He spent the early ‘90s entering a variety of low-stakes tournaments and steadily building his proficiency at a range of poker games. He worked hard each day and gambled hard each night, ending the event $7,000 in the green. He got his first big break in 1985 when he was invited to work at a No-Limit Hold ’em event at Lake Tahoe. Scotty steadily built his skills, as well as his poker connections, over the next several years. He often lost his entire earnings in those early years and had to start over from scratch. He then began dealing cards at Harrah’s by day and gambling most nights. He worked at Harrah’s Casino and enrolled in dealer school, graduating at the age of 21. There, he worked menial jobs and continue to hone his card skills. He eventually gave up on school and moved to Las Vegas to pursue his dream of gambling. His first official “involvement” with gambling came when he was expelled from school in Orange County, California, at the tender age of 14 for his involvement in underground poker games.
While Scotty has never stated at exactly what age he became interested in playing poker, he does credit his mother with instilling a love of card-playing in him from an early age.
