Just Curious … What’s Oklahoma Think of Scotty Nguyen These Days?
A couple hot poker topics this week have been, of course, WinStar, and Scotty Nguyen’s less than stellar behavior and etiquette in the $50k WSOP HORSE event, as seen on ESPN. Pauly (who actually watched this final table live) assures me a lot of this persona came in the editing — yeah, he was drunk and rude for awhile, but then he sobered up and played like a winner — and indeed, I remember thinking similarly as the day progressed … was rooting for Nguyen … definitely didn’t want a newbie like Michael DeMichele to win $50k Friggin’ HORSE! But after watching the episode(s) this week, I gotta say … was totally rooting for DeMichele, even though I knew he probably didn’t stand a chance.
Anyhow, point being … just wondering if a (bad) performance like Scotty’s could jeopardize his relationship with the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa, where he has hosted the biggest events in North-North Texas prior to the current River tourney at WinStar. “I am like a god in Oklahoma,” he has said. “They have my picture on billboard.”
Not saying one incident will — but wondering if it might. Because after all, there was a reason they chose him back in the day … because everyone loves Scotty Nguyen, baby! But now that’s clearly not the case.
Tom Kennis says:
August 21st, 2008 at 1:26pm
I was shocked by his behavior. I also did’nt understand was has was not put on the rail for cussing. Guess different rules for TV Pro’s
Ed says:
August 21st, 2008 at 1:33pm
I thought the rule this year was you can bitch..cuss…moan…groan all you want as long as you are not directing the insults at a player/dealer.
(Oh and it is Scotty “Fucking” Nguyen.)
California Jen says:
August 21st, 2008 at 1:39pm
There are different rules for notable pros. Tournament staff remembered what happened when they tried to give Hellmuth a penalty at this year’s WSOP… He appealed it, and they took away the penalty. Yeah, definitely a double standard.
Lane Phan says:
August 21st, 2008 at 2:33pm
Scotty Nguyen is a PUNK!!!!
luckydogruss says:
August 21st, 2008 at 4:36pm
Aside from the embarrassingly foul mouth and the chicken-crap tournament officials, what also bothered me was his “gift” laydown with the best hand against Lindgren, who was shocked at SN’s fold. That’s definitely not good for the game or Nguyen’s reputation. Can’t imagine what DeMichele thought about that!
As I noted at http://luckydogpoker.com/, the only good news was that he put down the beer bottle to hoist the Chip Reese Trophy and didn’t drop the damned thing!
Poker Shrink says:
August 21st, 2008 at 5:33pm
Let us not lose in the vituperations heaped upon Scotty, what Dr. Pauly and I both have said and blogged. What you all saw was what ESPN wanted you to see. That final table was over 15 hours.
Now, for my part, that is not a criticism of ESPN, I think they should make good entertaining television based on some comprehensible back story, otherwise we just get more WPT formula “a Queen and only a Queen” boring crap. It was good TV; some of the best WSOP/ESPN has produced but it was not exactly what happened at that final table over the course of fifteen hours.
That being said, I really like the final Lindgren line: “Some nights you can’t even beat the drunk.”
Poker Shrink says:
August 21st, 2008 at 5:37pm
Isn’t it time for a Scotty Nguyen/H.O.R.S.E. poll?
a) a drunk is a drunk
b) h.o.r.s.e. or horse’s ass?
c) he does it to tilt other players
d) Lindgren is a class act
e) ESPN sucks
f) great poker, screw the PC crap
g) All You Can Drink Baby!
DanM says:
August 21st, 2008 at 11:00pm
Yeah, I hear what you’re sayin’ … but you know, everyone knows when they sign up for the WSOP, they are basically signing up for a reality show. In fact, that’s the hope, that you make the cut. And reality TV has been around to know that the edit can really carve out a single component of a person and make that their character, or caricature.
So Scotty Nguyen did great when he was making cameo appearances. But now he got his own show and blew it. That begs the question of whether or not $2 million is enough to say, oh well, still a net gain for me. But if his behavior make him more of an Amarillo Slim, this win was plausibly a net loss!
Marvin C says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:24am
My first thought was that it was a travesty and Scotty did a disservice to poker as a whole. Then I saw how Scotty’s level of intoxination changed disproportionately to the time frame of ESPN’s show. I relaized it was like the previews to a movie, they show all of the action. As someone said, it was 15 hours. These were probably all of the bad acts.
The bottom line is that no one will remember the bad acts but only that Scotty won Horse and the “Big One,” not how or when he won them. The only people that will remember, and probably for a short time, are the 1,000,000 or so viewers.
Ed says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:57am
Saw the first hour finally last night. Yeah they show him acting drunk but the way I see it…if you are going to act like an ass when drunk knowing you are being taped for TV then you deserve any flak you get when it airs.
The best part is how he bitches at the young punk and then acts like a douche himself later on.
Ed says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:29pm
Update!! Watched the 2nd hour during lunch. I don’t care what some may say that were there watching the entire final table…Scotty was a drunk ass. When I see Eric getting annoyed with him you know it is bad. Then Chad comments about 45 min in with the same thing. Oh and when Eric is out and says “I hope the kid wins” tells you right there what he was thinking.
Jason B says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:25pm
Not to give Scotty props for winning the $50K HORSE tourney, but he is absolutely correct about “Oklahoma loves him” … I was driving through Tulsa with my 60 year old mother-in-law driving back to Dallas, and along I-40 is a billboard with Scotty’s face on it advertising Cherokee Casino has “WSOP Tourneys daily” at which my mother-in-law stated, “The Cherokees sure are happy. They have a mexican hippy as avertising on the billboard for them.” At which I said that was Scotty Nguyen, he’s actually Asian. She paused said, “Oh is that the drunk guy who made a ass out of himself in the $50K HORSE event that wears endorsement patches like a nascar driver that has a tournament in Oklahoma? Seriously, Oklahoma?”
mark e says:
August 24th, 2008 at 9:08pm
even though i usually don’t defend drunks, i do think that scotty, who has had a very very bad run on final tables (both wsop and wpt) maybe decided that he needed more of a “game-face” to help him get over the hump.
he was basically playing for the super bowl of poker…i would bet if we miked players of the real super bowl, we would hear 100x f-bombs.
Kevin Mathers says:
September 20th, 2008 at 5:32am
Update: Looks like Cherokee still likes Scotty as they’ve announced the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge V, Oct. 30 – Nov. 9:
http://www.pokerpages.com/tournament/schedule3433.htm for the list of tournaments.
patrick says:
January 7th, 2009 at 8:51am
It seems to me that everyone has forgotten why Scotty was mad in the first place. You have these young punks who disrespect others when they win a hand. Just like Michael was doing. These young players need their butts kicked a few times. I think Scotty did a great job by letting Michael know that he didn’t like all his bs. As far as i am concerned Scotty is still the Prince of Poker.
Kevin Mathers says:
January 7th, 2009 at 10:21am
So you consider a bow to be more offensive than acting belligerent and abusive to casino employees and tournament staff? I’d understand this point if he was acting like Hevad Khan in 2007 or Mattias Andersoon in 2004.