Poker Pro Scotty Nguyen to Throw First Pitch for the Tulsa Drillers

While growing up in war ravaged Vietnam, the game of baseball was not something Scotty Nguyen (Nha Trang) would ever think of playing. 1 of the 13 children in a family, Scotty spent his days trying to earn money to buy clothing, food, shoes and other basic necessities by playing cards.

Relocating to the United States when he was 14 years old, Scotty took jobs in a Las Vegas Casino like cleaning tables. By the age of 21, Nguyen became a casino dealer. Only 2 years later, he competed in his first poker tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, winning $100,000.

20 years later, Scotty is 1 of the 4 people ever to win both the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour.

Scotty is now the main spokesperson for the Cherokee Casino Worldwide Professional poker tournaments. The Cherokee Casino Resort is also the exclusive venue of the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge, which is now in its third year.

Having mastered the rules of the game of poker, Scotty became anxious to try his hand at something other than poker. One of the things that he became interested in is baseball.

Scotty threw the first pitch for the pre-exhibition game of the Tulsa Drillers on Friday, May 11, 2007. Jason George, the Assistant General Manager of the Tulsa Drillers, said that Nguyen's first pitch was a memorable one.

Scotty said that before the pitch, he had never thrown a baseball before. Chuck Lamson, the owner of the Tulsa Drillers, showed Scotty how to throw a baseball.

June 05, 2007
Pauline Davis