Scotty Nguyen’s hometown of Nha Trang sits on a strip of the South China Sea in south-central Vietnam. It is a very beautiful and mystical place, but when Scotty was born in 1962, Nha Trang, like the rest of Vietnam, was a different place. Though the United States had not yet officially entered the war, the conflict between North and South Vietnam was heating-up, destabilizing citizen life across the country.
So when he was 11-years-old Scotty and his mother set sail for the United States to start a new life. The transition to life in the free-world was not an easy one for the young master.
It was in the face of these adolescent hardships that he discovered poker.
When Scotty turned 20 he moved to Vegas to be closer to the action. He got a job cleaning tables at a Casino and managed to build a bankroll.
He quickly lost his bankroll though in poker and took a job dealing cards, first at Harrah’s Holiday Casino and later, the Golden Nugget. This is where he learned method. After just two years of up-and-down play, the 23-year-old rounder quit dealing cards and started Playing Poker full time.
Over the years, Scotty has lost and rebuilt his bankroll countless times. He has cashed in hundreds of tournaments, including nearly 40 WSOP events, more than 12 wpt tournaments, and myriad standalone events like the California State Poker Championship, Aussie Millions, Poker Superstars Invitational, U.S. Poker Bowl, Caribbean Poker Classic, Monte Carlo Millions and Austrian Masters.
Since his first World Series in 1995, he has collected five bracelets and made history as the first player to ever win both the Main Event (1998) and the $50k H.O.R.S.E. Championship (2008).
A practicing Buddhist with a positive outlook and plentiful reserves of internal strength, Scotty has maintained through the highs and lows.
