The End of a Hiatus

It was 1:25am on July 16, 2007, less than a quarter hour after Scotty Nguyen had been eliminated from the Main Event of the 2007 World Series of Poker. Scotty had just completed a fall for the ages; he was third in chips when the field was reduced to eleven, only to be the next player eliminated. With the entire poker world watching, hoping for one of its heroes to thrive, he’d gotten overconfident… cocky. It was the cause of his downfall.

Always a class act, Nguyen completed his ESPN interview, writhing with anguish as if constricted by the shame. He could have left, wanting nothing more than to get away from the realization of what he’d just done. Instead, though, he took the microphone;

“First, I want to congratulate all the players here, and I wish the best to all of you. But the most important thing is, I want to thank the fans. Without you guys, we wouldn’t have Scotty Nguyen. We’re disappointed, but let me tell you, you guys gave me all I need. I want to thank ESPN, BLUFF, the crews, the whole staff, and everybody here. I wish I could give you more, but for two-thousand-oh-oh-seven, that’s the end of me. I’ll see you back here in 2008.”

It was a classy moment from a classy player who’d just suffered the worst moment of his career. The speech given, he left the Amazon Room only to be met by a throng of media. He granted every request, even though it was the last place in the world he wanted to be.

That’s the essence of Scotty Nguyen. Sure, there’s a lot to identify him by: the shades; the chains; that cackling laugh; the Michelob; and of course, that oh-so-powerful mullet. In the end though, Scotty starts and ends with the fans.

“I love the people because they love Scotty Nguyen,” referring to himself in what’s become a typical third-person manner. It’s like Scotty knows that he’s become more than just a guy; he’s an image, one that’s recognized the world over. “Wherever Scotty Nguyen go, people tell him they love Scotty Nguyen.” One would almost get the feeling he was being cocky about it if he weren’t so damn affable.

People still haven’t grasped how hard the fall hit the man they call the “Prince of Poker.”

On October 18th, 2007, three months and a day after his elimination, I called Scotty for the interview I’d arranged with his wife Julie. As we spoke, I couldn’t help but think back to that night as we talked about his home, his journey to America, his beginnings as a young card player, his ascendancy to world champion… that image stayed with me the whole time. Finally, when we got around to talking about it, Scotty shared a shocking revelation: He’d entered a tournament at Caesars Palace that day. It was the first poker he’d played since the WSOP.

Thuan “Scotty” Nguyen was born October 28th, 1962 in Nha Trang, Vietnam. His father was a mechanic, but it was his mother who taught him his love for games. “She was the only one in my family who gamble,” Scotty remembers in that thick Vietnamese accent. “She take me everywhere she go and I watch her play all the time. She made me play her hands when she go to the bathroom.”

Life in ‘Nam was a barren existence, leading to Nguyen’s leaving the Southeast Asian nation by boat at twelve years of age. The boat he was on actually ran out of gas during the journey and fellow passengers died before the still living were picked up by a freighter and taken on to Taiwan. He lived there for two years before a sponsor family aided his move stateside. They moved Scotty on to Chicago.

Scotty’s first recollection of his time in the Windy City was of its frigid temperatures. “I was there for six month, but it was too cold for me, baby.” He put in for a transfer, finding another sponsor family to take him in Los Angeles. His life dominated by English lessons and odd jobs, school didn’t take as he found himself spending more time in the LA casinos than the classroom. By the time he was nineteen, he was moving to Vegas. Twenty-six years later, it’s still home.

He started working at the casinos, taking busing jobs to pass the time and build a small bankroll until he turned twenty-one, at which point he began working as a dealer. It was during this time he acquired his moniker “Scotty,” when a superior couldn’t pronounce his birth name and dubbed him as such. For that next year, he watched the players and learned from their mistakes before leaving the dealer’s chair to play full time. He made a small living playing lowstakes cash games while watching his hero play from afar. That hero was Stu Ungar.

“I love everything about Stuey, man, except the way he look and the drugs.” The big money, the hyper-aggressive approach to the game, Scotty learned from the man himself, eventually following Ungar into tournament play. By 1997, he was winning his first of four World Series of Poker bracelets, in a $2,000 Omaha 8-or-Better event. A year later, he’d go one better.

It was Ungar who won the Main Event in 1997, the completion of a remarkable comeback, but in ’98, “The Kid,” ravaged by drug abuse, couldn’t move himself from his Binion’s Horseshoe hotel room to the waiting tables floors below. There would be no repeat champion. Someone would need to take his place.

That someone was Scotty. He surged to an early lead and played his big stack expertly, leading from wire to wire. His immortal win over amateur Kevin McBride came when Scotty, holding J-9, slow-played a 9-9-8 fl op, allowing his aggressive opponent to do his bidding for him. McBride performed as expected, betting with position on the flop, then on the turn when a second eight hit the table. When the river came a third eight, putting a full house on the board, Scotty immediately moved all in. When McBride teetered on the decision to call for what he thought was half the pot, Scotty goaded him with one of the most famous lines in poker history:

“You call this one and it’s all over, baby”

McBride, like the mouse stopping to inspect the cat declared, “All right. I call. I play the board.” Scotty showed the better hand, then raised his arms, his signature Michelob in one hand, calling “We did it, baby!” It was the fulfillment of a long journey from boat person to millionaire. It was the American dream. In the aftermath, when Scotty sat with tournament organizer Jack Binion, he said, “This is my dream, to sit next to you.” It would be the last time Binion would do the honors; he’d lose control of Binion’s Horseshoe the next year, and the World Series of Poker with it.

Scotty’s celebration was short-lived. The next day, word came that one of Scotty’s sixteen brothers and sisters had died in a car crash. It made a true celebration impossible, and left a dark cloud over the greatest accomplishment of his career. As a result, to this day he doesn’t wear the championship bracelet.

Despite the tragedy, Scotty did manage to celebrate in one way; he visited the foster family in Chicago who’d taken him in all those years earlier, more than paying them back in gifts and thanks. It was the least the man could do to repay the people who’d given him the American dream.

In the years since Nguyen’s championship, there have been countless successes at the tables. He’s made the full conversion now; once a strict cash game player, these days he only plays tournaments. “I don’t like to take people’s money,” he says. It’s a rare sentiment amongst poker pros.

Of Scotty’s successes since the Main Event win, none was greater than his World Poker Tour victory in January 2006. It was a long time coming in that he’d been the most successful player in that franchise’s history not to win an event.

Scotty’s WPT career started with a sixth place finish at the 2002 Five Diamond World Poker Classic, the first WPT ever held. It put him on the map with the viewers,  immediately rendering him one of the game’s most recognizable stars with an ever-growing public that hadn’t been around in 1998.

After that near-miss, there were others; he finished sixth again in the 2004 Party Poker Million; he managed to move up to fifth in the 2004 Mirage Poker Showdown; January 2005 saw him ascend to fourth place in that year’s World Poker Open. Still, the man hadn’t managed to capture a taped title in the time of the televised poker craze. He was becoming the bridesmaid.

That all changed with Scotty’s win at the 2006 Gold Strike World Poker Open. Part of a strong final table that also included An “The Boss” Tran, that season’s eventual WPT Player of the Year Gavin Smith and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Scotty entered with the chip lead, losing it momentarily to the Grinder before taking it back and defeating the young American heads up to take the title. He’d manage two more sixth-place finishes later that year.

His mother lives here now. When she originally heard her son was playing poker for a living, she didn’t believe it was possible. “When she come here, though, she see. She see how the people love Scotty Nguyen, man. She see and it make her cry.” He takes the responsibilities of his fame seriously.

“Everywhere I go, the people see me and they say, ‘You call this one and it’s all over, baby.’ Everywhere I go, they love Scotty Nguyen.” He takes their affection seriously, never refusing an autograph or a photo. “I know the people come from far away to see Scotty Nguyen, so I can’t say no. If I have a bad day and don’t want to do it, I go home; but if they see me and they love me, I can’t say no, baby.”

That’s why Scotty didn’t play for three months after the World Series. When Scotty got mixed up in a battle of wills with European Philip Hilm, he let himself get carried away in it. “It’s important to be confident when you’re at the table, but I got too confident, too aggressive. I thought I can win every hand.” As he says it, it becomes obvious that he stayed home because he was ashamed. He didn’t want to face the shockwave of disappointment that hit the crowd that night, July 16th.

What Scotty may not have understood was why people were so disappointed. Yes, they wanted an established star to take the championship, but that wasn’t it. It was because of the charisma the man constantly displays, the affection he shows for the game we all love and the people who play it. It’s because of how much he’s had to overcome and how much he’s had to persevere. It’s because when things are good for Scotty, they’re good for all of us. Why? It’s a simple question with a simple answer:

He’s Scotty Nguyen, baby. Thank god he’s back at the tables.

Gary Wise writes for espn.com/poker and BLUFF magazine, and was a producer of video content for worldseriesofpoker.com at the 2007 World Series of Poker. On top of all that, he dedicates the majority of his time to his website, www.wisehandpoker.com

As known as Scotty Nguyen is for his play, he’s equally known for his mouth. Here are five quotes without which no Scotty impersonation is complete; “You call this one and it’s all over, baby.” – During his headsup match with Kevin McBride for the 1998 WSOP championship.

“That’s no-limit, baby!” – After bluffing Humberto Brenes with 83o in the 2003 WSOP main event.

“This is my dream, to sit next to you.” – To Jack Binion, who presented Scotty with the 1998 WSOP main event bracelet.

“Don’t you remember what it’s like?” – To a racist store manager, from his appearance in the Jen Harman-produced fi lm ‘The Big Blind’ (1999). Consensus says he out-acted the actors.

“Baby” – All the time, baby.

He defeated Mike Matusow in the final to win $156,590.

1998 $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship.

He beat McBride for a cool $1 million.

2001 $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha.

He defeated solid citizen Jim Lester and took home $178,480.

2001 $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8 or better.

He won his second bracelet of the series, defeating Phil Hellmuth in the final. It’s the closest Phil would come to a non-hold’em bracelet.