Men "The Master" Nguyen

Men "The Master" Nguyen was born in 1954 in Phan Thiet, Vietnam at a time when anti-communist sentiments faced dire persecution. To help support his family, Nguyen quit school to drive buses. In 1978, he illegally made his way out of Vietnam along with 87 compatriots aboard a boat bound for Pulau Besar in Malaysia. Later that year he received political asylum from the United States of America.

It was 1984 when he boarded a junket to Las Vegas, Nevada and played 7-stud poker for the first time. In 1987, one year after he became an American citizen, he won his first poker tournament.

Nguyen has been playing poker for almost 20 years, and has won more than 75 tournaments. He may have never won a main World Series of Poker (WSOP) event, but he has six WSOP bracelets for the 1992 $1,500 Seven-Card Stud, 1995 $2,500 Seven-Card Stud Split, 1995 $2,500 Limit Hold'em, 1996 $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better, 2003 $5,000 Seven Card Stud, and the 2003 $1,500 Ace to Five Triple Draw Lowball. Should he win a million-dollar tournament, Nguyen says, he might build another school in Vietnam, or build more houses for the homeless. He has already built a kindergarten in his homeland, and he regularly sends money to children there - some of whom, he says, are already like his godchildren.

Nguyen has been very influential in the world of poker and he stands out because of his charismatic personality, his openness and optimism. He is known for tutoring players, including his cousins David Pham and Minh Nguyen. He is believed to have trained more tournament winners than anyone else, according to Benny Binion Behnen, grandson of Benny Binion. In 1991 one of his students gave him the nickname "The Master," and now he is widely known as "Men the Master."

Nguyen currently resides in Bell Gardens, California, with his wife Tuyet and their child.

Fun Facts:

• Won the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year award in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005
• Brought 14,000 kilograms of rice to poor Vietnamese families in spring 2006.
• Financed the construction of two schools in Vietnam.
• Has three daughters, each born on the same date but in different years.