![\"Just](\"https:\/\/www.pokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/simulation.jpg\")
<\/a>Through our agent James Sullivan at Poker Royalty, I contacted Thomas Nguyen, Qui\u2019s older brother, and a deal was made.\u00a0 They would fly me to Las Vegas, and I would help \u201cTommyGun\u201d prepare for the event, and in return he would wear the AdvancedPokerTraining.com patch on TV.\u00a0 I crafted a special simulation for Qui in which he could play the final table out, over and over again, against digital representations of his opponents.\u00a0 And I continued to run more simulations, making small adjustments to the personalities of each opponent, to determine an optimal strategy.<\/p>\n
I should have known this was going to be a wild trip when I arrived at the airport and a guy who called himself \u201cSuper Mario\u201d was there to pick me up.\u00a0 This turned out to be Mario Orozco, Qui\u2019s manager.\u00a0 He drove me straight to the WSOP Hall-of-Fame Banquet, which happened to be that night.\u00a0 Within an hour of arriving in Vegas, I was snapping selfies with Doyle Brunson,\u00a0 Scotty Nguyen (no relation to Qui), and new hall-of-famers Todd Brunson and Carlos Mortensen.\u00a0 I even went over to Scotty\u2019s house the next day and played chess with his son \u2013 it was surreal.<\/p>\n
A funny moment:\u00a0 I showed up to meet Thomas the next\u00a0morning, and he handed me a stack of poker chips.\u00a0 \u201cHere,\u201d he said, \u201cI just bought you into the 10AM tournament, it\u2019s starting now\u201d.\u00a0 I told my wife Allison this story and she said, \u201cWow, that\u2019s kind of bold of him, how did he even know you would want to play a tournament at that time?\u201d\u00a0 I explained to her that this is simply good manners among poker players.\u00a0 We poker players understand each other.\u00a0 Of course I would want to play a poker tournament at 10AM.\u00a0 Why wouldn\u2019t I want to play a poker tournament?<\/p>\n The next few days are a blur of hanging out with a who\u2019s who of the Las Vegas high-stakes poker crowd.\u00a0 My suite on the 32nd<\/sup> floor at The Palms had a bar, fireplace, a sauna and hot tub in one of the 3 bathrooms, and 7 TVs that I was able to count, although there might have been a few more I didn\u2019t find.<\/p>\n Between all the fun and craziness, I got to know Qui Nguyen a little bit.\u00a0 He is originally from Saigon. Some of his family (including his Aunt and brother) left Vietnam for America right after the war, but due to some complex circumstances, Qui wasn’t able to leave the country until 1999. He now calls Las Vegas home, and has a wife and son.<\/p>\n Qui is a great person and I really enjoyed getting to know him. He’s not what you’d expect from a high-stakes poker player. His brother Thomas is a retired U.S. Marine and Qui had promised a significant portion of his winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project. \u00a0In return, Thomas assured us that Qui would have the full backing of the U.S. Marine Corps during the tournament, should the need have arisen. You know, it’s always good to be prepared for anything.<\/p>\n He also donated a portion to Marriage Boot Camp, which besides being a TV show, is a 4 day intensive marriage retreat. I’m told it was originally designed for U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq, who were having trouble readjusting to family\/married life after what they had experienced during deployment. A worthy cause indeed!<\/p>\n About the Raccoon hat you see him wearing in all the pictures: Apparently it is Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. Qui wore the hat all throughout the tournament. \u00a0He even got Norman Chad and Kara Scott from ESPN to wear the hat.\u00a0 A certain poker site (not mine) offered him $100,000 to take off the hat and wear their logo instead, and he turned them down!\u00a0 This is now his signature accessory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Final Table is held in the Penn and Teller theater at the Rio.\u00a0 It\u2019s open to the public, although only coaches and family can get backstage behind the rail, with a special wristband.\u00a0 I headed backstage and said hello to tournament director Jack Effel, who is a super nice guy.\u00a0 When the cards went in the air Sunday night, we had some technical difficulties.\u00a0 I was planning to watch the live stream to try to get a read on Qui\u2019s opponents, and to find out what cards they were folding.\u00a0 But we couldn\u2019t get access to it, you needed an ESPN.com password.\u00a0 I had to call my DAD from backstage to get his password, to watch it on an iPad. You know, only $8 million dollars on the line, good thing dad was around!<\/p>\n After a rough start, we got everything under control.\u00a0 During breaks, Qui would come over to the rail and we\u2019d talk strategy.\u00a0 Longtime Las Vegas poker pro Young Phan mostly communicated with Qui in Vietnamese, because he was miked up all the time.\u00a0 As the night progressed, one thing was becoming clear really fast.\u00a0 This kid called TommyGun was the real deal.\u00a0 The simulations had been right, and everyone else was wrong.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t an amateur, he had exceptional poker talent.<\/p>\n The ESPN crew was in awe.\u00a0 I heard Antonio Esfandiari say that TommyGun was \u201cDominating the table in every aspect\u201d, and \u201cI couldn\u2019t get a read on this guy if my life depended on it.\u201d\u00a0 During one of the breaks I heard someone (it was either Phil Hellmuth or Daniel Negreanu) remark, \u201cThe poker books are being re-written tonight\u2026poker will never be the same\u201d.<\/p>\n We played down to five players and then suspended action.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t sleep all night \u2013 way too wired.\u00a0 The headline the next day said that Qui “TommyGun” Nguyen was the “Star of the Show” Sunday night. Nothing could have gone better. \u00a0We had a great game plan, but his poker skills were really underestimated.<\/p>\n I barely remember much from Day 2.\u00a0 I felt like an extra from The Walking Dead.\u00a0 Appropriate, since it was Halloween night.\u00a0 Some of the audience was in costume — I snapped a picture of\u00a0Sergeant Slaughter, Hulk Hogan, and Randy \u201cMacho Man\u201d Savage, before heading backstage.\u00a0 Fortunately it was a short night.\u00a0 We played down to 3 players, and shortly thereafter Jack Effel called it so we could all get some much-needed sleep.<\/p>\n I woke up Tuesday morning, the final day of the event, and my phone was already exploding with calls and texts.\u00a0 Even after some sleep, I felt like I couldn\u2019t take any more of the chaos, so I headed out to somewhere unexpected.\u00a0 For those of you who don\u2019t go to Vegas much, there\u2019s a Catholic Shrine practically right next to\u00a0the Tropicana Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.\u00a0 It seems so out of place there (or maybe not) — it\u2019s probably the one place you can go on the Strip to get some peace, or perhaps repent if you need to do so!<\/p>\n My friend Mary Gail happened to text me right then, and when I told her where I was, she immediately looked up all the Patron Saints of gamblers for me (there were several).\u00a0 I didn\u2019t pray for victory, I just shut my phone off and enjoyed the silence.\u00a0 But I kept having this overwhelming feeling that that night, everything was going to play out pretty much exactly like it did.<\/p>\n By now you probably know the story.\u00a0 First Cliff Josephy got knocked out in third place, after only a couple hours of play.\u00a0 Two players to go.\u00a0\u00a0 It seemed like it was almost over, but the match went on for nearly eight more hours.\u00a0 Everyone was so tired from standing up behind the rail the whole time, we were practically holding each other up. \u00a0It was the longest heads-up match in the history of the main event.\u00a0 The remaining opponent (Gordon Vayo) kept hitting a lucky card here or there and coming back.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But TommyGun wouldn\u2019t be denied the championship.<\/p>\n Both players were clearly showing some fatigue.\u00a0 At some point a bearded man from the audience walked right up on the stage and placed a giant-sized Snickers bar next to Qui.\u00a0 He was immediately escorted out of the building by security (remember, there was millions of dollars of real CASH right there on the poker table).<\/p>\n Around 3AM, Vayo finally went all-in with Jack-Ten of spades.\u00a0 TommyGun had him dominated with King-Ten of clubs.\u00a0 When a King came off on the flop, the TommyGun crowd erupted. \u00a0But it wasn’t time to celebrate just yet, because Vayo had also flopped a double gutter. \u00a0This time, however, lady luck didn’t save him. \u00a0No help for Vayo on the turn or river, and the rest is a blur.<\/p>\n Confetti started flying through the air.\u00a0 I tried to jump over the wall to get to Qui and maybe tackle him, but after 10 hours of standing there, my legs just wouldn\u2019t work.\u00a0 Finally one of his family members dragged me across (I still have bruises). \u00a0My wife and kids saw this all on TV, because they were already up getting ready for school on the east coast. \u00a0There were reporters everywhere and flashes going off; I could barely see where I was going.\u00a0 Everyone was jumping up and down, hugging each other, and snapping pictures with the big pile of money.<\/p>\n I remember getting pulled into an interview with \u201cSuper Mario\u201d. \u00a0He was telling the reporters about my coaching, and how I was the original one who predicted the win, which was pretty cool of him.<\/p>\n The CEO of Caesar\u2019s Entertainment was there, and I remember him offering to take the championship bracelet (loaded with diamonds and valued at $500,000) and put it in the cage for Qui.\u00a0 (The cage is the secure, armed area at every casino where they keep all the money).\u00a0 At some point I got pulled off the stage, and some security guards took me with Qui\u2019s family into what looked like some secret tunnels at the Rio.\u00a0 We walked and walked for what seemed like a mile, and then they hurried us into an enormous freight elevator.\u00a0 After an lengthy ride, the doors opened and we were on the 51st floor of the Rio, in the Presidential Suite.\u00a0 The suite had an enormous balcony overlooking the entire city, with a giant hot tub.\u00a0 I passed on the hot tub because I saw something that interested me even more \u2013 FOOD!\u00a0 I realized it was 4AM, and I had had nothing but a strawberry pastry and a banana all day.\u00a0 There was an entire room in the suite set up with nothing but world-class food.\u00a0 Mostly Asian food \u2013 sushi, pot stickers, Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) \u2013 hmmmm, did even the chefs know that TommyGun was destined to win?\u00a0 There was a fully stocked bar, and even a butler to arrange for anything else we wanted.<\/p>\n To say we partied all night wouldn\u2019t exactly make sense, because the night was almost already over.\u00a0 And everyone was really tired anyway, so the party was a little subdued.\u00a0 I got to have a really nice one-on-one conversation with Qui\u2019s father, and this is one of my secret favorite moments of the trip.\u00a0 He seems like a simple man, a humble man.\u00a0 He said he still spends a lot of his time back in his home country, Vietnam, up to 6 months out of the year.\u00a0 I doubt he was wealthy before.\u00a0 I wonder if he can fully comprehend the 8 million dollars his son just won.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t ever want to leave, but at some point I looked out over the balcony and I could start to see the first signs of light on the horizon.\u00a0 In Las Vegas, the sunrise is the official announcement of \u201cparty\u2019s over\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s like when you\u2019re in a bar at 2AM and they all of a sudden turn on the lights and start playing \u201cClosing Time\u201d.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll end the story here, but what comes next, I have no idea.\u00a0 My website is being bombarded with traffic. \u00a0Overnight I went from a guy with a poker website, to \u201cpersonal coach to the world champion\u201d.\u00a0 I have some amazing connections in Las Vegas now.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/h2>\n
Final Table, Days 1 and 2<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Final Table, Day 3<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/a> <\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n