'The Master' Climbs Poker Mountain by Back RoadsMen Nguyen is a Big Man Playing Small |
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Men “the Master” Nguyen, four-time Card Player Player of the Year (POY), is again paving a route to the top of the mountain by blasting through smaller buy-in events at the L.A. Poker Classic.
By winning a $300, a $1,500, and a $2,500 event at the LAPC since February 3, he has pocketed $139,869. He also won an additional $7,208 for cashing in two other events. So far in 2008, he’s made six final tables, won four events (the three at the LAPC and a $500 event at the World Poker Tour World Poker Open, which was good for $51,330), and cashed a total of nine times for $506,128.
With 2,432 POY points, he sits just behind POY leader Michael McDonald, who has 2,920 points (2,400 of those came from winning the European Poker Tour German Open earlier this month). 
Winning or placing in the top five of smaller buy-in tournaments over and over, all while collecting bucket-loads of POY points slowly as the year goes on, should be called “The Men Method,” as he has perfected it.
In 1997, when Nguyen won the inaugural Card Player POY prize, his biggest win of the six he banked was in a $1,000 event. He also won events with buy-ins of $500, $300 (twice), and $200 (twice). He finished in the top five 15 times. In six of those events, the buy-in was $500. It was $1,000 once, $2,500 once, $300 once, $200 three times, $100 twice, and $50 once. Yes, $50.
In 2001, when Nguyen became the first player with multiple POY titles, he won seven events, the largest being the $7,500 United States Poker Championship. He also won events with buy-ins of $1,000, $500, $200 (twice), $300, and $50. Nguyen finished in the top five in tourneys 13 times, the largest buy-in being $2,000, the smallest $100. He also finished in the top 10 four times, the largest buy-in being $5,000, the smallest, $50 again.
In 2003, when Nguyen became the first person to win three POY titles, he won 10 events, the largest being a $5,000 buy-in events (he also won one with a $1,500 buy-in, two with $1,000, three with $500, two for $300, and one for $200. He finished in the top five seven times in events with buy-ins of $2,500, $1,500 (twice), $1,000, $500, $300, and $100. He finished in the top 10 eight times, the largest buy-in being $2,500 and the smallest $200.
Then, in 2005, Nguyen did the unthinkable when he won the award for a fourth time. He had an incredible 31 cashes that year in major events, including five wins, mainly at WSOP Circuit final tables. His biggest cash that year was for $243,000 for finishing as runner-up in WSOP Circuit event at Caesars Indiana. He made nearly $1 million that year and edged out John Phan by just 176 POY points.
Nguyen has won more than $8.2 million playing tournament poker, mostly by playing events that many of the biggest players would consider “small ball.” He has shown that the path to poker success is by playing in hundreds of events and chipping away at the prize pools. Do it enough in one calendar year, and the Card Player Player of the Year trophy is very likely. Nguyen just may be on his way to a fifth POY prize by beating up both the locals and the pros.
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