Khoi Le Nguyen Stuns Parents with $50k SHR Victory Story

There are always a few ‘unknowns’ in the nosebleed MTTs, rich recs or players taking a shot at higher stakes. Khoi Le Nguyen’s reason for playing was rather different:

“I had a look at the numbers on the Vietnamese Hendon Mob chart, and I estimate that if this event has enough registration and I happen to win it, then I might be Vietnamese number one,” he told reporters. “So I thought, let’s just do it, whatever.”

Nguyen was among 252 entries forking out $50k a pop for the privilege to play for WSOP gold and a share of $11,970,000. Naturally, the world’s best were all keen to play but it wasn’t all plain sailing…

Busted!

Motoki Jinno was on tilt, as we reported previously, and that spelled bad luck for Alex Foxen, all the chips going in pre-flop…

Alex Foxen: A♣ K♥
Motoki Jinno: J♠ 6♠

If the table was surprised to see Jinno table the J6, they were shocked when the flop appeared…

Flop: J♣ 6♥ 6♦

Turn: 2♥

River: 8♥

Foxen would fire a second bullet, however, and eventually make a tiny profit.

Day 2 saw several big names exit before the money bubble, Phil Hellmuth among them…

Phil Hellmuth: 5♥ 5♠
Albert Daher: K♦ J♦

Flop: K♣ J♥ 8♠  

Turn: J♠

River: 3♥

Others to fall included Daniel Negreanu, Bryn Kenney, John Hennigan, Brian Rast, Jason Koon, Martin Kabrhel and Phil Ivey.

In the Money!

Those who made it to the paid spots but short of a final table appearance included:

• Alex Foxen (38^th for $102,024)
• Kristen Foxen (29^th for $102,024)
• Shaun Deeb (19^th for $123,068)
• Masashi Oya (14^th for $144,985)

At the final table, Sam Soverel had a torrid time, first using nine (9!) time extensions before calling and losing a huge chunk of his stack to Zamani. Then he ran J♥ J♦ into Fahredin Mustafov’s Q♦ Q♣ and was out in 9^th for $216,467.

Mustafov also ousted Wantman in 8^th and then Zamani fell, followed to the rail by Mustafov himself in 6^th leaving five contenders for the $2.7million first prize.

While the Main Event is still going strong, there is a $50K High Roller Final Table with five left, including Sergio Aido (@petgaming)

Both he and Alexandre Reard are seeking bracelet number 3. Reard is currently in the lead with Aido in 3rd place.#WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/5gT6KggghL

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 12, 2025

The three 7-figure cashes went to Aido, Reard and Nguyen, with the Spanish pro taking 3^rd spot after staking his short stack pre…

Sergio Aido: K♠ 2♥
Khoi Le Nguyen: A♣ 9♣

Flop: Q♥ Q♣ 10♣

Turn: 7♥

River: K♣

The heads-up battle all came down to one massive hand which grew from inauspicious beginnings:

Khoi Le Nguyen: 4♣ 3♣ 

Alexandre Reard: 5♠ 4♦

Nguyen defended his big blind…

Flop: 3♠ 4♥ 9♠

…then check-raised the flop.

Turn: 2♣

Nguyen’s continuation bet was jammed on by Reard and Nguyen called with two pair.

River: :Xx:

The river brick gave Nguyen a 40:1 chip lead and he converted on the very next hand to seal the biggest win of his short career.

Final Table Results

Having achieved his goal of topping the Vietnamese Hendon Mob listings, Nguyen explained he’d now have to tell his parents about his career choice:

“…my parents don’t even know I play poker!”

“It’s pretty funny because my parents don’t even know I play poker. I don’t think I can hide from that now, maybe they’ll get the news and we will see how they react.”

Andrew Burnett

Professional Poker Journalist

An avid poker player, he dreams of one day playing the WSOP Main Event and has promised himself he will fold aces and kings if he gets them on the first hand to avoid front-page headlines. [more]