Without warning and just two days before the main event, Neil changed his mind about backing Scotty Nguyen for the championship. And just as suddenly, he stopped returning phone calls from all of his players. None of us could reach him. It could have been his bankroll or nearly anything else, I really don't know. Neil never spoke to any of his players about his personal finances.
Scotty was counting on Neil to stake him in the main event. And unfortunately, Scotty had lost almost everything he had won in tournaments playing $50/100$ Pot Limit Omaha cash games. It made sense for Neil not to back me for the $10,000 to enter the main event, but Scotty had won $35,000 for him and he was clearly playing well. Scotty was a great horse to back in the main event, but Neil was nowhere to be found.
Then something strange happened: I had a dream.
I've never had a dream as vivid and real. I was sitting in the front row of the bleachers at Binion's and Scotty Nguyen was standing in front of the poker table with
Jack Binion. Jack was putting the championship bracelet on Scotty's wrist. The dream was so powerful that I woke up in the middle of the night and just sat there, stunned.
The next day at Binion's, I couldn't stop thinking about the dream. It was the day before the main event and I knew that Scotty hadn't registered for the tournament yet.
But to me, it was like it had already happened: I had seen him the WSOP Championship. In reality, Scotty and all of us were still trying to contact Neil, but he hadn't returned any
calls.
Finally, I took scotty aside.
"Screw it, Scotty. I got some money and I had this dream you were going to win the WSOP. I want to put you in satellites to try and win you into this tournament"
<<Thats right baby. You know the dream. I can win it, baby. I just gotta get in".
I put up 1000$ for Scotty in a single table satellite that paid one winner for one seat in the ME. He lost. Did I mention it was a really powerful dream? So I put Scotty into
another 1000$ SNG Sat and he lost again. This was going to be a long day for Scotty, but what the hell: I had this dream. I put him into two super satellites with rebuys and he never got
close. But he was Scotty and nothing fazed him.
"Just one more baby, I can do it. Just one more, Mikey."
<<Scotty, I'm already in for 10% of my bankroll. I have no backer and I am out of a job now. If I go broke, I don't know what I am going to do. So I guess my dream is wrong, I can't put you in any more
satellites".
"Come on, Mikey. One more, one more. I tell you I am going to win this one"
<<Scotty, I'm already in for almost 5000$, my bankroll can't take anymore>>
"Just one more baby. First place is a million dollars!"
I gave in.
<<Okay, Scotty. I'll put up 500$, but you gotta find two other guys to put up 250$ each".
...
So Scotty had his 1000$ for the final satellite before the main event.
On the very fist hand, Scotty was dealt two aces, another player got two kings and a third player had two queens. Scotty tripled up and cruised to victory to play the ME.
We agreed that Scotty would get one-third, I would get one-third, and Jesse and the mystery player would receive one-sixth each of whatever Scotty won in the main event.
On the first day of the tournament, I went to see my mom becahse she was worried about me.
"What are you going to do?" she asked. "Neil's not staking you. You're low on money."
<<There's nothing to worry about>> I assured here. <<Scotty's gonna win the World Series.>>
I kept repeating it so that she would stop worrying, but it just made her worry more.
"Listen to me" she begged. "You've got to stop living this pipe dream that Scotty's going to win the title. You sound crazy".
<<But Mom, I had this dream. It was so clear>>, I kept saying.
...
When it got to the last nine players, my mom even came down to watch the final table with me. Don't get me wrong, she still thought I was crazy.
...
I really didn't know that Scotty was going to win, yet I did. What a strange feeling. Of course, it was a feeling that came with $333,333, my share. I was almost in tears.
And yeah, I was pretty ecstatic. You can see me in all the press photos and the videotape smiling and jumping around.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgUsn-HM7HI]YouTube - View on Poker - Scotty Nguyen wins the 1998 WSOP Main Event![/ame]
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