Prince joins elite club

News / Amy / 02 July 2008 / Leave a comment

Scott Nguyen demonstrated his all-round poker prowess by taking down the 2008 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship in Las Vegas to land his fifth World Series of Poker bracelet and end a run of seven years without one, writes Rob Eddy.

The Prince of Poker was the WSOP Main Event champion ten years ago, but last picked up the famous wrist-candy back in 2001, with two victories in different Omaha events.

The 45-year-old from Vietnam looked to have got his game back to the top level when he went deep into last year's WSOP Main Event but ran in to a horrendous run of fortune and crashed out in 11th when many thought he was going to win.

That defeat set him back to a large extent and although he travelled to London for the inaugural WSOP Europe last year, he was knocked out before he could cash.

Well he has bounced back with a vengeance to land event 45 over in Sin City and scoop a massive prize of $1,989,120 - more than he won for his Main Event win back in 1998 - and he joins an elite club of five-time bracelet winners that includes Allen Cunningham, Phil Ivey, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson and Stu 'The Kid' Ungar.

Nguyen, who started playing poker around 20 years ago before building a bankroll big enough to enter tournaments in 1994, also picked up the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy with his victory.

"When I was first coming into poker, I wanted to be playing with Doyle (Brunson), Chip (Reese), and Stuey (Ungar)," Nguyen said. "Now, two of them are gone. I wanted to win this trophy to be the first winner to honor Chip."

A rediscovered winning habit on the WSOP tables is sure to make the man who likes to think of himself as the people's champion a tough nut to crack when the big one kicks off on Thursday, while he has got to be a man to watch out for when he returns to London for the WSOPE, starting on September 19.