The Story of the 1998 WSOP Main Event
In 1998, the loss of one champion away from the felt was offset by the emergence of a new personality that would invigorate poker. The World Series of Poker descended on Las Vegas once more as Binion’s Horseshoe played host to a record field of 350 WSOP Main Event players. With three of the final eight players from overseas, the 1998 World Championship was one for the books… baby.
Kid Poker Claims First WSOP Crown
The 1998 edition of the World Series of Poker offered 20 preliminary events to players who came to Las Vegas worldwide. Three players from outside of America who commanded respect as the years went on were among the early winners of bracelets. Irish player Donnacha O’Dea won the $1,500-entry Pot Limit Omaha event #5, one of three events at the WSOP that year that featured rebuys. It was O’Dea’s first, and to date, only bracelet win. Frenchman Patrick Bruel also captured his first and only bracelet in Event #19: $5,000 Limit Hold’em
The other player from outside the USA won the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event #9. Daniel Negreanu won the event, capturing his first-ever WSOP bracelet. A future icon of the game—and GGPoker Ambassador—’Kid Poker’, as he was nicknamed, became a fixture at the WSOP and could later be seen railing the eventual world champion at the final showdown for a million dollars. The Canadian player Negreanu bagged $169,640 after beating the British player Dominic Burke heads-up at a final table that also included Chris Ferguson.
Elsewhere in the early events, Doyle Brunson won his eighth WSOP bracelet, capturing gold in the $1,500-entry Seven-Card Razz event #2, triumphing over Ray Dehkharghani heads-up, with the 1986 WSOP Main Event winner Berry Johnston crashing out in third. T.J. Cloutier won the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event #11, while Erik Seidel claimed victory in the $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw event #16.
Another Canadian player, Amanda Commanda, won the Ladies Event. Exactly 100 players took part in the $1,000-entry event, a buy-in that would stretch into the next millennium. Thompson’s victory over Jerri Thomas earned her a top prize of $40,000—the biggest prize in the event to date.
Other bracelet winners from that year were Farzad Bonyadi (Event #1: $2,000 Limit Hold’em), Mikael Shadkin (Event #3: $1,500 Limit Omaha), Kirk Morrison (Event #4: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud), Tom Hufnagle (Event #6: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo), Jeff Ross (Event #7: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em), Chau Giang (Event #8: $2,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Artie Cobb (Event #10: $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud), Bill Gempel (Event #12: $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo), David Chiu (Event #13: $3,000 Limit Hold’em), Paul Rowe (Event #14: $3,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Steve Rydel (Event #15: $3,000 Pot Limit Hold’em), Kevin Buntjer (Event #17: $3,000 No Limit Hold’em), and Jan Chen (Event #18: $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud)
Soon, it was time for the record-breaking WSOP Main Event of 1998 to take place.
A Forgotten Hero and Two ‘Rounders’
Stu Ungar made history the previous year by winning his third WSOP Main Event. He is the only player to win the main event three times at the felt. But Stuey was forgotten, a footnote in the history books, in 1998 as he was sadly unable to defend his title. Tragically, he was found dead in a motel room a few months after winning the main event. In the 1998 World Championship, however, two special guests took the limelight away from the sadness of missing a poker hero.
In September 1998, Ed Norton and Matt Damon starred in the poker movie Rounders. Just a few months before its cinematic release, the two stars took their seats in the $10,000-entry Main Event. Matt Damon ended up losing with pocket kings to Doyle Brunson, who was holding pocket aces, while Norton saw his full house shot down on the river by Surinder Sunar, whose set of tens improved to quads. Both men knew they would not beat the professionals, but they collected a great story and passed it on to the fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdob9ckPdro
The Main Event had 350 entries—a new record—and paid 27 players. Stars such as Jack Keller (22nd for $25,000), Thor Hansen (21st for $25,000), Kathy Liebert (17th for $30,000), Bobby Hoff (12th for $40,000), and French player Marc Brochard (8th for $75,000) all missed out on the title but ran into profit.
The final table started with five players instead of six after Scotty Nguyen made a flush to knock out a pair of Englishmen, Jan Lundberg and Ben Roberts, with pocket tens and pocket aces, respectively, when the board rivered the two of diamonds to complete Nguyen’s ace-queen high flush.
The Prince of Poker Takes the Crown
With five remaining, Scotty Nguyen had a clear lead with 1,184,000 chips, 33% of the chips in play. Kevin McBride (873,000) and T. J. Cloutier (829,000) were closest to the chip leader, while Dewey Weum (376,000) and Lee Salem (240,000) both began the final table with much shorter stacks. It was no surprise when Salem busted first for $190,000. Dewey Weum went next, scooping $250,000 when Kevin McBride’s king-jack of diamonds was all-in against Weum’s ace-seven. Two kings on the flop had Weum putting on his coat as a packed Binion’s cardroom roared their appreciation.
“Give Dewey some credit here,” said Phil Hellmuth on commentary, “He had the best hand for a $300,000 pot, he just got outdrawn.”
Taking over from father Dick, Vince Van Patten presented the action in 1998 and reveled in the expansion of the WSOP. The first million-chip pot of the series saw T.J. Cloutier in with just king-queen on a 7-5-4 flop, but Kevin McBride called with a jack-nine of spades for a flush draw. McBride hit a jack on the turn to send Cloutier home with $437,500. All three players who had left the final table had been busted by Kevin McBride, a rookie who went into the home stretch with a slim chip lead.
The Final Two Baby!
Nguyen battled back into the lead. On what would be the final hand of the tournament, Nguyen was holding a jack-nine—the same hand McBride had been so fortunate with to eliminate Cloutier. With a thrilling run out of the community cards, 9-9-8-8-8, McBride was playing the board, but Nguyen held a superior full house, and if he could get McBride to call, he would have the Championship.
Scotty made the only move he could and pushed all-in. Picking up his beer bottle and taking a sip, he said to McBride: “You call, it’s gonna be all over, baby.”
Almost instantly, McBride took the bait. “I call; I play the board. You have a nine?”
Nguyen turned over his winning hand, nines full of eights, and it really was all over.
“I got it!” yelled Scotty. “Party time, baby! We did it, man.”
Mike Matusow and Daniel Negreanu were on the rail, applauding warmly. But it was Nguyen who won. McBride was disappointed but classy, finishing runner-up for $687,500, having won entry from a $420 satellite.
“I didn’t think he was telling me the truth. He was – it was a great play by Scotty. That’s what got me to call the hand. If he hadn’t said that, I would have folded the hand.”
“This was my dream” said Scotty. “It’s my dream come true and I’m proud of it. Number one, man.”
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Scotty Nguyen | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 2nd | Kevin McBride | United States | $687,500 |
| 3rd | TJ Cloutier | United States | $437,500 |
| 4th | Dewey Weum | United States | $250,000 |
| 5th | Laith Salem | United States | $190,000 |
| 6th | Ben Roberts | England | $150,000 |
1997 WSOP Main Event 1999 WSOP Main Event
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.