While many of his contemporaries in the high-stakes crowd found fame on television, the Vietnamese pro had a more difficult path toward mainstream recognition, as he speaks very heavily accented English (remember Daniel Negreanu’s uncanny impersonation of Ly in Season 2 of High Stakes Poker?). Let’s take a quick trip back to 2002.įollowing his final table appearance at the 2002 WSOP Main Event, Minh Ly maintained his focus on cash games and was a frequent presence in the “Big Game” at Bellagio. The eight men he defeated also missed out on the media blitz, although many of them have gone on to successful careers on the felt. In May 2002, New Yorker Robert Varkonyi played the role of the upstart amid a final table of veterans and although he walked away with a $2 million payday, he never received a fraction of the media attention Moneymaker did only a year later. One year before Chris Moneymaker and online poker ignited the Texas hold’em boom heard ‘round the world, another amateur player came out of nowhere to win the World Series of Poker Main Event.
