Poker News

Scotty Nguyen believes poker has changed massively in recent years because internet players - even pros - rely more on luck than skill.

In an exclusive interview with Poker Jolt, the five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner said online poker had caused a variety of different playing styles to emerge which makes Hold'em a fundamentally new game to the one he dominated a decade ago.

But the 48-year-old, who won the WSOP Main Event in 1998, said he still intimidates younger players from the online ranks - and feels he could yet repeat his most famous triumph before he retires from the game.

The Vietnamese-born star, who now lives in Las Vegas, told us: "I don't fear any of the new generation. They fear me baby!

"You cannot beat the game if you fear someone. But you can beat the game if they fear you.

"It is different now because there's so many different ways that everyone is playing.

"In the old days, back then everyone played right. Now a lot of people play on luck more than skill, they take more chances.

"But to me it really doesn't matter because I love the challenge."

Nguyen, who boasts more than $11 million in live tournament winnings, is famous for his lively persona at the table and has often courted controversy by winding fellow players up.

But he insisted there was a code of conduct that pros should never cross.

He said: "You can [intimidate people] but there's a line of reason.

"When I give someone hell at the tables I don't cross the line that makes them hate me.

"I may bust them but they still respect me because they know I never cross a line that shouldn't be crossed."

Nguyen - dubbed The Prince of Poker - has an incredible 55 cashes at WSOP, WPT and EPT events to his name and is now writing a 'warts and all' autobiography about both his poker career and his turbulent life.

He added: "I don't post on forums and I don't pay attention to, or have time, to go through and read that stuff.

"But I am [writing my book] and I'm gonna tell it all! The good, the bad, the sad, the happy and the ugly."

It will certainly be a colourful story. Nguyen was expelled from school as a teenager because he spent too much time playing poker and has batted many demons over the years, including alcohol and drugs. He has gone broke, and won it back again.

But as he prepares to tell the world the story in his own words, the living poker legend is remarkably open, friendly and free of bitterness.

"I blew two chances to repeat the WSOP Main Event win, and I regret that," he adds.

"But in life, I don't have any regrets. Everything you go through in life is what makes you who you are."

And Scotty Nguyen is definitely not finished yet.

"I still want to repeat the Main Event win...and win every other tournament I haven't won yet baby!"