Soi Nguyen Bio

The WSOP main-event final table may have been inundated with amateurs the previous few years, but in 2010, there was only one — Soi Nguyen.

Like many casual players of the game, Nguyen had fantasized about playing in the main event ever since he watched Chris Moneymaker win it all on ESPN seven years ago.

“I’ve always wanted to play in the main event. Ever since I saw Chris Moneymaker play in the main event, I said, ‘I’m going to give it a shot one day,’” said Nguyen. “I talked to my boss and told him I was going to take some time off and try it, just so I could look back and say, ‘at least I played in it once.’”

Well, Nguyen has accomplished in one tournament what many poker players fail to accomplish in hundreds. He made the final table.

It was an accomplishment that is all the more stunning considering Nguyen’s relative inexperience.

“My background in poker is very limited. I’ve gone to play poker maybe five or six times in the last three years. That’s how little experience I have in this game,” said Nguyen at the time. “I have only played in a couple tournaments before.”

Fortunately for Nguyen, he has some talented friends. He grew up with Nam and Tommy Le, two respected pros, and also had Tuan Le and Chino Rheem cheering him on.

“I have a couple friends who play professional poker and I’ve known them as a kid. We played poker as kids, but nothing serious,” said Nguyen, who works at a medical supply company as the head of its authorization billing department.