Men Nguyen: From broken heart to world's "Poker god", just had over 1.5 billion stolen

Men Nguyen is known as the "poker god" of the world, living and working in the US. However, he still has his heart set on his homeland, and has often returned to Vietnam to participate in charity activities for many years.

Nguyen Van Men, also known as Men Nguyen (born 1954), is a famous figure in the gambling world in Las Vegas. He was honored as "Player of the Year" by the American Card Player Magazine in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005.

In addition, Men is also in the top 10 list of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). After months of participating in tournaments, the "god of cards" often returns to Vietnam to rest. As he shared, returning to his hometown brings him a strange sense of peace.

It is known that Men Nguyen grew up in Duc Nghia, Phan Thiet and had a difficult childhood, to the point that he never dared to dream of having a full meal. At the age of 13, he dropped out of school and got a job as a bus conductor, then drove the Saigon-Phan Thiet route.

It was the hardships and difficulties that fueled Men Nguyen's will to change his life. In 1978, he decided to leave his homeland, along with his acquaintances, to seek new opportunities in the United States. In the early days in a foreign land, Men faced many challenges, had no relatives, no finances, and could not find a job.

After that, the son of Phan Thiet applied to work as a porter and assistant for a company specializing in selling household goods in Cali and studied English at night. After getting his driver's license, he was assigned to drive a truck to transport goods for a meager wage of 10 USD/day.

In English class, Men Nguyen sat next to a brown-skinned girl from El Salvador and the two quickly fell in love and married, living together on the eighth floor of a small apartment building. However, with Men’s meager salary, the couple’s life always faced many difficulties.

In 1985, his Salvadoran wife suddenly left the cramped room and took their little daughter with her without saying goodbye. Depressed and frustrated, Men Nguyen lost interest in work and sought to forget his troubles with alcohol.

Sympathizing with his wife and children's situation, a colleague invited him to go to Las Vegas for the weekend to play blackjack and roulette with the house to relieve his sadness. Wandering with only $2,100 in his pocket, after losing all $500, fate pushed Men Nguyen into the poker room of Caesars Palace casino.

Realizing that poker was similar to poker, which he used to play with friends at bus stations in Vietnam when he had free time, he joined in betting. After four games, the unlucky man lost 1,200 USD.

Feeling frustrated, Men Nguyen spent the whole week thinking about poker games and strategies. Men looked in the mirror, evaluating his facial expressions when he decided to push his chips out to "bet", practicing to keep his hands from shaking, whether they were good or bad. Two weeks later, he decided to return to the casino to try his luck and unexpectedly won $3,500 to the surprise of the gamblers.

From that point on, every weekend Men Nguyen went to Las Vegas to play poker to earn a living, observe and learn from the big players to gain experience. After more than 6 months of playing poker, the small, yellow-skinned man began to attract a lot of attention because of his calm, confident playing style and extremely cold demeanor.

In early 1987, Men Nguyen won his first tournament for a prize of $27,000. Over the next 20 years, he "bombed" 75 tournaments, winning seven gold and diamond belts of the tournament organized by the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Men was so famous that in his matches, he often ended with the phrase: "That's poker, baby" and was widely used by gamblers in situations where they thought they would win for sure but were suddenly and painfully defeated.

Thanks to his skillful gambling, Men Nguyen has accumulated a huge fortune, enough for him to own many luxury houses in the US. Although his life has changed, the heart of the "Poker God" still turns to his homeland. He often returns and contributes to social activities.

At each tournament, Men often donates a percentage and also carries a donation box around the casino to call on people to help send money back to Vietnam for children in his homeland. In addition, Mr. Men also coordinates with casinos to make dolls in his image or key chains, cards with his image to sell to raise money for charity.

On August 24, the police force of Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province, announced the preliminary investigation results of a property theft that took place at a house on Tran Hung Dao Street, Duc Long Ward, Phan Thiet City. The owner of the house was none other than Men Nguyen.

On August 25, Phan Thiet City police announced the arrest of Dinh Chi Vu to investigate his act of breaking into the room of the "Poker god" in Duc Long ward, and stealing many assets worth over 1.5 billion VND.

Previously, in May, Men Nguyen went to the US for work and left the house on Tran Hung Dao Street to his sister and nephews to look after. When he returned on August 20, he discovered that the bedroom had been unlocked, the safe had been broken into, and 200 million VND, 8,000 USD, 3 Rolex watches and many other pieces of jewelry had been stolen. Because he had just returned from a long trip and felt tired, he reported the incident to the police the next day.

After that, Phan Thiet City Police worked with the professional departments of Binh Thuan Province Police to conduct an investigation of the scene and search for traces. They identified Vu, Mr. Men's nephew, as the main suspect in the case. Vu also admitted that two months ago, because he needed money for spending and playing games, he had the idea of stealing his nephew's property.