Generation Next -- Tri Nguyen

Tri Nguyen's parents wanted more for their children than the lives they'd known in Vietnam. So, they sold everything they owned and set sail on a small boat with their two young sons. By some miracle, the family landed safely in Hong Kong, where they lived in a refugee camp for five years before making their way to the United States. Tri would enter the school system in Los Angeles and then eventually graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, paying his way through school as a tutor. Then, he found poker.

"I played poker after I graduated college a semester early with a computer science degree," said Nguyen. "And I made money. I took that money and bought a house for my family."

Nguyen organized cash games on campus after seeing the movie Rounders. Within a few months, he decided to take his $2,000 of profit and newfound skills to the Internet. Possessing loads of natural talent and more than a little gamble in his blood, Nguyen quickly found success as he worked his way up to the highest cash games played online.

At 23 years old, Nguyen realized that to be well-rounded financially, he needed to generate income for his family away from the computer, and he has begun to study real estate and business. Also, he recently co-authored a medium-stakes cash-game e-book with Cole "cts" South titled Let There be Range. There's no doubt that his family will continue to be proud of his achievements, wherever he chooses to focus his laser-like attention.

Craig Tapscott: What did it feel like to surprise your parents with a new home?

Tri Nguyen: I didn't appreciate what it means to them until I saw the happiness on their faces after we all moved in. I graduated a semester early so I could play on my own time. This was the reason I chose to graduate early, so they would give me a chance to play and make money. Now my parents accept poker.

CT: Let's talk about your poker beginnings.

TN: I actually moved up stakes pretty quick. I started at $2-$4.

CT: Wow. What was your bankroll?

TN: $2,000. I had no clue what bankroll management was at this point, only that I had enough money to buy in, so I played. Then I went to PartyPoker and played $3-$6 and got lucky, so I moved up to $5-$10 and just stayed there.

CT: What's the secret? How did you move up so fast?

TN: The number-one thing I realized now seems really trivial, but it's a really important concept. I noticed when I bet with my good hands, opponents folded. So I thought, if I'm betting with my good hands and they fold, and they don't know what I have, what happens if I bet with other hands? Now I'm betting with bad hands, and they fold, too. In the beginning, that's what happened.

CT: Sounds easy.

TN: Now, of course, that I understand the game better and at a conceptual level, I can put it into words. What I was doing was more like randomizing my strategy by bet, bet, and bet. As I moved up levels, I realized that people like to fold. Even though people say they are a calling station, they are not. They say that so people won't try to bluff them. Mostly, they like to fold.

CT: So, just blind aggression.

TN: A lot of players are willing to take abuse. In the beginning, that's how I beat everybody - by throwing a lot of aggression at them, and after a while, they kind of break or lose it. Then they are done. That's when you slow down and change gears. But now in the game, everyone is getting better at tilt control, or they know how to counter an opponent's aggressive strategy better.

CT: What's one key when moving up from low-stakes cash games?

TN: The one thing that is important when you're moving up is knowing that no one is making as many plays as you think they are - everybody from $2-$4 to $10-$20. They aren't running you over like you think in your head they may be. That's an illusion that players have when they move up. They are still playing the same number of hands that people play in low stakes, but they are just more aggressive. And you are overestimating their bluffing frequency, and because of that, you are overestimating your hand value. Then you end up donating your whole stack to them. People just don't make that many plays.