We've all heard the poker cheating allegations against 6-time WSOP bracelet-winner Men "the Master" Nguyen, especially those concerning his running a Vietnamese poker cheat collusion ring. Currently playing in the World Series of Poker Europe Championships, the accused master poker cheat had this to say:
"I see a lot of things they say on the Internet," he said. "If they say that in any magazine I'll sue them for slander, but I've never seen it. They slander me on the Internet, but I talked to my lawyer and he said they can say anything they want on the Internet. If I cheated do you think I would be able to go all over the world and play poker? "They are probably jealous. I earned what I won. I came to the United States empty-handed. I got what I won, I got my name out there and people just talk about me now. Show me. Catch me. Until they can prove it they should not talk about it. It's just gossip."
Nguyen fled communist Vietnam in 1978 and settled in Los Angeles, California. He started playing poker in 1984 and won his first WSOP bracelet in 1992. A devout Buddhist, Nguyen reiterated that he would never cheat and never has. "I'm a Buddhist so I am afraid to cheat," he explained. "If I cheat on anything it will come back to me. If I do something like that God will punish me. If I cheated do you think I would be able to go all over the world and play poker? They would kick me out of every tournament."
An emotional player at the tables, Nguyen has also been accused of being abusive to dealers and floor staff. Again, Nguyen denies any wrongdoing. "The problem is that sometimes dealers make mistakes and I just try to correct them," he said. "If you play with me at the table you will see how good I am and how nice I am. I will always be nice.
"People talk and they don't think. People say 'Oh Men, you did this or that,' but they don't know. The dealer comes in and maybe they don't change the deck, so I ask why they don't change the deck, because it's a rule. I'm just correcting mistakes."
What do I think? Well, I think Men the Master cares as much about Buddha as he does about his cheat victims!
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