From Vietnam to Vegas!: How I Won the World Series of Poker Main Event (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781909457805)

Qui Nguyen was born in Saigon, Vietnam shortly after the end of the Vietnam War. From a young age he learned how to be self-reliant, selling goods on the street in order to get by. Qui lived in California, Alaska and Florida before settling in Las Vegas. He worked as a manicurist to support himself while developing his poker skills, and met his future wife when she visited his shop as a customer. Shortly after arriving in America, Qui was introduced to poker by friends. He initially learned to play at home games and eventually graduated to cash games in card rooms and casinos. After his move to Las Vegas he frequently played cash games at the Rio, Bellagio, Wynn, and Aria poker rooms. The aggressive style of his cash play at the Aria earned him the nickname "TommyGun"Qui currently lives in Las Vegas. When not playing poker he enjoys boating, fishing and playing, with his son.Qui works with various charities, including The Wounded Warrior Project, The One Step Closer Foundation, and a number of charities benefitting the poor in Vietnam. He has donated over $1million of his winnings to these charities. Steve Blay is a software engineer and poker coach. He and his brother Allen are the founders of AdvancedPokerTraining.com, which allows members to learn while playing poker against up to 8000 virtual opponents. Since 2009, the site has had over 30,000 members from 27 countries. Steve received national attention when his computerized simulation correctly predicted Qui Nguyen's dominating victory at the WSOP Main Event. When the news reached Qui's family, they flew him to Las Vegas to serve as Qui's personal poker advisor during the Final Table. Steve is also the founder of Friends Across the Ages, an outreach charity dedicated to mentoring volunteers to form friendships with nursing home residents. He and his wife, Allison, have coordinated the program since 1999. They live in Gainesville, Florida with their two children, Peter and Annie.