News / nono / 18 September 2008 / Leave a comment

The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas has recently been aired on American TV and could well turn out to be the most talked about poker TV show for many years, but probably not for the action on the table, writes Rob Eddy.

In case you don't know the result, Vietnamese poker legend Thuan 'Scotty' Nguyen eventually beat Michael DeMichele heads-up to land his fifth gold bracelet and almost $2 million in prize money.

However, it is the manner of his win and the fact that he was clearly intoxicated that will cause the biggest stir. It seemed every other word was some sort of expletive and he probably managed to upset just about everybody in the building.

It seems the early actions of his eventual heads-up opponent when bowing to the crowd and his own supporters got Nguyen riled, but his antics that ensued certainly were not befitting of a man dubbed 'The Prince of Poker'.

His other moniker, 'The Train', was a tad more appropriate and hopefully such play will not be seen around the felt again - although it probably makes for good television.

Don't get me wrong, I am in general a big fan of the 1998 WSOP Main Event champion as he does play with his heart on his sleeve, while also trying to entertain the crowd.

And maybe at the WSOPE - which kicks off tomorrow in London - he will exercise a little more restraint on the alcohol front - although whether obvious drunken-ness will be tolerated on these shores remains to be seen as I can testify having been asked to leave a number of casinos myself.

It does raise the question of why the tournament director did not take action though, as he broke a number of rules during the final table with his disruptiveness, abusiveness, showing of cards to the crowd and even trying to collude with Erick Lindgren amongst other things.

To his credit though, Nguyen has apologised to his fans since then and hopefully he can put it behind him and get back to playing great poker.

One thing is for sure, it is unlikely that this will be the last time that someone acts like an idiot when they win or lose at a poker table!