Qui Nguyen is the new Scotty Nguyen: the 39-year-old former nail salon owner is the 47th World Series of Poker Champion, and not related to his namesake and the 1998 WSOP Main Event winner. (Image: AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNguyen proved himself to be a gutsy passionate player, whose flamboyant dress sense is reminiscent of that other Vietnamese-American poker world champion, Scotty Nguyen. But in contrast to his famous namesake, Qui Nguyen was a relative unknown before his triumph at the Penn and Teller Theater this morning.<\/p>\n
A former nail salon owner turned professional baccarat player, he has only one previous cash in a World Series event, in 2009, for just over $9,000. Prior to the $\u00a08,005,310 he won this morning, it was also his biggest cash.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nJosephy\u2019s Rollercoaster<\/h2>\n Three players returned from Monday to play Tuesday evening’s final, with Nguyen holding the chip lead and Cliff Josephy, the most experienced of the three, nursing the short-stack. The fireworks started early when Josephy doubled through Nyguen to leapfrog Vayo into second place.<\/p>\n
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But just four hands later, Josephy ran his lower set into Vayo\u2019s top set (deuces vs threes), a brutal cooler that crippled his stack. Two double-ups later, and Josephy was miraculously again in contention, before losing a chunk of chips to Nguyen. Vayo quickly finished him off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Play had lasted barely an hour and it had been a rollercoaster ride for Josephy, but if anyone thought it was an indication that this would be a quick final, they were wrong.<\/p>\n
Lengthy Poker Duel<\/h2>\n When Nguyen and Vayo squared off for heads up, Vayo had the slight chip lead, with around 60 percent of the chips, but there was still a lot of play in those stacks, as we were to discover. The action was cagey, a war of attrition, and Vayo, in particular, played with a cautiousness that befitted his sensible haircut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just telling myself, \u2018Don\u2019t give up. Don\u2019t give up.\u2019 I was so tired, you know?\u201d said an emotional Nguyen afterwards. \u201cBut I was saying don\u2019t give up. For my family . . . for my wife, my dad, my sister, everybody who supported me . . .Don\u2019t make a misstep. When you misstep, you\u2019re done. I just wanted to do the best I can for the show . . . I wasn\u2019t thinking about win or lose, I was just, in my mind, thinking no misstep.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Nguyen’s adrenaline-addled exhaustion was evident as he struggled to find the right words in his heavily accented and broken English.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Age of Poker\u201d<\/h2>\n Hours later, on the 364th hand of the final table, Vayo shoved his short-stack over Nguyen\u2019s button raise holding J\u2660T\u2660, and his opponent, holding K\u2663T\u2663, made the call. A flop of K-8-7 gave Vayo\u2019s dominated hand a double gutshot\u2019s hope, but two turn and river blanks later, the house erupted.<\/p>\n
A representative for the exhausted Nguyen said that a portion of the winnings would be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project for veteran servicemen and women, as a thank you for those who protect him and his adopted country.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to represent poker to take poker to another level, kind of like the Moneymaker Effect,\u201d said the representative. \u201cWe believe it\u2019s time for the new age of poker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Las Vegas resident Qui Nguyen won the World Series of Poker Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas in the early hours of Wednesday morning, following a grueling eight-hour heads-up battle against Gordon Vayo. Nguyen proved himself to be a gutsy passionate player, whose flamboyant dress sense is reminiscent of that other Vietnamese-American poker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":41537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,18,14],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
World Series of Poker 2016 Main Event Sees Qui Nguyen Win<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n