Tuan Vu | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Tommy |
Residence | Orlando, Florida |
Born | 5 December 1957 |
World Series of Poker | |
Money finish(es) | 9 |
Highest ITM Main Event finish |
22nd, 2005 |
Tuan Anh Vu (born December 5, 1957), better known as Tommy or Tom Vu, is a Vietnamese American poker player, real estate investor and speaker best remembered as an infomercial personality in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
His late-night infomercial featured Vu surrounded by luxury items: mansions, yachts, expensive cars and, most visibly, collections of young bikini-clad women. He promoted his free 90-minute seminar to learn the same secrets he used to make millions. As a Vietnamese immigrant, he presented himself as the classic "rags to riches" story. His infomercials promoted free seminars that served as advertisements for paid seminars, the most expensive of which was a week-long seminar held only in Orlando, Florida that cost as much as $16,000. Vu's investment theory involved finding "distressed" properties — foreclosures, bankruptcies, divorces, tax liens — and selling them at a profit.
In the early 1990s, Vu was sued by former students and investigated by the government for alleged violations of securities laws, fraud and false advertising.
Formerly of Longwood, Florida and later a California resident, Vu has retired from real estate and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Vu continues his parallel career as a tournament poker player. As of 2014, he has won more than $1,800,000 in casino poker tournaments, including a second-place finish in a no limit Texas hold 'em event at the 2007 World Series of Poker and a 22nd-place finish at the 2005 World Series of Poker championship event. His 9 cashes at the WSOP account for $827,562 of his lifetime tournament winnings.