This hand occurred during an October Hustler Casino Live stream, with blinds at $100/$200 and a double straddle in play.
The Los Angeles high-stakes regulars in action included Nik Airball, Jellyfish, Big Mike, Peter, and the two players who went to war in this wild hand – Phong ‘Turbo’ Nguyen and Sam 'VC Sam' Rosen.
Nguyen was sitting on a $315,200 stack, more than twice the size of Rosen’s $149,500, and the two players were the only ones left in the button game (where the last player to win a hand has to pay the other players at the table a penalty — in this case, $5,000).
“The first thing on my mind when the hand began was, ‘I have to battle Sam,’” says Nguyen. “I need to win this hand because we both need the button.”
In the video above, Turbo breaks down the hand moment-by-moment, including how the metagame shifts when the button game is in play.
Turbo Nguyen: The hand is the story of my life
Both players were the only ones left without a button, a small but crucial dynamic that became the catalyst for Turbo’s snap four-bet jam with 
preflop.
Nguyen’s commentary provides an exclusive insight into the thought process of one of the wildest, craziest, and most entertaining players to take a seat recently in the popular streamed cash games at the iconic Hustler.
“This hand is like the journey of my life, man,” says Nguyen. “I felt that in a microcosm: your back is against the wall, and they think you’re pinned in.
“But hey, man. You've got to fight yourself out. Keep that strong, positive energy. You never know. Sometimes you f*** around, you find out, but you still can get lucky, right? That's exactly what happened in that hand.”
The brutal swings of high-stakes cash games
In a recent Hustler Casino Live session, Nguyen endured a brutal rollercoaster, bleeding $500,000 by night’s end.
True to form, he posted on Instagram the next morning with a classic Turbo-esque message: “Can’t win them all! Still living da dream.”
For years, Nguyen grinded the Los Angeles tournament circuit with frequent summer trips to Las Vegas for the WSOP. This past summer, he captured the Wynn $10K Seniors High Roller for $186,026.
Despite several deep WSOP runs and that six-figure summer score, the longtime grinder has returned to his roots in high-stakes cash.
“I stopped playing cash games for a while and told my wife I was going to focus on tournaments. So, for a long time, I stuck with them.
“But as I got older, I realized that tournaments are a real grind, right? I can't play three, four, or five days in a row, but I can play on a stream for five hours. Nowadays, I think I want to play higher, bigger stakes. It’s a good thing I can afford it. Now I play for fun.”
Ever the showman, Nguyen knows precisely what the rabid and fickle poker audience is begging for.
“I'm giving people whatever they’re tuning in for. They want to love me, hate me, and discuss how badly I play and how badly I dress. They’re tuning in for a reason. And it's just me being me. That's the only way I know how to do it.”
