About Men "The Master" Nguyen

Men Nguyen is known on the poker circuit as "The Master." In addition to the admiration he garners due to his expert play, Men is famous for his caring nature. He has contributed a great deal to communities in his native Vietnam, and provided for those in need in New York City after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Men left his homeland on a refugee boat and upon reaching the United States didn't enjoy the easiest of times. He says of those days: "I didn't realize how difficult it would be in the new land. I didn't speak English and couldn't get work for three months. I took three English classes every weekday. Finally, three months later, I got a part-time job as a furniture delivery man…tables, chairs, and sofa beds. I made $10 a day. When I was able to speak English a little bit I got a job as a machinist. That's what I did for almost eight years."

Here he talks about his first experiences in American casinos: "I knew Five-Card Stud from my country, but we played with only 28 cards; the eights through aces. They were playing Seven-Card Stud with a full deck, of course. I sat down in a $15-$30 game. That was big stakes for my bankroll at the time, especially because I didn't know how to play. I didn't even know the term "buy-in" so I asked, 'How much money do I need to play?' The floorman told me I must start with at least $300. I lost it. I bought in again and lost another $300. But, I wouldn't quit. I lost $2,100 in a few hours. I had saved all that money from my machinist job at $12 an hour.

I flew back home and thought about poker all week. The next weekend, I went back to Caesar's Palace and beat the game for $3,500. So now I loved poker. I played every weekend at Caesar's Palace. Then one weekend the junket went to the Dunes. So, I played a few hours of craps to qualify, then I went to the poker room. I saw them playing a Seven-Card game. I bought in and the second hand I picked up was split aces (one down and one up) and a king. I bet or raised all the way and wound up with aces full of kings. A player raised me on the river. I raised him back. He re-raised. I raised once more and he called. I showed my hand. He had a flush…with all low cards. I said, 'I got him.'"

And here is Men's account of how he got his start in tournaments. "I began playing tournaments in 1986. One day, I went to the Dunes to play high-low and there was no game. The floorman said, "Everyone's at the Stardust playing in the tournament." So, I took a cab there and saw that Bob Thompson was running a Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better tournament. I entered and finished eighth. There were more than 300 players and the buy-in was $330. Johnny Moss won first place. I loved the excitement. A year later I won my first tournament. It was at the Bicycle Club…a Diamond Jim Brady Eight-or-Better event. I collected more than $27,000. Bob Thompson ran that tournament also.

Then, in 1988 I started playing No-Limit Texas Hold'em tournaments. I never played Hold'em or No-Limit before. I got lucky at a Caesar's Palace event run by Amarillo Slim Preston when I won a big hand against Johnny Chan. I held Qc-Jc and a jack flopped. Johnny tried to move me off my hand. I should have folded, but I didn't know better at the time. I called his all-in bet and won. That hand enabled me to get to heads-up play and my opponent suggested a deal. I took it and left with $44,000. That week I bought a furniture store and a dry cleaning store in Los Angeles. Then, in 1990 I sold both businesses and became a full-time professional poker player. The businesses didn't make money and gave me headaches."

Men will not tolerate anybody soft-playing him. He says: "A tournament will not be won or lost in one hand! When someone does not play his hand strongly against me, it is so obvious and it makes me look bad. It harms my reputation. I am Men the Master, and whatever I do, everyone is watching. Do you think I want someone soft-playing so that people will talk about me? Some people are jealous of my success and I try to be nice to everyone. The last thing I want is for someone to try to be my friend by not playing hard against me."

The Master is a practicing Buddhist and incorporates elements of that philosophy into both his poker playing and teaching. He has a reputation for being one of the very best poker teachers in the industry, though he has exacting standards for his students, specifically regarding honesty.

Men is known to have learned each new variant in his poker repertoire by watching others play. He says of himself: "I'm a hard worker, and I work hard at playing poker."

Trivia

• Left Vietnam in 1978
• Has three daughters, each born on the same date but in different years
• Financed the construction of two schools in Vietnam
• Brought 14,000 kilograms of rice to poor Vietnamese families in spring 2006