Men 'The Master' Nguyen - Card Player's 2001 Player of the Year By Jeff Shulman

Card Player's 2001 Player of the Year was decided in the final event of the year for the second straight year. Men "The Master" Nguyen and John Juanda both made the final table at the $7,500 no-limit hold'em championship at the United States Poker Championship, and Men captured the Player of the Year award after he won the event. In this article, I will discuss how the points were accumulated, list the top five players of the year with their accomplishments, mention a few interesting statistics, and talk a little with Men "The Master" Nguyen and John Juanda. In the next issue, an article about the individual game winners will appear.

Scoring: There were three criteria for scoring an event (number of entrants, amount of the buy-in, and place finished). The scoring for the number of entrants was calculated by dividing the total number of entrants by 100. However, if there were fewer than 100 entrants, it was counted as 100, and if there were more than 300 entrants, it was counted as 300. Therefore, if there were 124 entrants, it was counted as 1.2 points, whereas 125 entrants was counted as 1.3 points.

The amount of the buy-ins were scored from 1 point to 4 points. The 1-point events ranged from $50 to $299, 2-point events ranged from $300 to $999, and 3 points were given to events with buy-ins of $1,000 and more. A new feature last year was a 4-point factor for no-limit hold'em events that had at least a $5,000 buy-in and a first-place prize of at least $100,000.

The points for place finished were awarded as follows: 100 points for first, 90 for second, 80 for third, 70 for fourth, 60 for fifth, and so on.

Here is a real example from the $300 no-limit hold'em event at The Bicycle Casino's Legends of Poker tournament: Toto "The Ripper" Leonidas finished second out of 244 players. Toto received 2.4 points for the number of entants, 2 points because the event had a $300 buy-in, and 90 points for finishing second. Therefore, Toto earned 432 points (2.4 × 2 × 90).

Qualifying tournaments: Qualifying tournaments were those that had a total prize pool of at least $100,000 for all events or were "grandfathered" in from the year before. The following tournaments, in chronological order, counted toward the 2001 Player of the Year award:

Host Tournament

Reno Hilton World Poker Challenge

Casino San Pablo Golden Gate Classic

Commerce Casino L.A. Poker Classic

Spirit Mountain Casino Oregon Open

The Bicycle Casino Winnin' o' the Green

Hollywood Park Casino Sport of Kings

Horseshoe Casino & Gold Strike Casino Jack Binion World Poker Open

Bay 101 Shooting Star Tournament

Foxwoods Resort and Casino New England Poker Classic

Casino San Pablo Northern California Championship

Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino Spring Fling

Binion's Horseshoe World Series of Poker

The Bicycle Casino Mini Series of Poker

The Bicycle Casino America's Poker Classic

Reno Hilton Pot of Gold

Commerce Casino California State Poker Championship

Lucky Chances Casino $200,000 Battle of the Bay

The Bicycle Casino Stars & Stripes 2001

Casino San Pablo San Francisco Open

The Orleans Hotel and Casino Orleans Open

The Orleans Hotel and Casino Tournament of Champions

The Bicycle Casino Legends of Poker

Horseshoe Casino (Tunica) 2nd Annual Mid-America Poker Classic

Four Queens Hotel and Casino Four Queens Classic

Commerce Casino Heavenly Hold'em

Hollywood Park Casino National Championship of Poker

Reno Hilton Pot of Gold

The Bicycle Casino Big Poker Oktober

Spirit Mountain Casino Anniversary Series 2001

Casino San Pablo Thunder by the Bay

Canterbury Park Fall Classic Poker Tournament

Peppermill Hotel and Casino Peppermill Fall Tournament

Foxwoods Resort and Casino World Poker Finals

Lucky Chances Casino $225,000 Gold Rush

Hollywood Park Casino The Tom McEvoy Tournament

The Bicycle Casino Ho-Ho Hold'em

Eldorado Hotel and Casino Eldorado Poker Classic

Trump Taj Mahal United States Poker Championship

Commerce Casino Holiday Bonus Tournament

Reno Hilton Holiday Classic Poker Tournament

In 2001, there were 40 qualifying tournaments throughout the country. In these 40 tournaments, there was a total of 471 different events. There were seven no-limit hold'em championship events that qualified for 4 points. There were 2,105 players who received points by making a final table in these events. Because of space constraints, I will write about only the top five overall players. This year (2002), you will be able to check www.cardplayer.com to see how you are doing even if you are No. 2,105.

Past Player of the Year Winners

2000 – David "The Dragon" Pham

1999 – Tony "The Animal" Ma

1998 – T.J. Cloutier

1997 – Men "The Master" Nguyen

2001 Overall Player Standings

1. Men "The Master" Nguyen, Bell Gardens, CA 6,359 points

2. John Juanda, Alhambra, CA 6,138

3. Scotty Nguyen, Henderson, NV 5,206

4. Amir Vahedi, Los Angeles, CA 5,077

5. Tony "The Animal" Ma, S. El Monte, CA 4,829

6. Toto "The Ripper" Leonidas, Los Angeles, CA 4,293

7. "Syracuse" Chris Tsiprailidis, Syracuse, NY 4,262

8. Daniel Negreanu, Las Vegas, NV 4,112

9. "Miami" John Cernuto, Las Vegas, NV 4,035

10. David "The Dragon" Pham, Bell Gardens, CA 3,673

11. Stan Goldstein, Los Angeles, CA 3,448

12. T.J. Cloutier, Richardson, TX 3,359

13. Paul Ladanyi, Los Angeles, CA 3,334

14. Randy Holland, Tallahassee, FL 3,299

15. Allen Cunningham, Marina Del Rey, CA 3,276

16. Minh Nguyen, Bell Gardens, CA 3,191

17. Tom Cawley, Whittier, CA 2,962

18. Sirous Baghchehsaraie, Marina Del Rey, CA 2,865

19. Phil Hellmuth Jr., Palo Alto, CA 2,864

20. Phillip Ivey, Atlantic City, NJ 2,785

Now let's see how the top five players got there. As the race was so close between Men Nguyen and John Juanda, I interviewed both of them, because each had an incredible year.

Men "The Master" Nguyen is a 47-year-old professional poker player who moved to the United States in 1978. Men stated, "I owe everything to America. Without it, I wouldn't have the opportunity to do what I am doing today. God bless America!" While living in Vietnam, he played no-limit five-card stud. Men loves to play no-limit poker, because it is the game in which his reading skills most stand out. His other favorite game is seven-card stud eight-or-better, because it is a counting game. He prefers playing tournaments over live-action games because with a small investment, he can reap a huge reward. Here is my brief interview with Men:

Jeff Shulman: What advice can you give to a new player?

Men Nguyen: As you learn, you must create your own strategy. Once you do this, you have to change it. The most important part of poker is being unpredictable and always changing the way that you play.

JS: Which poker player do you admire the most as a player and as a person at the table?

MN: I admire Allen Cunningham the most. He always makes good decisions and never says a word at the table. He is a polite young man. However, as far as no-limit hold'em poker is concerned, Phil Hellmuth is definitely the best, in my opinion. He has won the most money at the World Series of Poker and is a fellow Buddhist.

JS: Why do you think you are a good player?

MN: I am good because of my reading skills. I watch everyone throughout the tournament. Even when I am not in a hand, I pretend that I am one of the remaining players in the hand. At that point, I have to be able to figure out what two or three people have. Because of my reading ability, I can play more hands. For example, I will play almost every hand while I'm on a rush, and if I don't have a good flop, I will fold. It is very hard to put me on a hand when I have chips.

JS: What was your happiest moment in poker?

MN: It had to be when I won the championship at the Taj Mahal in December. I love no-limit hold'em so much, but I have never won a major no-limit hold'em championship. By winning that event, I won more than $200,000 and won a Rolex watch, and clinched Player of the Year.

JS: What do you like doing outside of poker?

MN: I like spending time with my wife and children. I have four girls and one boy, and we love eating good food, going to movies, and playing together. Three of my girls (Mulan, Anna, and Tiffany) have the same birthday, but four years apart. I think that is a record.

JS: I know that you organized a charity event at The Bicycle Casino last year in which the proceeds went to the Red Cross to help out the cause in New York. Do you give away any other money to charities?

MN: In 1990, I was in a jungle in Vietnam and saw a temple without a roof. I promised that if I had a good year, I would help rebuild it. I went on to win two events at the Hall of Fame, and flew back to Vietnam and rebuilt the temple. In 1996, I built a school for kindergartners and built two additional rooms at a different school. Every time I do well in a live-action game or a tournament, I put money in a box at home. At the end of the year, I take the money back to Vietnam and buy food for those who can't afford it.

JS: Wow, that's great!

Men won six events in 2001, which put him in a first-place tie in that category with Scotty Nguyen and Randy Holland. In addition, he had five second-place finishes. He made six final tables at the United States Poker Championship, winning two events (including the championship), and capturing two seconds, a fifth, and a sixth. He finished second in an Omaha eight-or-better event and third in a pot-limit hold'em event at the World Series of Poker. He also won a second and a third place out of four events at the Shooting Star, and a first and a third at the World Poker Open. Men made 21 final tables last year, and a majority of his points came in events with large fields.

John Juanda is only 30 years old and is already one of the best poker players in the world. He moved to the United States from Indonesia when he was 20. After graduating from Oklahoma State University, he got an MBA from Seattle University. John has a knack for big-bet poker and enjoys playing mixed games when he plays live-action. While eating Dim Sum, John and I chatted.

Jeff Shulman: Where and why did you start playing poker?

John Juanda: I started playing about five years ago, while going to grad school at Seattle University. I used to drive an hour and a half to Bellingham to play $1-$4 seven-card stud. Being in college, $1-$4 stud was about as much as I could afford. Actually, I started out with just a $100 bankroll. I turned that modest $100 bankroll into a little more than $15,000 in just four months. Later, I found that there were higher-limit games being played in a cardroom only a half-hour away. With my new "monster" bankroll, $10-$20 became a more comfortable limit for me to play. After finishing school and getting my MBA, I decided to move to L.A. to give professional poker a try. It was a decision that seems to have worked out pretty well for me.

JS: You are obviously very successful at tournament poker; how does that success compare to your cash game results? Also, how high are you playing these days?

JJ: Well, I've played as high as $1,500-$3,000, but I normally play limits in the $400-$800 range. Side games have clearly been more lucrative for me, but I also enjoy the competitive nature of tournament poker. One of my passions has always been traveling. I also enjoy meeting new people and spending time with my friends, and tournaments give me the opportunity to do both.

JS: Whose poker game do you admire most among your peers?

JJ: Allen Cunningham's. He is, in my opinion, already the best side game and tournament player today, yet he is still working hard to improve his game. These days, he is concentrating more on side games, although he still plays the bigger tournaments like the World Series of Poker. I predict that if he continues at this pace, he'll one day be the all-time money leader at the World Series.

JS: Which players do you most respect in the poker world?

JJ: There are too many to mention, but I'll mention the few who stick out in my mind. Allen, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Randy Holland, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, and Bobby Hoff. I respect these players not only for their play, but also because they are great ambassadors for the game and are all-around good people.

JS: What are your favorite hobbies?

JJ: I like sucking out (laughing). Having the worst hand going in doesn't scare me much, that's how you win big pots! Seriously, though, I love to travel, read, analyze business deals, and eat good food.

JS: Speaking of business, have you taken anything from the business world that has helped you at the poker tables?

JJ: Hmm … I would have to say that the business world taught me how to prepare. I usually go to a poker game with a well-thought strategy/game plan. It also taught me discipline and money management.

JS: What is your most memorable poker moment?

JJ: I was heads up in the 1998 Legends of Poker championship event against a very classy guy named Al Stonum. It looked like I had a lot more chips than he did, we got all in, and I won the hand. As he got up to shake my hand, I decided that we might as well count the chips. After counting, he still had a few chips left. At the time, I had him about 50-1, and he came back and beat me. This was a championship event, and it took me three more years to win my first (2001 World Poker Open). Many people asked me why I said anything, and I responded by saying it was the right thing to do. If I could do it all over again, I would do the same thing – but hopefully I would win.

JS: That's a great story – and a classy act on your part.

John's second-place point total in 2001 would have been good for first place any other year. He had five first-place finishes, all in big events: the championship event at the World Poker Open, an Omaha eight-or-better event at the L.A. Poker Classic, a pot-limit hold'em event at the Legends of Poker, a no-limit hold'em event at the Four Queens, and a seven-card stud eight-or-better event at the World Poker Finals. John crushed the seven-card stud eight-or-better category in 2001, and made three final tables or more in four tournaments. John also won the best overall player award at the Legends of Poker at The Bicycle Casino. He dominated the Player of the Year field in final-table appearances with 27, which was six more than the next closest competitor and the most in the history of the Player of the Year award.

Third-place finisher Scotty Nguyen, the 1998 world champion, was in contention for the Player of the Year award, but missed the United States Poker Championship because of a prior commitment to go to Aruba for the Caribbean Poker Classic. If you ask any of the top pros who they think is the best player, you'll get many answers, but most will agree that Scotty is the best at Omaha high-low, and he had the best year of anyone in the big events. He won six events in 2001, including the championship at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, a pot-limit Omaha event and the $5,000 Omaha high-low event at the World Series of Poker, and one of the $300,000-guaranteed events at the Heavenly Hold'em tournament at Commerce Casino. Scotty plays mostly in the big events, and did well in them. Of the 18 final tables that he made, he finished first six times and second once. As he said, "It is all about winning, baby!"

Amir Vahedi, who finished in fourth place, had a couple of nice runs at the Player of the Year award with big streaks at the Orleans Open and the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. Amir won the coveted no-limit hold'em category in 2001 by winning the no-limit hold'em championship at the Orleans Open and back-to-back no-limit hold'em events at Foxwoods. He made three final tables at the L.A. Poker Classic, the Orleans Open, the World Poker Finals, and the United States Poker Championship. Of Amir's 20 final-table finishes, 16 were in hold'em and three were in Omaha eight-or-better. He was also the best overall player at the World Poker Finals.

Tony Ma once again made the top five in the Player of the Year race after a second-place finish in 2000 and first place in 1999. Tony finished in the top 10 in the Player of the Year standings in four event categories in 2001, including second place in Omaha high-low split. Tony's big points came in events with large fields. He also made a few final tables in championship events to help the tally. Of Tony's 19 final-table finishes, seven came in no-limit hold'em. Because of his consistency, Tony should always do well in the standings.

Notes on the Overall Standings

• Four of the top 100 players were females (Melissa Hayden, Nani Dollison, Kathy Liebert, and Beverly Kruskol).

• Five of the top 100 players live outside of the United States (Chris Bjorn – England, Asher Derei – Israel, Cy Jassinowsky – South Africa, Carlos Mortenson – Spain, and David "Devilfish" Ulliott – England).

• Twelve of the top 20 players live in the Los Angeles area.

• Seven of the qualifying tournaments were held at The Bicycle Casino.

• Four players made 20 or more final tables (John Juanda – 27, David Levi – 21, Men "The Master" Nguyen – 21, and Amir Vahedi – 20). John's 27 final-table finishes broke Men "The Master" Nguyen's record of 26 in 1997.

• Three players had six tournament victories (Men "The Master" Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, and Randy Holland).

• One player won two individual game categories ("Miami" John Cernuto – seven-card stud and mixed games).