Watch Scotty Nguyen on TV and you know he’s seriously into jewellery. The gold chains, flashy rings, and jade Buddhas almost threaten to outshine his poker. And while he might have a good eye for the bling, astuteness was not evident on the night when he purchased his first piece. ‘A bunch of years ago I was in Tunica, Mississippi, and running hot,’ Scotty remembers. ‘Paul “Eskimo” Clark showed me a ring and said, “This will fit you perfectly.” I checked it out and didn’t think much of it – especially after he said it would cost $800. I said, “C’mon, man.” He said, “Scotty, just try it on. It’s perfect for you.” He was right. It looked good, I liked it, and I bought it. Then I ran into the guy who had just sold that ring to Eskimo – for $200!’

Cards ban

Don’t expect to get invited to Scotty’s home game. Despite being one of the world’s best poker players, he doesn’t have a set of playing cards at his Las Vegas home. He sees poker as a job and wants to keep his work and home life separate.

The getaway

Scotty was born in 1962 in Nha Trang, Vietnam. His family persuaded him to flee the communist regime and go to America when he was 14, where he lived in Chicago and later Orange County, California, before discovering the neon lights of Las Vegas.

Name change

Unsurprisingly, Scotty wasn’t the name he was born with. When he got his first job as a bus boy in 1982, the manager asked him his name and he gave his native moniker, Thuan. She shook her head and said, ‘No, no. From now on you’re Scotty.’