cassidy, Brian Meinders, Gabe Scott
Canada (2): Ashkan Razavi, Simon Charette
France (1): Aubin Cazals
Bulgaria (1): Nick Jivkov
The Netherlands (1): Vincent van der Fluit
Belgium (1): Michael Gathy
Through the conclusion of this tournament, the national origin (birthplace) of winners has been:
United States (19): Brent Hanks, Leif Force, Cory Zeidman, Andy Bloch, Herbert Tapscott, John Monnette, Brian
Hastings, David “Doc” Arsht, Brandon SchaeferAdam Friedman, Matt Matros, Andy Frankenberger, Phil Hellmuth, Cliff
Goldkind, Ben Scholl, Randy Ohel, Joe Cassidy, Brian Meinders, Gabe Scott
Thailand (1): Chip Saechao
Bulgaria (1): Nick Jivkov
France (1): Aubin Cazals
Iran (1): Ashkan Razavi
The Netherlands (1): Vincent van der Fluit
Belgium (1): Michael Gathy
Canada (1): Simon Charette
Through the conclusion of this event, the home state of (American) winners has been:
Nevada (4): Brent Hanks, Andy Bloch, Randy Ohel, Joe Cassidy
California (3): Chip Saechao, John Monnette, Phil Hellmuth
Pennsylvania (3): Brian Hastings, David “Doc” Arsht, Ben Scholl
Florida (2): Leif Force, Cory Zeidman
New York (2): Matt Matros, Andy Frankenberger
Illinois (1): Nick Jivkov
Alabama (1): Herbert Tapscott
Ohio (1): Adam Friedman
Washington (1): Brandon Schaefer
Maryland (1): Cliff Goldkind
New Jersey (1): Brian Meinders
Oklahoma (1): Gabe Scott
Through the conclusion of this tournament, the breakdown of professional poker players to semi-pros and amateurs who
won gold bracelets is as follows:
Professional Players (18): Brent Hanks, Leif Force, Andy Bloch, Aubin CazalsAshkan Razavi, Vincent
van der Fluit, Brian HastingsBrandon SchaeferAdam Friedman, Matt Matros, Andy Frankenberger, Phil Hellmuth,
Randy Ohel, Michael GathySimon CharetteJoe Cassidy, Gabe Scott
Semi-Pros (3): Cory Zeidman, Nick JivkovBrian Meinders
Amateurs (5): Chip Saechao, Herbert Tapscott, David “Doc” Arsht, Cliff Goldkind, Ben Scholl
The streak of consecutive male gold bracelet winners (or put another way – no female winner) is currently at 245
consecutive events, and counting. Aside from the annual Ladies Poker Championship (a non-open event), the last female
to win an open WSOP event was Vanessa Selbst, back in 2008.
Note: Various categories and statistics will be updated with each gold bracelet event as they are completed.
-- by Nolan Dalla