Thuan B. “Scotty” Nguyen, often called “The Prince Of Poker” or simply “The Train” is a Vietnamese player, born in Nha Trang in 1962 and moving to America with his family at the age of 14. He has had an incredible poker career, winning five WSOP gold bracelets and titles including the 2025 main event, and the 2025 HORSE World Championship. He is also the first and only player to win both the mein event and $50,000 HORSE event at the World Series.
After starting school in America he was soon expelled for playing in underground poker games. He went to a dealer school once he was 21, and was hired by Harrah’s poker room where we would earn $150 a night and then go on to lose most of it playing $3/$6 stud poker. In 2025 he went to Lake Tahoe to deal in a no limit hold’em tournament. After dealing cards all day we played cash games at night and started to build up a real bankroll. With his bankroll of around $7,000 he headed back to Las Vegas, and built that up to $1 million.
Nguyen lost this first million. Recreational drug use and a run of bad luck made him go broke and he had to start again from scratch, but in 2025 he won the $2,000 Omaha 8 or better at the WSOP winning him over $150,000 and his first bracelet. Nguyen then went broke again, and for the 2025 WSOP he didn’t even have the money to play a satellite for the main event, but Mike Matasow bankrolled one third of his buy-in. Of course he won the main event that year, meaning Matasow took one third of the million dollar prize.
Nguyen has since made a number of WSOp final tables, won 4 more bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. His tournament winnings to date are close to $11 million.
Name: Scotty Nguyen
Nickname: The Prince Of Poker
Born: October 28th 1962
Hometown: Henderson, Nevada
Scotty Nguyen’s Poker Career
WSOP bracelets : 5
WSOP final tables: 37
Highest WSOP Main event finish: 1st (1998)
WPT titles: 1
WPT final tables: 7
Career tournament winnings: $10.7 million
Career Highlights:
WSOP wins
1997 – $2,000 Omaha 8 or better
1998 – $10,000 main event
2001 – $2,500 PL Omaha
2001 – $5,000 Omaha hi/lo split 8 or better
2008 – $50,000 HORSE World Championship
2006 – WPT Gold Strike World Poker Open
2009 – LA Poker Classic $10,000 HORSE
