Scott and his friends celebrate the victory

Scott Clements of Mount Vernon, Wash., won the $3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split event. On his way to winning his first WSOP bracelet and $301,175, this aggressive Hi-Lo specialist defeated world class players like Phil Hellmuth and Thor Hansen. Now Scott Clements is one of them.

How do you feel after winning a bracelet?

I feel great, you know, first bracelet. Hopefully it's the first of many.

What can you say about how the final table went down?

It went just as planned. I hit a few hands early and was able to build on my chip lead so I just tried to keep pushing, pushing and be the most aggressive player at the table, and that was working out for me.

You were in command of the final table from the start?

Yes, definitely. I hit one huge pot that was a pretty lucky river. I hit an ace on the river to make aces full against someone who had a lower full house already.

Do you normally play an aggressive game?

I usually play pretty tight early, but if I have a big stack, I try to push a little bit in order to grow, grow, grow. I try to build that big stack so that I can be the one who can dominate the table.

You had a very big lead when it came down to heads-up.

Yes, definitely. I ended up taking a couple of pretty big hands off Thor [Hansen, the runner-up] just before we got to heads-up, and was able to hit a few hands heads-up as well. The flops just came my way and it was over pretty quickly.

Can you tell us about your background as a poker player?

I've been playing professionally this year and last year, and I played a little bit before then. I used to play online before it became illegal in Washington, then I stopped.

Have you played in many WSOP events before this one?

I think this was my seventh or eighth event, I cashed in the other $2,000 Hi-Lo Omaha, and then I was 0-4 in the No-Limit Hold'ems and I didn't cash in the $5,000 Hi-Lo Omaha. No-Limit Hold'em and Hi-Lo Omaha are the games that I play.

What makes you a good Omaha player?

Practice, I guess. The Hi-Lo part is definitely my specialty, I never play straight high. I play the right hands, and try to be aggressive and sense weakness and try to just feed on that. If I've got a freeroll, I try to get all the money in, and if I don't, I try to keep it as cheap as possible.

What about the rest of the World Series?

I'm going to play a couple of more events. I'm going to try Hi-Lo Stud which is a game I've hardly ever played. It's not my specialty at all, but it's a small event and I want to give it a shot. And then I will obviously play the Main Event.

[laughs] I hope to last as long as possible. I hope to be the last man standing, but with an 8,000 person field it's going to be a pretty tough minefield.

How are you going to celebrate tonight?

Oh, I don't know. I might just go home and get some rest. It's been a long day, and I'll play tomorrow so, nothing big.

Thank you. Congratulations.

Thank you very much.