Playing in only his fourth live poker tournament, Cuong “Soi” Nguyen of Santa Ana, California was determined to leave his mark on the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event with his aggressive style and strong reads. Throughout the tournament, Nguyen built his stack through a number of aggressive big-stack plays, putting pressure on his opponents. Lurking near the top of the chip counts for a few days, Nguyen exploded during the middle of Day 7 to take the overall chip lead after winning by far the largest pot of the tournament at the time from the Day 6 chip leader, Theo Jorgensen. He was born in Vietnam and ultimately took ninth place for $811,823.
Soi Nguyen entered the final table of the 2010 Main Event with the eighth largest chip stack at 9.65 million. Nguyen was the executioner of Patrick Eskandar in 20th place. Eskandar was all-in before the flop and received calls from Pascal LeFrancois and Nguyen. On a flop of Q-9-10, Nguyen bet and LeFrancois got out of the way. Nguyen showed K-Q for top pair, second kicker, while Eskandar flipped up A-7 of hearts for ace-high. The board filled out 10-K and Eskandar was relegated to the rails.
Nguyen shoved late on the play down day on a flop of 5-J-6-6 and Jason “PBJaxx” Senti tanked for one minute before electing to fold. The hand was one of many that could have potentially decided the 2010 WSOP November Nine with an all-in and a call.
Entering the hand in the top five in chips with a little over nine million, Nguyen check-raised a bet of 525,000 to 1.5 million in a three-way pot holding Kh-Jc with the board reading Kc-5h-9c. Jorgenson, determined to take down the pot, pushed the action with a raise to four million, leaving Nguyen with the decision of a lifetime.
Nguyen ultimately decided his K-J was the best hand and moved all-in for his remaining 7.62 million. Jorgensen called and turned over his nut flush draw with the Ac-3c and the two players prepared themselves to see two most important cards of their poker careers. The dealer completed the board with the Td on the turn and the 3d on the river, sending the 19.52 million chip pot to Nguyen and placing him firmly in the lead with just 42 players remaining in the prestigious tournament.
In his personal life, Nguyen works as a medical supplies distributor. He is friends with a few poker professionals from Southern California, from whom he learned to play. The 2010 Main Event is Nguyen’s first ever World Series of Poker event. He is 37 years old.
*** Poker News Daily caught up with Cuong “Soi” Nguyen right after the 2010 November Nine were set for an exclusive video interview. ***