Qui Nguyen wins WSOP Main Event

Qui Nguyen is the new world champion of poker. Nguyen took the lead on the very first hand of the final table on Sunday and rode the momentum capturing his very first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet and the top prize of $8,005,310 in gaming's richest and most prestigious event after a marathon poker session that concluded at 3:20 a.m. in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino's Penn & Teller Theater on Wednesday morning.

Nguyen is a married father of a four-year-old son, who once owned a nail salon in Alaska and now fancies himself as a professional gambler in Las Vegas. He becomes just the second Vietnamese-born world poker champion, following Poker Hall of Famer Scotty "The Prince of Poker" Nguyen, who captured the title in this event in 1998.

"Thank you to all my friends and family," said the new champion moments after the victory. "I'm so excited. I don't know what to say. I just tried to remind myself to never give up, to never give up. It was tiring, it was tough, but I wanted to stay aggressive and never give up and thankfully for me it worked out."