Nguyen collects $1 million with Binion’s poker crown

Friday, May 15, 1998 | 10:02 a.m.

Fourteen years ago, Thuan "Scotty" Nguyen was dealing poker at a Las Vegas casino and taking a lot of guff from the players.

They complained about the way he dealt the cards. They complained louder when he dealt them bad beats. They complained about just about everything.

"They wanted to tell me what to do in the poker game, and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I quit," Nguyen, a Vietnamese-born Henderson resident who has been a professional gambler since 1984, said. "And I never looked back."

On Thursday, he won the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas hold 'em championship at the 29th annual World Series of Poker, collecting $1 million and earning the title of world poker champion.

Nguyen (pronounced "Win") had no complaints at all because, during the four-day event at Binion's Horseshoe, he received some incredible cards from the dealers -- as if some kindred spirit magically guided the winners from the deck into his hands.

Twice in the early rounds Nguyen, 35, got four of a kind on the flop (the first three community cards dealt face up simultaneously) and, in each instance, the other player went all in against him.

"Things just went right -- I got such good hands," Nguyen said after winning the world title. "Other players were betting into me when I had the best hand and I caught a lot of cards on the river (fifth and final community card).

"On the second day I started to feel that I would be here today. And today I played my best poker."

Nguyen came to the United States from war-torn South Vietnam in 1977 as a teenager and grew up in Chicago. His poker nickname is "The Prince." On Thursday, he ascended to the throne of poker king after outlasting a record field of 350 players, including five on Thursday.

The 1997 World Series $2,000 buy-in limit Omaha hold 'em hi-lo split champ entered the final round with nearly one-third of the game's $3.5 million in chips.

Still, Nguyen had to overcome a brilliant effort by unknown Kevin McBride, a 43-year-old management consultant from Boca Raton, Fla., who began playing poker four years ago and entered his first tournament in January.

Before the start of the final round, McBride gave each of his opponents a bottle of champagne and wished them well. He then eliminated three of them and built his stack of chips to $2.2 million for his heads-up match with Nguyen.

In a battle that lasted several hours, Nguyen made some questionable moves on key hands that prevented him from putting away his less seasoned opponent sooner.

"I underestimated this guy at first," Nguyen admitted after the game. "I had beaten him (in past games) but tonight he showed me he can really play poker. I just settled down and started to play (good) poker."

McBride, who earlier in the month-long, 21-event granddaddy of all gaming tournaments placed fifth in the $5,000 buy-in limit Texas hold 'em event, was clearly in awe of how well he did given his limited experience.

"Realistically, I never thought I would get this far," McBride, who collected $687,500 for second place to bring his brief lifetime World Series winnings to $712,700, said. "Scotty was the master and I was the rookie today.

"The experience (of competing in the World Series finale) was like playing golf with Jack Nicklaus or shooting baskets with Michael Jordan."

McBride admitted that he was so nervous during the tournament that he had trouble eating and, as a result, lost six pounds. He got his start in poker by playing in the $3-$6 game and currently is a $10-$20 player -- a very low limit for this caliber of play.

The victory gave Nguyen $1,244,462 in lifetime World Series winnings. He became the World Series' 19th millionaire and is 13th on the tournament's all-time money list.

Trailing the event when the showdown began, Nguyen was able to catch and overtake McBride with lesser starting cards that were helped a lot by the community cards.

A case in point occurred late in the game when Nguyen held a jack-10 to McBride's ace-queen. Nguyen caught a queen on the river to complete a gutshot straight, while the same card gave McBride a strong two pair -- aces over queens -- and cost him a $1,002,600 pot. It was one of four pots that were greater than $1 million.

T.J. Cloutier, 58, a former Canadian Football League player and longtime professional gambler from Dallas, finished third. He was going for his 50th major tournament title and fifth World Series crown. Earlier in the tournament, he won the $2,500 buy-in pot-limit Omaha hold 'em championship.

"I just didn't get the cards today, and when I did, I had to lay down," Cloutier said. "I laid down jacks twice because I was up against kings."

Cloutier collected $437,500 to bring his lifetime World Series earnings to $1,693,386 -- sixth on the World Series all-time money-winner's list.

Dewey Weum, 54, of Monona, Wis., the owner of a trucking company who has been participating in the World Series for 20 years, placed fourth. Last year, he finished 23rd in the event.

The $250,000 Weum earned Thursday brought his lifetime World Series winnings to $385,267.

Lee Salem, 38, a businessman from San Diego, finished fifth and collected $190,000 to bring his lifetime World Series earnings to $213,223.