World Poker Tour

Van Nguyen “Mrs. Master“

Birthplace
Vietnam

Birthday
July 4

Total Winnings

Van Nguyen has not even been in America for most of her life. She was born and lived her younger years in Vietnam, which is where she met Men Nguyen. He traveled to meet her family, then brought her to the United States, where they settled in Bell Gardens, California. While she has been perfectly content being a wife and mother to her three children, proudly proclaiming homemaker as her occupation, it was when her children got older and didn’t need the constant care that she became a bit restless.

With a husband who was a successful poker player, it was only natural that Van began to learn the game. Men, commonly referred to as “The Master,” taught her to play limit hold’em, then no-limit. For three years, she has spent time sitting behind her husband at poker tables and watched him play. And when she dove into cash games and small tournaments, Men sat behind her and critiqued her game so she could improve. With the support of her biggest fan, Van took to the game like a pro.

Van has several tournament cashes to her credit, including a World Series of Poker money finish in 2007. But on March 1st, 2008, she would find herself at a World Poker Tour final table – one of a handful of women who have made it that far in a mixed event. Though she played a slow and careful strategy at the final table, it worked against her opponents because she won the tournament and became the first woman to ever win a WPT mixed event. With her proud husband at her side, she happily accepted the winnings, knowing that she would give ten percent to the children of Vietnam, a tradition that her husband started years ago. Van then followed up her WPT win with a final table appearance at the WPT Ladies Championship in April, and though she finished in sixth place, the poker community is only seeing the beginning of what Mrs. Master can do.