Scott Stewart on Day 1C of the 2017 WPT Legends of Poker Main Event

Just six weeks ago, Scott Stewart was at the center of the poker universe, playing Day 7 of the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event. Now he’s one of 300+ players packed into a ballroom at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles on Day 1C of theWorld Poker Tour Legends of Poker.

It’s a stark contrast that isn’t lost on the five-time WSOP Circuit ring winner.

“This table hasn’t been the most fun, but it’s starting to lighten up,” said Stewart, who lives just 15 minutes away in Long Beach. “This is the first time I’ve ever played this WPT specifically, I seem to always have something going on, even last year I was excited to play it and I got so sick I couldn’t get out of bed.”

Stewart eventually busted the WSOP Main Event in 13th place for a career-best $535,000 score. Looking back on the whole experience, Stewart just remembers the fun he had getting that deep.

“I remember most the final three tables, that was when things were really starting to pick up. My dad and my sister flew out, some of my friends came and I just had a blast,” said Stewart. “Adrenaline took over, because I was fatigued, it was true, but it wasn’t affecting my cards or anything.”

Even with life-changing money on the line, Stewart says the fun came from the other players not taking the moment too seriously. Or maybe it was the beer. Or some combination of those two things.

“Nobody was too serious yet, even the last couple of levels of Day 5. We all ended up drinking beer, having fun,” said Stewart. “I always had a good time at my tables, it was never the serious tables, even going down from 27 to 18, everyone was playful.”

Playing the final two tables of the Main Event is something every poker player dreams of having the opportunity to do. Falling just four spots short of the final table though is the inverse nightmare. With some time to review everything that happened, Stewart does have some things he wish he could do over.

“There is one hand where I do regret bluffing off a bunch of my chips. I made a big call with A-4 and then I moved tables and the first hand I played, I bluffed off a bunch. I went back to 3 million instead of 12 million, so that was maybe the only regret,” said Stewart.

Thanks to a combination of his fun approach to the game and his USA headband he wore on the ESPN broadcasts, Stewart became a bit of a fan favorite and he knows when the hour-long episodes begin airing on ESPN in the coming weeks, people are going to be reminded of exactly how much fun he was.

“When the coverage comes out, I played some funky hands, a couple were kind of crazy, I don’t regret that, that’s kind of how I play – I try to acquire a lot (of chips),” said Stewart. “I don’t think I’ve had more fun in a tournament that you always a hundred big blinds plus. I got a little creative and then I got caught a couple of times.”

After the WSOP Main Event wrapped up, Stewart found himself headed to Cherokee, North Carolina for the WSOP Circuit Global Casino Championship.

“The top 50 (Circuit) players make it and was 49th, so I just got in there,” said Stewart, who failed to cash in that event. He did play to $365 buy-in ring events while he was there and picked up a couple of smaller cashes before taking down the $2,200 High Roller event for $63,399 and his fifth ring. The ring events weren’t the only thing that made Cherokee an appealing stop for him though.

“I have a lot of friends that go out to that, that I’ve made over the years and it seems like, everyone that makes that tournament. A couple of people that I travel with, we all go out there and it all turns into one big fun part,” said Stewart, who found some extra-curricular activites to do when he wasn’t at the tabels. “We did tubing out there, the pool at Cherokee is really nice, we had some activities from somebody who lives up in Asheville, went to a couple of breweries, did a lot of fun stuff.”