Tommy Nguyen has been playing poker for close to a decade but has never been consistent at winning. He accumulated very little in winnings during the 10 years that he played and did not know that he would have a life changing experience at his very first World Series of Poker (WSOP) appearance.
This year has been good for the poker pro as he had his first major cashout in April at the partypoker MILLIONS Main Event held in Kahnawake. Nguyen made the final table and finished in 8th place to take home $167,918 in winnings. That win gave him the money he needed along with the confidence to make his way to the 2018 WSOP and play events that he found interesting.
The Canadian poker pro registered to play event 44: No-Limit Hold'em MONSTER STACK which had a buy-in of $1,500 and surprised everyone including himself when he outlasted the competition and finished in first place. He won a life changing sum of money as he took home a cheque for $1,037,451 along with a coveted WSOP gold bracelet.
Nguyen Works On His Game Before Playing WSOP
While some might put it down to luck, Nguyen has been working hard on his game and the hard work paid great dividends for him at the 2018 WSOP. When he registered for the event, Nguyen told himself that he was going to win the gold and he eventually did.
In a statement, Nguyen said,
Honestly, people think I’m crazy, but I envisioned this. I envisioned winning bracelets coming here. I didn’t doubt I was going to win even when I was short. I knew this was going to happen… I dreamed of this and I believed I could make it. I came for a bracelet and I got it
In the end, Nguyen toppled over one of the largest playing fields in the WSOP and ran through 6,260 players. James Carroll took second place and received $640,916 for his effort while Frank Rusnak took third place and $475,212.
The 28-year-old Nguyen is proof that success does find a way of coming to you when you don’t give up on your dreams. He set himself a goal that if he does not become successful at poker by the age of 30, he would quit the game, finish his degree and start working as an accountant. Now that he has over $1.2 million in career prize money, he will continue to play poker.
