News / Matthew Pitt / 06 November 2008 / Leave a comment

Whilst the majority of the 'November Nine' are relatively unknown to the poker world and will be playing under the glare of the television cameras for the first time, Scott Montgomery will be able to call upon his experience of reaching a final table of a World Poker Tour event earlier this year, writes Matthew Pitt.

Montgomery of Perth, Ontario, Canada, won an online satellite to the 2008 LA Poker Classic Main Event, a WPT tournament commanding a $10,000 entry fee. After six days of play at the Commerce Casino, California, Montgomery reached the final table with an overwhelming chip lead.

However, having found himself in the company of Phil Hellmuth, Nam Le and Phil Ivey, Montgomery blew-up in spectacular style and ended up finishing in 5th place for $296,860, instead of the $1,596,100 eventually won by Ivey.

Despite his disappointment in throwing away a massive chip lead, the prize money has allowed Montgomery to travel and play on the professional circuit this year, including the entire World Series of Poker. So when tournament director, Jack Effel paused the tournament for a 117-day break, Montgomery returned home for some much needed rest.

When asked what he had done to prepare for the final table on November 9, Montgomery replied, "I haven't been doing much so far, taking some time off and visiting family."

A prudent Montgomery has not splurged any of his $900,670 prize for reaching the final table (each of the remaining players received 9th place money), only purchasing a new computer and updating his wardrobe.

"I'm not the type of guy that's going to go out and spend a couple hundred thousand on a car or anything like that," informed the 26-year old Canadian.

Another purchase Montgomery will not be making is any coaching from fellow players. He admitted that he would enjoy talking strategy with some of the top professionals and that he had been offered coaching in exchange for five percent of his winnings!

On the subject, Montgomery said, "Seems to me the way to learn is to play, not to have somebody tell you how you should be playing."

When play resumes on November 9, Scott Montgomery will be in third place with a healthy stack of 19,690,000 and is currently around 5/1 with Betfair to win "The Big Dance."