Do you remember where you were when Jack Nicklaus sank that putt to win the Masters when he was 46 years old?

Do you remember Michael Jordan hitting yet another shot in the NBA finals, and raising his palms up and shrugging with the "I'm not sure how I do it either?" gesture?

Do you remember the Buffalo Bills coming back from a 35-3 second half deficit in their 1993 playoff game against the Houston Oilers?

I remember each of those events like they were frozen in time, and I'm going to remember Scotty Nguyen's remarkable comeback in the finals of the 2001 World Series of Poker Pot-Limit Omaha Championship the same way. I've never seen a more remarkable finish to a poker tournament, never seen a champion perform more brilliantly, and if I go the rest of my poker tournament-watching life without ever seeing a more remarkable final table, I'll still have plenty of room for wonderful memories.

DON'T TELL THE BOSS, BUT I'D HAVE WORKED FOR FREE

This was one of those days when I'd gladly have "worked" for free, a day I felt honored and lucky to be present, and special thanks for these memories have to go to the man who finished such an honorable second, Jim "Cincinnati Kid" Lester.

Just as T.J. Cloutier's classy, gracious acceptance of his tough defeat on the final card in last year's World Championship event allowed everyone to bask in Chris Ferguson's moment of joy, Jim Lester's maturity and graciousness in defeat allowed everyone to enjoy this special moment for a much beloved champion.

I doubt my words will be able to do justice to the show that not merely these two champions, but the entire final table, gave us, but their mighty efforts demand that I try, so here we go. Things don't really start roaring until we get into the second hundred hands, but you don't watch a long movie like Titanic just for the big finish, so stay with me.

102 players started this $2,500 buy-in tournament, and there were 82 rebuys. When we started play at the final table, the seats and chip counts were:

Usually I draw a chart of the final tablists, with their names listed in position around my crude drawing of an oval table, so that I can quickly identify who's doing what, but I didn't need one for this finale. The only players whose faces were new to me were Perry and Katz, and even I can remember two names. Everyone else either had a long and distinguished poker resume, or had made a big splash at this year's WSOP.

We had eight minutes left at the $500-1,500 blind level, and nothing important happened during the four hands we got in before we moved up to $1,000-2,000 blinds, allowing an opening raiser to make it $7,000 (If you're not familiar with pot-limit, calling the $2,000 blind bets puts $5,000 in the pot, and then by betting the size of the pot, you get a $7,000 maximum).

JUST WHAT CAN YOU FIND IN A TRAMP'S VEST, ANYWAY?

Indeed, unless you count Danny Dang surviving an all-in pot when he'd started the hand with only $6,000 left, nothing particularly important happened during the first 21 hands of this tournament. The players were all taking an extremely conservative bet and fold approach as they jabbed, sparred, and tried to get a read on each other. Devilfish Ulliott came by to observe and after five minutes said "There's more life in a tramp's vest than there is at this table right now."

As you've already learned, they more than made up for the cautious start.

On hand 22, Lester held the button, and Gazes, a tall, thin, dark-haired star from Marina Del Ray, California, limped in for $2,000. Perry made it $9,000 to go one off the button, Lester folded, and Walker re-raised $22,000 more from the small blind.

Gazes, keeping in spirit with a table that had already been joking and making fake fun moves (not angle shots at all, just fun lies amongst players who knew and respected on another), grabbed his stack like he was going to shove it in and instead grabbed his cards with his other hand and mucked them, as everyone cracked up.

Perry called for the $18,500 he had left in front of him, and turned over K-K-3-3, while Walker turned over A-A-J-10. Perry flopped one set with J-9-3, turned a better one when a king hit, but no doubt didn't enjoy the improvement as it gave Walker outs not only to an ace but to a queen, but a harmless deuce hit the river, doubling up Perry and crippling Walker.

THREE-WAY ACTION PUMPS UP SCOTTY

Four hands later, Walker slid further by opening it for his $7,000, only to see both Nguyen, the 1998 World Champion, call from the small blind, and Gazes call from the big blind, our first significant three-way action. The flop came Kc-6h-8c, Scotty instantly moved in for his last $21,000, and Gazes moved in right after him for his last $24,500. Walker mucked, giving Gazes a $3,500 refund, and Gazes turned over his pocket kings for top set.

Scotty turned over Q-J-10-9, the ten-jack suited in clubs, giving him a flush draw and a gutshot for a straight. The 5c hit the turn, giving Scotty his flush, and when the board didn't pair on the river, Scotty Nguyen had more than doubled through.

"I know what he has there," said Gazes as the players discussed the hand afterwards. "I know he has big clubs and maybe some backup, but I'm getting great pot odds with $21,000 already in before the flop, I'm getting 2-1 on my money."

Gazes got some more great pot odds on the very next hand, when four other players limped in, and so Gazes completed his small blind bet, leaving only $1,500 in front of him as six players looked at the flop, which came down 7c-8h-9d. Everyone check to Perry, who bet the $12,000. Everyone folded, and Perry showed 10-J. We had three extremely short stacks now, with Gazes at $1,500, Dang at $3,000, and Walker at $1,000.

WE WERE HAVING SO MUCH FUN, NO ONE WANTED TO LEAVE

Gazes tripled to $4,500 two hands later when he tossed his last chips in and his aces made a full house for the main pot, and so it was Dang who left the tournament first, going out on hand 34 when he tossed his last $3,000 in from early position, getting called by Lester and both blinds, Katz and Nguyen.

The flop came A-K-9, Nguyen bet $9,000, and the other players folded. Dang realized the bet in an elimination situation meant a big hand for Scotty, and joked, "I flop a straight," (an obvious impossibility with that board) as Scotty turned over his set of nines. Dang showed us 6-7-8-9, and more than an hour after we'd begun, we finally lost our first player.

Gazes crept up to $7,500, and saw fellow tightrope walker Walker move from $1,000 to $5,000 and then on to $10,000. When someone was holding onto the edge of the cliff by his fingers in this tournament, you needed to stomp on him, or else they were going to haul themselves up and start doing battle again.

The risk in stomping on those fingers, of course, is that the cliffhanger might grab you by the ankles and hurl you into the abyss.

RULE NUMBER ONE: NEVER VOLUNTEER

On hand 43, Gazes sat in the big blind, and asked the table "Someone double me up, please, better yet, two of you triple me up. Chip leader Franklin said, "I volunteer, upon request of the big blind, I'll make it $7,000, and Nguyen, in the small blind, decided to help in the stomping process by also calling the $7,000.

Gazes pushed his entire stack of $7,500 in, and after some jokes about Franklin and Nguyen folding for the $500 raise, we saw a 4d-8s-10h flop. Captain Tom and Scotty both checked, the Jc hit the turn, Scotty bet out, Franklin folded, and they turned 'em over: A-Q-10-7 for Gazes, K-K-J-10, top two pair, for Scotty. A nine hit the river to give Gazes a straight, and suddenly, his pathetic $1,500 had become $22,500, just as we hit the break.

I approached Bill on the break and muttered some words of encouragement about this move, and he said, "They're already in trouble. There's no players here except (he named some names, but I won't repeat them), and if any members of that group tangle with any members of the other, it's over."

SHORT CHIPS, BUT NOT CONFIDENCE

Pot-limit Omaha players who have confidence in their abilities don't despair when they get short.

With Billy's take on who he thought could play and who couldn't firmly in my grasp, I estimated the chips at

Perry, $60,000
Lester, $75,000
Walker, $9,000
Franklin, $135,000
Sarkeshik, $75,000
Katz, $25,000
Nguyen, $65,000
Gazes, $22,500

When we returned, the blinds moved to $1,500-3,000, allowing an opening raiser to make it as much as $10,500 to go.

Nine hands into the new round, Walker brought the hand in for the maximum, and Perry, in the big blind, re-raised to put Walker all-in for his last $3,000. A-Q-Q-7 for Perry, the ace suited, K-9-8-7 for Walker, and the J-3-5-4-J board sent Walker out eighth at 6:15. It had taken an hour to eliminate our first player, and another hour to eliminate number two.

Captain Tom, the nickname earned from his days as a riverboat pilot, decided it was time to start using his stack to muscle the table a few hands later by raising three straight pots, and while he won the first hand with an uncontested raise, the next two cost him big time.

Katz flat called the $8,000 from the button on the first one, a bit odd as this left him with only $5,500 in his stack, but we got to look at a 4d-10h-6s flop, the Captain bet, Katz called, and we saw Katz's K-K-3-3 vs. Captain Tom's Q-J-10-8. A four hit the turn, pairing the board, a good thing for Katz, because the Captain made a second pair when an eight hit the river. Katz had doubled.

THE CAPTAIN GOES TO WARP SPEED

On the next hand, the Captain again raised it to $8,000, and Scotty called from the button. The flop came 10h-Ks-6d, the Captain checked, Scotty bet $10,000, and the Captain called. When the 6s hit the turn, the Captain declined to call Scotty's $15,000 wager, and he'd lost $31,500 on hands 58 and 59.

As they say on those late-night ESPN condensed games, "we move forward to later action," hand 86, and it appeared for a moment that Gazes was going to be 86'd from the tournament on it, because he opened for a raise, and Katz, who hadn't shown the inclination to do much bluffing, moved over the top of him, and Bill called his last $3,000 all-in. K-Q-Q-2 for Katz, K-K-J-6 for Gazes, and the A-A-9-9-K board doubled Bill "Cliffhanger" Gazes through.

We hit the second break after hand 92, the first time in this tournament we still had seven players left after two full 80-minute rounds had been completed at a final table, and the chip counts were roughly

Perry, $66,500
Lester, $84,000
Franklin, $125,000
Sarkeshik, $44,000
Katz, $14,000
Nguyen, $108,000
Gazes, $25,000

With the blinds now $2,000-4,000, an initial raiser could make it $14,000 to go.

AND THE OCEAN GOT A LITTLE WET

The first seven hands after the break were uneventful, and then the pace started to pick up a bit on hand 100, a phrase roughly analogous to, "and then the desert began to heat up a bit when the atomic bomb went off."

We had two tournaments today. The first one, hands 1-99, was tactical, cautious, full of humor and good spirit, and interesting, but hardly exciting. The second one, hands 100 through 183, was breathtakingly exciting and entertaining, and I wish the whole poker world could have watched. No, I take that back. I wish the good people in the poker world (the majority, by far) could have watched, because this was far too wonderful a treat for the bad ones.

On hand 100, Gazes raised it to $14,000 from the button, and Perry came over the top, shutting everyone else out. Gazes called for his last $4,000, and turned over Q-Q-3-7. Perry showed us A-K-Q-7.

DON'T BOTHER DEALING THE REST OF 'EM

The flop came 6-4-5, Gazes looked at the board for half a second, and matter-of-factly said, "Oh, I flopped a straight, the hand is over." The dealer looked a little surprised, like, "What do you mean, son, there are two cards left to be dealt?" but Gazes, who could hardly have even noticed his 3-7 when putting his money in, had instantly grasped that Perry had no outs, and when the formalities were concluded, he collected his $42,000.

Two hands later, Katz limped in for $4,000, half of his remaining stack. Captain Tom made it $8,000 to go from the small blind, clearly looking to eliminate a player, and Sarkeshik called from the big blind, with Katz along for the ride. The flop came 8c-4c-5d, the Captain checked, and almost fell off his chair when Sarkeshik bet the full $24,000 pot.

"Well, I know what you have," said Franklin, assuming that his able foe wouldn't bet in the "eliminate a player" situation without the stone cold nuts (6-7), but stared at the board for a long time before deciding to fold what I assumed had to be some kind of monster hand, like a set with re-draws to the nut flush.

I was close. Franklin showed he was folding Ac-Kc-K?-?, and then really almost fell off his chair when Sarkeshik turned over Q-8-4-3, top and bottom pair only. Katz showed Q-J-8-5, top two pair, but a four hit the turn, giving Sarkeshik a full house and sending Katz out in seventh place.

WAS HE A STEAMBOAT PILOT?

Steam was coming out of Franklin's ears. "How can you bet there?" he asked Sarkeshik.

"I can't give a free card there," Sarkeshik replied. "If I know he has 8-5, I'm not going to bet it at all, but I have to protect my hand in case you have some kind of draw." I've seen this argument before (not between these two players). Some folks feel ladder moves are all-important, and others focus on accumulating the most chips they can to win the tournament.

On hand 106, Nguyen made it $11,000 to go from one off the button, and Gazes moved all-in on him from the button. Scotty called pretty quickly, and Gazes found out Scotty wasn't on a positional steal. Ah-As-Js-2h for Scotty, Kc-Kd-Qd-10d for Gazes. The board came 5s-10c-Ac-8s-9, and Gazes, who had parlayed his lowly $1,500 into a real chance to win the tournament, was gone, and in the process of finding a big hand at the wrong time, had given lots of ammunition to a former World Champion who had a dozen major Omaha titles on his resume.

That Champion raised the very next hand, and got no callers. I guessed there was about $140,000 in his stack, and it looked like Scotty was about to beam everyone else off the floor.

I hadn't seen nuthin' yet.

YAWN, I CAN THROW AWAY POCKET KINGS

On hand 112, Scotty made it $14,000 under the gun, and Perry, his hands trembling the same way they had when he'd moved over Gazes on hand 100 and showed A-Q-Q-7, re-raised all-in for $30,000 more. Scotty took a look at the size of the pot, saw he'd be getting odds of $64,000 for his $30,000 call, showed some spectators two dry (unsuited and unconnected) kings, and folded, content to keep a stack of $130,000 and to wait for a moment when he wouldn't have to guess whether he was facing aces, kings, or queens.

Perry raised the very next hand under the gun, and Lester popped him back for $34,000 more. Perry moved all-in, and Lester called. As-Ah-4s-4h for Perry, As-Ac-Qs-9h for Lester. The starting hands had really cranked up since the break.

The flop came 6c-5s-Jh, giving each player and his suited aces a backdoor flush draw, and when the 9s hit the turn, Lester yelled, "Gimme the spade, baby!" and baby complied, the 2s hitting the river, sending Perry out of the tournament and sending the Cincinnati Kid into the chip lead. Seven players had survived for four hours, and now we'd eliminated three in 13 hands.

YAWN, I CAN THROW AWAY POCKET ACES

Four hands later, Scotty made it $14,000 to go under the gun, and Sarkeshik called from the big blind. The flop came 10d-8d-3s, Sarkeshik instantly moved in, and Scotty, without much in the way of hesitation, showed he was folding A-A-Q-Q. Sarkeshik showed his 6-7-8-9 suited in both hearts and diamonds, a monstrous drawing hand, with any diamond, jack, nine, eight, seven or six able to send him into the lead, making him a big favorite with two cards to come. Scotty had probably dodged another bullet.

Three hands later, Scotty made it $12,000 to go, and Franklin called from the big blind. Both players checked the 5h-9d-Ks flop, the 2d hit the turn, Franklin checked, Scotty bet $15,000, Franklin shoved $45,000 in, and Scotty instantly pushed his remaining $91,000 in, a re-raise of $61,000.

Franklin leaned back in his chair, and sighed. "Ah, Scotty… I've even got diamonds for back-up." Franklin thought for a little while, and decided to dump the hand.

Scotty Nguyen turned over Ac-Qd-5d-10c. Although he had a gutshot straight draw and a non-nut flush draw, he'd pushed Franklin out of the huge pot with a pair of fives and a perfect read.

The chip count now stood at roughly

Nguyen, $180,000
Lester, $155,000
Franklin, $70,000
Sarkeshik, $60,000

In case you haven't noticed, these figures add up to $465,000, even though there should have been only $460,000 in play. Chip ups during race-offs and a few blinded off starting stacks accounted for the difference.

WHO NEEDS TO LOOK AT THE CARDS?

Lester hurt Franklin on hand 133, when the Captain made it $10,000 to go under the gun, and Lester raised $22,000 more from the big blind, with the Captain calling. The flop came 9d-3c-9s, both players checked, and Scotty and Sarkeshik, who had wandered away from the table and were standing next to me, whispered to each other about the play.

"Jim's going to bet the turn and win there," Scotty whispered.

The 6h hit the turn, Lester bet out for $40,000, and Franklin folded. Gee, do you think Scotty had a line on how the other guys were playing their chips?

Scotty used that line on the next hand, when Sarkeshik limped in, Scotty raised $14,000 more, and Sarkeshik called. The flop came 10-7-J, Sarkeshik moved in instantly, Scotty showed his two aces and folded, and Sarkeshik showed his set of tens. We were playing shorthanded poker, and Scotty Nguyen had casually and correctly tossed pocket aces away twice in the span of 18 hands.

We hit the next break at 9:00, with the chips now

Nguyen, $150,000
Lester, $206,000
Franklin, $28,000
Sarkeshik, $81,000

We came back on hand 137, with the blinds now $3,000-6,000, allowing the raiser to bring it in for as much as $21,000.

Four hands later, the Captain limped in for $6,000, and Sarkeshik raised $21,000 more. The Captain considered, because a call would leave him with only $8,000 in front of him.

He called.

The flop came Ad-8d-10h, and the rest of the money went in. Kd-4d-Js-3c for Captain Tom Franklin, the nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw, and Ah-Jh-Kc-3d for Ali Sarkeshik, a pair of aces, the same gutshot straight draw, and backdoor hearts.

The board finished 3s-9s, and Captain Tom Franklin, who'd entered the final table with a big chip lead, was our fourth place finisher. At this point, Scotty, Ali and Jimmy decided they wanted to stretch their legs for five minutes, with the chip counts

Nguyen, $151,000
Lester, $199,000
Sarkeshik, $116,000

FOR WANT OF A NAIL, THE WAR…

Follow the next one, hand 141, very carefully, because one slip, perhaps two, changed this tournament in a way no one could ever have foreseen.

On the first hand after everyone returned, Scotty raised to $18,000 from the button, saying, "Let's gamble, boys," and Lester re-raised $24,000 more from the small blind, and Scotty called with an "Alright, baby." Each player had $42,000 in the pot, and with Sarkeshik's big blind in two, $90,000 was sitting out there.

The flop came 8h-2d-Jc, and both players checked.

The Ad hit the turn, Jim checked, and Scotty pushed his chips forward and said "I bet the pot," which was $90,000. Lester considered for a while, and in a moment that will forever remain in all the witnesses' memories, shrugged and said "Call" while pushing all of his chips (well over $90,000) forward. Someone suggested the players turn their cards over, but ever vigilant Assistant Tournament Director Tom Elias was right on top of things and said, "No, he said 'call,' $90,000 of it plays."

This left $90,000 in the middle of the table, because the dealer didn't pull the $90,000 each in from the two players' stacks, and the king of hearts hit the river.

Jim Lester checked.

Scotty Nguyen checked.

Jim Lester turned over Kd-Kc-Qd-3h, having made a set of kings on the end. Scotty flashed an ace, said he had two pair, and moments later told Sarkeshik it had been A-6-J-7 double-suited, which made the two pair claim even more credible.

"CALL" BECOMES A FOUR-LETTER WORD

Scotty Nguyen had $19,000 left over when he paid off the $90,000 he owed Lester. Had Lester simply pushed all his chips forward without saying anything, it would have been a raise, and Scotty would certainly have called the last $19,000 without batting an eyelash, with $289,000 to be claimed. Had Lester just said "raise," the same thing would have occurred.

It's also quite possible that if Lester had thought to bet on the river, Scotty would have had to call with A-J in his hand, even though he said, "God, I knew you had two kings!" when the king hit the river.

If this, if that. It didn't look like it was going to matter. Scotty Nguyen had $19,000 left, Jim Lester's chips were denting the table, and if anyone was going to have a chance to get Lester, it was probably going to be Sarkeshik. It's pretty hard to shake off a $270,000 river card, and even if you have the champion's heart that can do it, there's still the little matter of being outchipped 18-1.

YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE, BABY

"You know, baby, you had chance to break me, you didn't, you get in trouble," Scotty said.

Scotty won the next hand in a walk from the big blind, and the hand after that raising from the small blind. A few hands later, he limped in, bet and got called on the turn, and doubled his $26,000 into $52,000.

"Scotty's like a Die-Hard," he said. "You got to finish him."

On hand 157, Scotty raised it to $18,000 from the button, and Sarkeshik called from the big blind. The rest of the money went in on the 7h-4d-Kh flop, and Sarkeshik showed Qh-Qd-10h-Jc, with Scotty showing 10-6-J-8. "I misread my hand," Scotty said, presumably either fibbing or thinking his jack had been a king, but the 5d hit the turn, giving Scotty a gutshot straight, and about $100,000.

Sarkeshik had only $30,000 left, and Scotty took it on the next hand, when Sarkeshik raised from the small blind and Scott moved him in from the big blind. As-4s-7c-8c for Ali, A-10-J-Q for Scotty, and the board came 3-6-6-9-9, Scotty's A-Q playing over Ali's A-8.

We were heads-up, and Scotty had $130,000.

Lester chopped away at Scotty for a while, cutting his stack down to about $100,000, and he thought he'd won the title on hand 175, when Scotty, holding the small blind on the button (SBB), made it $18,000 to go, and Jim called. The flop came 4d-10s-2d, Jim bet $36,000, Scotty moved in, and Lester called. 3-5-5-8 for Lester, a pair and a straight draw, and As-3c-Jd-Qd for Scotty.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, BABY

A five hit the turn, giving Lester a set, and he yelled, "Give me the bracelet, baby!" but Scotty said, "Uh-uh, I got a wheel, baby," and a shocked Lester realized that the card he thought had given him a probably unbeatable lead had instead given his opponent a straight. The 7s changed nothing on the river, and Scotty had $200,000.

"Somebody gonna throw up, baby," said Scotty, a repeat of the same line he'd said when he had only $19,000.

Jim Lester wasn't going to throw up, and he wasn't going to quit playing. Four hands later, Scotty limped in from the SBB, the flop came 2s-Kc-7d, and both players checked. The 8h hit the turn, Jim checked, Scotty bet $12,000, and Jim called. The 10s hit the river, Jim bet out $36,000, and Scotty folded, showing two pair (twos and eights). The gamesmanship continued, with Scotty saying, "Come on, show me the bluff, it's good for the game."

OK, SCOTTY, YOU WANT ME TO DEPRESS YOU, I'LL OBLIGE

Lester, who had already tossed his cards towards the muck, complied, picking up A-3-3-10, not quite a bluff with a pair of tens, but the losing hand had Scotty called, and Scotty good-naturedly got the crowd laughing by saying with a smile, "You dirty rotten…" (I'm not eliminating any cuss words, he just trailed off with a smile.)

At hand 180, Scotty made a novel suggestion. "How about we agree, no raise before the flop, we just each put $6,000 in before the flop blind, try to trap each other after the flop?"

Lester agreed. They were going to look at flop every single hand. Scotty Nguyen was pulling out every trick in his Santa Claus-sized bag of tricks.

Santa's got quite a bag. Two hands later, Scotty suggested that instead of $6,000 each blind before the flop, they put $10,000 each in before the flop. Lester again agreed, and they looked at hand 182: Ad-2c-3s. Both players checked. The 4h hit the turn, Scotty checked, Lester bet $20,000, and Scotty called. The 4c hit the river, Scotty checked again, Lester bet $40,000, and Scotty called.

"Two pair," Lester announced, not showing his hand. Scotty turned over a king, an eight, a five… and a four. "Flopped a wheel, baby," Scotty said. He now trailed by only $20,000.

LET THIS BE YOUR FINAL BATTLE!

The next hand, the blind flop came Ad-3s-6d, and Jim bet out $20,000, with Scotty calling. The 3d hit the turn, and both players checked. The Ks hit the river, Jim bet out $60,000, Scotty raised all-in, and Jim called.

Scotty turned over As-3s-Kc-Js: he'd made threes full of kings. Jim showed the 9d-Jd for a big flush, and the two players rushed to shake hands on Scotty's victory. Applause thundered for about 30 seconds, as I stood there trying to decide if it was appropriate for a railbird like me to say I had a feeling that Scotty didn't have Jim covered.

Fortunately, Tom Elias figured out the same thing, and they counted the chips down. Jim had $8,000 left! They stuck to their "leave it in before the flop" agreement, and Scotty took his cards over to Jim's end of the table, without looking at them, so they could turn their hands over together.

A-J-J-9 for Jim Lester, and the crowd "ohhh-ed." Then Scotty turned over As-Ks-9-3. The flop came A-7-4, counterfeiting Lester's pocket pair and giving Scotty the better kicker, and finished 2-3, giving Scotty Nguyen his third World Series bracelet, and leaving the packed throng roaring. Scotty has been a terrific ambassador for poker, like Chris Ferguson, always willing to shake someone's hand and make his day, and this, combined with an irresistible personality, gives him a lot of fans.

JIM LESTER, STAND-UP GUY, AND THAT'S NO JOKE

I'd become a believer in Jim Lester's poker before this final table had gotten rolling. He'd already made two other final tables and won an event, and here he was, back again. Now I became a believer in Jim Lester, the stand-up guy. He didn't whine. He didn't slump in agony. He didn't hang his head about his mistake, or shake his head at the parlay Scotty still needed to pull off after it.

Jim Lester pumped Scotty Nguyen's hand enthusiastically, and said, "That was fun, I enjoyed, that, congratulations, you're a great champion."

Lester remained cool and calm even after the graceful meeting with Scotty. "I made two technical errors," he said. "I shouldn't have said 'call,' and I should have bet the hand on the end, but I was just too involved in the game to think of it. I made two mistakes, I'll live with them. This was still a lot of fun."

For Scotty Nguyen, the champion with whom everyone wanted to have his picture taken, this was a sweet victory.

"It feels great," he said. "You know, I have won so many Omaha events, but never a pot-limit Omaha. I put my heart and soul into poker every day, support my family with it, and you can't get higher than winning at the World Series."

IF YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS A COMEBACK…

Had he ever made, or even seen, a bigger comeback than the one he pulled off today, I wanted to know. "Yes," he said. "At Gold Coast limit hold'em, final table, I had one $1,000 chip, $480,000 in chips on table, I win the tournament. When he left me the $19,000, I knew I had a chance. He knew it too. In Tunica 2000, seven-card stud tournament, we were playing $3,000-6,000 with $700 antes, I had $700 only, and I was at Jim's table, and I said, 'I will be chip leader in ten minutes,' and I was the chip leader in ten minutes, but I finished third there, Jim won the tournament. I'm the best short stack player in the world. Here, let me ask someone else."

He called over Chris Tsiprailidis, who'd been watching, and said, "Chris, tell him who best short stack player in world is."

Tsiprailidis' daddy didn't raise no fools. "Scotty is the best short stack player in the world," he said. "Three years ago, I would have said Mike Sexton was, but now I think Scotty is."

I guess I forgot to ask you, way back at the start of this story, if you remembered one other special moment in sports history, when the U.S. Olympic Hockey team beat the Soviets 4-3 in 1980, and announcer Al Michaels asked and answered his own question: "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"

Yes, I believe in miracles, I believe in Scotty Nguyen, and I believe I was privileged to watch both today. And thank you, Jim Lester, for letting us all enjoy it. Although for different reasons than T.J. Cloutier did last year, you may have earned more respect in defeat today than most players do in victory.

Yes!

Final Official Results, $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha (Rebuys):

102 entrants,82 rebuys, total prize pool $446,200.

10th-12th, $5,355 each: Brian Moore, Ken "Skyhawk" Flaton, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

13th-15th, $4,910 each: Steve Zolotow, Richard Anthony Byrd, Phil Hellmuth, Jr.

16th-18th, $4,460 each: Barry Shulman, Paul Rowe, Jacky Chitwood.

A REC.GAMBLING.POKER TOURNAMENT "APOLOGY"

In my story about yesterday's Razz tournament, I opened by saying

"For the first two hours of the $1,500 entry Razz tournament here at the 2001 World Series of Poker, I observed and heard so much whining, bitching, moaning, unnecessary conversation and taunting that I could have sworn I was watching a rec.gambling.poker newsgroup tournament instead of a WSOP event."

This was a slightly poor choice of analogies, because while the nastiness did bring to mind some of the unnecessary ad hominem attacks on RGP, I should have said "I was watching an RGP discussion thread," not an RGP tournament. RGP runs an annual tournament, BARGE, and it's my understanding that the feisty RGPers are actually quite nice to each other when face to face, and not tucked away safely behind their computer screens. I look forward to attending BARGE sometime soon.

Andrew N.S. Glazer, Editor
Wednesday Nite Poker

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