Tournament Trail Q and A -- Stewart Scott

At the beginning of the 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championship $10,500 no-limit hold’em main event Joe Hachem issued a challenge. The challenge went out to all of his fellow Aussies in attendance for one of them to win the tournament, seeing as no Australian had ever accomplished the feat. One player in the room took this to heart. Stewart Scott took the chip lead into the final table of the main event and he never looked back. Throughout the final table he held the chip lead, and not one player stopped has clinching of the crown. This was the first major win for Scott, who now holds $2,000,000 AUD in career winnings. He also holds 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, good for fourth in the current standings. His win came the weekend of Australia Day no less, the official national day of Australia. Card Player caught up with Scott after the historic win and he was all smiles as he talked about the experience and the swell of national pride he felt.

Ryan Lucchesi: You held the chip lead wire-to-wire at the final table. How did you stave everyone else off?

Stewart Scott: Well I never really got into any big pots without a hand, so I just pretty much stayed out of trouble and tried to play small-ball poker. I kept my dominant stack, which at that stage is pretty tough. It got close once when we were four handed…but it’s good to stay in the lead the whole time, it’s definitely a psychological advantage to be the chip leader. Plus I ran well, I mean I got good cards and I managed to take it down.

RL: Things really slowed down during three-handed and four-handed play at this final table. How did you stay patient?

SS: I don’t know man, I wanted to go home. I had [Peter] Rho on my left and he was all over me like a rash. Four handed was really tough, it was the first time I really lost my confidence. When we took the break I went on a walk that perked me up a bit, and I came back in and calmed down. There was three-four hours where I didn’t want to be here.

RL: You’re the first Australian player to win the Aussie Millions and the timing couldn’t be any better since it is the weekend of Australia Day. How does it feel to win it as an Australian?

SS: I’m the first Aussie to win the Aussie Millions so I’m really glad to take it down, it’s fantastic.

RL: How did it feel to win this in front of the crowd that showed up to support you? You had a larger group of supporters than the rest of the final table combined.

SS: I’ve had people fly in from all over Australia today. People I haven’t seen for a couple of years flew in to surprise me and I have my wife here so it doesn’t get any better than this. I’m going to do whatever these guys want to do to celebrate.

RL: I heard that your friends went downstairs to the Versace store and bought you a brand-new suit during one of the breaks. How refreshed and ready to play did you feel walking back up to the poker table in a fresh, new suit?

SS: Oh! Fantastic, you walk in with a Versace suit on and you just feel good. You feel dressed for success.

RL: You walked in looking like a million bucks and walked away with two million.

SS: Yeah, now I can afford the suit (laughs).

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