Full Tilt's Scott Montgomery -- WSOP Main Event InterviewScott Montgomery Talks about his Hopes and Anxieties Ahead of the Biggest Poker Game in the World |
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After picking up the game of poker while teaching in Japan, Scott Montgomery soon found that he could earn more money at the tables than in front of the blackboard. Moving back to Vegas to compete in low-stakes cash games, Montgomery quickly improved to the point that as this year rolled around he was a potential star in the making.
Even before the WSOP Main Event solidified his rising status, 2008 had been a sensational year for Montgomery. The Canadian burst onto the scene at the L.A. Poker Classic in February, finishing 5th for $296,000 after facing off with the eventual winner Phil Ivey. This was one of the first $10,000 buy-in events that Montgomery had played and the win gave him the impetus to play on the tournament circuit full-time, continuing to post good, consistent results.
Like everything else he has touched this year, the WSOP started very well for Montgomery also, with cashes in three No-Limit Hold'em events, including the prestigious $10,000 Heads-Up World Championship event, for $73,000 total. Coming into the Main Event then, he was full of confidence and with hopes that he could win the entire thing. Remarkably, that dream is still very much alive as he sits in third position with 19.7 million in chips. Scott opened up to Cardplayer about his run in the Main Event up to this point and why he feels that anything other than taking home the $9m for first place would leave him considering suicide!
CP: Can you tell us a little about your career in poker before this WSOP?
SM: I guess originally I got into playing poker like most people by just watching it on TV. I got into playing online about four or five years ago when I was living in Japan and had a lot of free time. I played for a couple of years and made enough money to decide that when I had finished my work as a teacher in Japan I would move to Vegas and try out the poker scene.
I knew I wasn't going to be a great player right away but after I moved to Vegas I just played $1/$2 cash games for months to experience what the live game was like as opposed to the online game. That was two years ago and this year is the first I have been travelling around and playing the poker circuit properly.
CP: Do you feel that your big final table in the WPT LA Poker Classic gives you an edge over some of the other November Niners who haven't been in that sort of pressure environment before?
SM: Experience is definitely one of the most important things in poker. And if you haven't experienced pressure before then it can definitely be very hard to deal with so yes in that regard.
CP: Now that you've had a few months to think about it, what are your feelings towards the final table?
SM: I'm both a little bit excited and a little nervous. You're always nervous in a big tournament when you go deep. When I'm between days in a big tournament I can never sleep due to it but as soon as you sit at the table it all goes away.
CP: How have you found the break?
SM: Dreadful! I would have been a lot happier if we could have just played the next day. Now I've had three whole months to worry about how it's going to go.
CP: Have you treated the tournament circuit since as 'training' for the November final table?
SM: I've just kept on playing in the tournaments and tried not to think about it too much. I'm happy just keeping playing poker.
CP: How would you classify your style as a poker player?
SM: I would say extremely aggressive is how I usually play.
CP: Why do think 2008 has been such a breakthrough year for you?
SM: Really, it's just the first year I've started playing tournaments. At the beginning of the year I had some success online and decided that I was going to play some satellites to get into major events and the first one of those got me in the LA Poker Classic. That was the first major tournament I played and I ended up coming 5th. That gave me the bankroll for all of the tournaments I wanted to play such as all the events in the WSOP.
CP: Even before the Main Event, you had a series of good cashes in the WSOP this year.
SM: It started really great. I went really deep in the $1,500 event with 4,000 people before I ended getting it all-in against Theo Tran with A-A against his 10-9 of hearts. Of course, he flopped a flush and knocked me out there! I ended 30th which wasn't a lot of money but it was a great confidence boost to get so deep in such a big field.
And then the second tourney I played and the same thing happened against Theo Tran again, it was so crazy! He was the chipeader and I was second or third. I flopped quads but he made a runner-runner straight flush to knock me out!
CP: Can you talk us through your Main Event?
SM: It was a struggle the whole way really. In most tournaments either I bust out early or I build a huge stack but in this tournament I couldn't do that. I had a really good first day and ended with about 100,000. But after that, every day was such a struggle. I would stay even for the whole day and then get one big double-up right as we were finishing. That was the pattern.
CP: Were you confident you could make it deep even when you were struggling?
I'm always insanely confident. I remember the first day I was talking about what the final table would be like when I got there! I mean, I know what the odds are and I'm not stupid or anything but you've gotta think that you are going to win or why would you bother playing in these tournaments?
CP: Are you impressed with the other players left on the final table?
SM: Even though they might not be huge names, to have made it this far, everybody is obviously pretty good. Even going into the final day with 27 you could see some people who you realised didn't stand much of a chance. But at this final table everybody is pretty good.
CP: What are your thoughts on strategy for the table?
SM: Well, this is a really weird tournament in that nobody has more than twice the average in chips and only one person has less than half the average in chips meaning that most of the table has a similar amount of chips. Everybody is so deep so there is a ton of play left.
If you see people that are intent on just moving up the pay ladder then you have to recognise that and adjust. With the three month break, you have no idea if people's playing styles have changed drastically from what they were. I'm just going to sit down and see exactly how people are playing on that one day and work out a style to win.
CP: Is there anyone at the final table that you have been particularly impressed with?
SM: I try not to compliment my opponents because if you say they have respect for somebody they would know that I was trying to avoid them and maybe bully them.
CP: Obviously it would be great to win the tournament but how important is moving up the ladder with the huge jumps in prize money that accompany each step?
SM: It's two completely different things. I'm thinking 'my God, if I can move up three or four spots, that's an insane amount of money' but also, like I told my family, if I end up finishing in second place I'm going to feel like going home and shooting myself! Anything other than first – this would be the only chance in my life I will have to win something like this and become instantly famous. It's first or nothing.
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