Men “The Master” Nguyen is a professional poker player, born in 1954, in Phan Thiet, Vietnam. When he was 13 years old he left school and began to work as a bus driver so he could support his family. In early 1978 he escaped from his country by boat with another 87 refugees. The same year he received a political asylum from the United States and settled in Los Angeles, acquiring American citizenship in 1986. When he got in the United States he couldn’t speak English at all, that’s why he began to attend English classes, and for some time he worked as a machinist, earning $10 a day. Then one day a friend of his picked him up to Las Vegas and then Men played poker for the very first time. That happened in 1985.
In his first game of poker Men Nguyen lost all money he had. Despite that he continued to go there every weekend and continued to lose hundreds of dollars, which got him the nickname “Money Machine”. But Men quickly learned the fine points of the game and that led to his first win at a tournament at his very first participation. That happened on August 2nd, 1987, at the Limit Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 3rd Annual Diamond Jim Brady, Los Angeles where he finished 1st and won $27.000. The money earned from poker he invested in different business and so he became an owner of a dry cleaning and a furniture store. Soon after, in 1990, he sold them as he couldn’t spend much time there and the winnings were minor.
Men Nguyen has participated in major poker games almost every year since he first entered a tournament. He had 54 first place finishes and has over 120 money finishes. Besides that he also works as a poker coach. Many of his students became very successful poker players, including his cousins David Pham and Minh Nguyen. Men receives one part of his student’s winnings. In 1991 he was named “The Master” by one of his students and now is mostly known as "Men the Master”. His latest appearance on a tournament by was at the 39th World Series of Poker 2008 where his total winnings exceeded $59.194. His total live tournament winnings exceed $8,600,000 to this date, and is ranked 16th by the ProRank 1 Position and 65th by the ProRank 2 Position.
Nguyen now resides in Bell Gardens, California. He is married with 3 children – Mulan, Anna and Tiffany. He loves spending a lot of time with his family and is crazy about his children. His wife -Van “Mrs. Master” Nguyen is a poker player too.
Men Nguyen donates one part of his money, earned in poker games in different kinds of charities in his original country Vietnam and in 1996, with the money won at the World Series of Poker, he built a kindergarten in Vietnam. Men Nguyen loves traveling and visiting different places, as well as listening to music and watching movies, but most of his time he spends in poker.