Rig Appreciation: Scotty Nguyen

A moment to appreciate one of the most charismatic players to ever grace the green felt (i.e Poker Table). Thuận B. Nguyễn, or Scotty Nguyễn as he’s more commonly known, may be someone you haven’t heard of - but make no bones, he is a living legend. At least in Vegas, and the Poker Arena. One look at the geezer’s get up will spell it out for you…

I don’t know too much about the bloke, other than he was a born in Vietnam, moved to the US via Taiwan and has more panache than most. He got the name Scotty when as a broke teenager he applied for a job as a bus boy in a diner. The owner of said diner said “what’s your name?” he replied “Thuận” she said “what?” he said “Thuận” She said “Nah, you’re Scotty, you can start tomorrow”. Since then he’s been known as Scotty.

Drenched in gold rings and poker championship bracelets, you don’t often see him in much else other than a tracksuit or sexy Miami vice-esque ensemble. He’s made a living playing poker, in serious high stakes cash games, to world series. He turned $7,000 into a $1m and lost it all after finding he had a penchant for booze and class A’s. When broke he was bank rolled by a fellow pro poker player, a guy by the name of Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. Mike covered a third of his buy in for the 1998 World Series of Poker, which Scotty would go on and win, scooping a cool mill. He had to give mike a third mind, ouch. He’s got the gift of the gab, albeit in a charming American / Vietnamese accent. If you like the occasional flutter or back room game, I’d seriously suggest going back and watching some Scotty hands on Youtube, for the entertainment value at least…baby!