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Probably the most active player in the professional poker world, Thuan “Scotty” Nguyen ranks among the highest earners among tournament players. He is known in the poker circuit as The Prince. It took quite some time for this Vietnamese refugee to attain his success in the professional poker world. To date, he is the only person to win both a World Series of Poker Main Event and an H.O.R.S.E. World Championship.

He escaped from Vietnam in a small boat and because of his refugee status was given safe passage to the United States. When he arrived in the US with his family, they had a very small amount of money and material possessions with them. He was just 14 years old then. After a year in Chicago, his family then moved to California where he learned how to play the game of poker.

Nguyen began his poker career by first becoming a card dealer to support his family. This served as his training ground. While a dealer, he observed the winners and losers. With this knowledge in hand, he switched sides and in 1988 Nguyen started playing professional poker in Las Vegas to make his family more financially secured. Well, now we know that his gamble paid off.

His other poker nickname is The Train because he projects a fearless aggressive persona while on the poker table yet he is relaxed and easy going. He is also talkative and usually does a running commentary while a match is in session that often distracts his opponents. His 80% win rate at final tables is impressive as well. He says that this might be because of his familiarity of the situation because his been there a lot of times before. He also has this all or nothing attitude and he does take it one hand at a time because winning is everything for him. Plus he has a lot of confidence to boot.

He is also probably one of the best loved poker players by fans because of his charming personality. One of the best all around players around, there’s never a dull moment with him around. He is also famous for saying yeah baby often during competitions and he plays with lots of emotions. He was the one who made up the phrase “that’s poker baby” to refer to a bad beat. One memorable Scotty Nguyen moment happened during the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event where a full house (8-8-8-9-9) was dealt on the table. Nguyen said to his opponent Kevin McBride, “You call, gonna be all over baby!” McBride called. Nguyen won with a full of 9s.

Though after that momentous win, tragedy struck the Nguyen household. The day after the win, his brother was hit by a car in Vietnam and died. This is the reason why you won’t see Nguyen wear his 1998 WSOP bracelet anymore.

To date, he holds five WSOP bracelets. Aside from the 1998 WSOP bracelet from the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship, he has also won at the 1997 $2,000 Omaha 8 or Better, 2001 $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha, 2001 $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eight or Better and at the 2008 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship.

Nguyen’s first World Poker Tour event title came in 2006 by defeating Michael Mizrachi in a heads up match during the fourth season of the Gold Strike World Poker Open. His A-Q of spades for a flush won over Mizrachi’s A-J off suit on the first hand of the heads up match. With this win, he is only one of five people who have won at both the main event of World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker titles.

During the 2007 World Series of Poker’s Seven Card Stud High Low Split Event, he placed second to Eli Elezra. After the said event, Nguyen stated that he didn’t played cash games during the last two years because he wants to play in a friendly environment which he can’t find in a serious cash game.

He just missed getting into the final table of the 2007 World Series of Poker main event where he finished in 11^th place in a field of 6,000 plus competitors. That stint earned him prize money worth $476,926. As of 2008, his total earnings have been estimated to reach at least $9,700,000. Aside from the WSOP and WPT events, he has also appeared on the Ultimate Blackjack Tour playing Elimination Blackjack.

In 2003, he co-starred in the poker movie, The Big Blind. He has been a guest of the show Late Night with Conan O’Brien in April of 2004. Other than that, he also appeared on the television via appearances in Poker Superstars International, NBC’s National Heads up Poker Championship, and Poker After Dark.

Although he has achieved worldwide fame, he still goes back to his native country. He spends some of his poker earnings on his family that still lives in Vietnam. One thing he would like to improve on is his money management skills. He spends most of his earnings to have a good time.