Nguyen was born in Vietnam before emigrating to the United States in 2001 at the age of 24. He initially settled in California and worked in a nail salon before moving to Las Vegas in 2007. Nguyen began playing poker in 2003, concentrating on small limit hold’em cash games. He turned to no limit games upon arriving to Las Vegas and recorded several cashes in small buy-in events. His only WSOP cash prior to the Main Event came in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event in 2009 for $9,029.