PokerListings.com was in Las Vegas this past summer when Scott Clements won his World Series of Poker bracelet in Omaha Hi-Lo and tonight he has added a No-Limit Hold'em title to his list of accomplishments. Taking down the first ever WPT Canadian Open, Scott came into the final table with a commanding chip lead and didn't relinquish it for a second. After the excitement had died down, Scott took a few minutes to sit down and give us an inside look at how it all went down.
Well Scott, congratulations on the win. We spoke a few days ago and you were confident about your chance in this event. Give us your feelings on the other players and your own play at this final table.
I was very happy with my play. I tried to stay aggressive the whole time, and I played quite a few hands. I won a big pot off Tony. I can't wait to see it on TV to know If I was good or not. I thought I was making a move, but I could have been doing it with the best hand. After that hand, I had a pretty strong lead on the whole table, so I wanted to keep pushing and pushing, and then I hit some big hands when other people had good hands also. I had a full house against Trinh, and I hit a Queen-10-10 flop when he had Ace-Queen, and I had King-10. I really just tried to fast-play my big hands because of how aggressive I had been the whole time.
Tony [O'Hagan] was the other big stack at the table, and he's definitely been around. Were you worried about him?
I was, definitely. Tony is a very scary player. He's very aggressive, and he's very hard to read. He's never afraid to put his chips in the pot. I played with him in Lake Tahoe in 2005, and I was lucky enough to win that tournament, but he's always a very scary opponent. I was just lucky enough to flop the nuts when he hit a pretty good hand as well when we started heads-up.
You won the WSOP bracelet in Omaha Hi-Lo, and now you've got one in Hold'em. You've said Omaha is your strongest game so how do feel about the prevalence of Hold'em these days?
I'll play Omaha Hi-Lo any time I can get a game, but you can never get a game. (Laughs) My main game is Hold'em now just because that's what they spread.
When are we going to see you playing next?
I'm going down to Vegas for the 5-Diamond at Bellagio. I think it's in December, but it'll just be for about five days. I'm not going to stay for the main event. Their preliminary events are getting pretty big, like $1,500 to $5,000, so I'll play a few tournaments down there. It's my fiancé's birthday or else I would play the main event. Plus I have a bunch of family, so Christmas is going to be pretty hectic.
On that note, fill us in on what's happening in your life right now away from the felt.
I've got a beautiful fiancé. I've got a beautiful family. The holidays are coming up, and I've got a lot of brothers and uncles and cousins and everything, so it's going to be pretty hectic. I'm going to take a break for that and come back and hit it hard next year.
What kind of reaction and support have you gotten from your family since you started playing poker seriously?
My family's been really supportive the whole time. My mom and dad were a little leery at first, but I had some pretty immediate success, and they know that I'm pretty tight with my money, and I wouldn't do anything to risk losing a bunch of it. They know that if I'm doing something seriously, it's going to be a profitable thing.
I know you're pretty much an exclusive tournament player; do you think you'll ever make the switch to cash games?
I still love the tournaments. I played cash games for a little while, but they're pretty stressful. When you get those big swings, it's just not something I want to deal with. I might be able to make good money, but if I'm miserable, it's just not worth it.
Thanks a lot Scott and I hope to see you again soon.
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For a player as young and relatively new to the game as Scott, it's all the more remarkable that he's been able to establish himself as such a successful player in the last few years. A World Series of Poker bracelet this summer, a WSOP Circuit title in Lake Tahoe in 2005 and now a World Poker Tour win is hopefully only the start of a long career in tournament poker. While at the table, Scott is so fanatically concentrated it's great to hear that he's able to balance that with a rich family life away from the felt.
