Men "The Master" Nguyen ( vi, Nguyễn Văn Mến; born 1954 in

Phan Thiet Phan may refer to: * Phan (surname), a Vietnamese family name * Phan District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand * Phan River, Bình Thuận Province, Vietnam * Phan (tray), a tray with a pedestal, used often for ritual offerings {{Disambiguat ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

) is a

Vietnamese-American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player.

Personal life

In 1967, he dropped out of school at age 13 and became a bus driver to help support his family. In early 1978, a staunch

anti-Communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

, he escaped from the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

regime of Vietnam by boat and sailed with 87 compatriots to Pulau Besar in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In 1978, he received

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

from the United States and settled in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 1986, he became an American citizen. In 1984 he went on a junket to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and played poker for the first time in his life. He continued to go every weekend and lose hundreds of dollars, earning him the nickname "Money Machine". However, he quickly mastered the game, winning his first tournament in 1987. With his poker earnings, he opened a dry cleaning business and furniture store, but sold them in 1990 because they took too much of his time and didn't make enough money. Through these businesses he would, however, meet and work with many Vietnamese people who would fall under his tutelage. Nguyen met his future wife, Van, in Vietnam. He eventually brought her to the United States, where they settled in

Bell Gardens Bell Gardens is a city in the U.S. state of California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Located in Los Angeles County, the city's population was 42,072 at the 2010 census, down from 44,054 at the 2000 census. Bell Gardens is part of the G ...

, California. Men and Van have three children. Van Nguyen learned poker from her husband. She won the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...

Celebrity Invitational in March 2008, becoming the first woman to ever win a WPT mixed event.

Professional poker career

Nguyen has over 475 finishes

in the money In finance, moneyness is the relative position of the current price (or future price) of an underlying asset (e.g., a stock) with respect to the strike price of a derivative, most commonly a call option or a put option. Moneyness is firstly a thr ...

, and has won more than 95 tournaments. Nguyen is known for tutoring players, many of whom go on to be successful in their own right, including his cousins

David Pham David Pham (born February 10, 1967 in South Vietnam), is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player from Bell Gardens, California with three World Series of Poker bracelets who has made seven final tables at the World Poker Tour. Early li ...

, Minh Nguyen, and his wife Van Nguyen. Men receives a portion of some of his students' winnings. In 1991 one of his students gave him the nickname "The Master," and now he is widely known as "Men the Master." He donates a portion of the money he earns through tournaments and tutoring to charities in Vietnam, and in 1996, with the earnings from his final-table finish in the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

, built a kindergarten in Vietnam. Nguyen won the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year award in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005 and is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished tournament players in the world. While allegations have been made regarding Nguyen's possible involvement with tournament cheating, nothing has been proven and Nguyen has consistently denied any such actions. As of 2022, his total live tournament earnings exceed $11,000,000. His cashes at WSOP events account for over $4,100,000 of those winnings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Men 1954 births World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Circuit event winners American poker players Vietnamese poker players Vietnamese emigrants to the United States Living people People from Bell Gardens, California People from Bình Thuận Province