Minh Ly is a professional poker player who was born in Vietnam. He immigrated to the United States in 1986 and worked as a poker dealer and a cook in a Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas. He has since relocated to Temple City, California, and is now married to Lu Binh.
Minh Ly first started playing poker to boost his earnings and one day worked his way up to Doyle Brunson's table. Upon witnessing his skills at the table, Brunson told him to start playing in tournaments. Minh Ly took his advice and entered the Doyle Brunson’s 2005 North American Poker Championship, where he walked away in first place with $1,060,050 in prize money. At the final table, he played against Dan Harrington, the former WSOP champion. Harrington started off having a good chip lead of 4 to 1 when he entered the final table after knocking out Gavin Smith, a fellow poker player, in the third round. Minh Ly held his own as they traded blinds and antes then doubled through Dan Harrington to even the count. As a part of his prize, Minh Ly received a $25,500 seat in the World Poker Tour Finals Championship, which was to be held at the Bellagio on April 18, 2006.
Throughout the year, Minh Ly managed to regularly cash in during events. He secured ninth place in November and pocketed $7,047 at the Holiday Bonus Tournament Event #1 – No-Limit Hold’em. At the 37th Annual WSOP Event #13 –No-Limit Hold’em, he earned $4,451. He won an additional $2,520 and finished 17th at the Winnin “O” The Green Event #20 – No-Limit Hold’em. He also managed to win $1,845 at the Holiday Bonus Tournament Event #13 – Hold’em. Minh Ly finished 13th and took home $640 at the Turkey Shoot/Ho-Ho Hold’em No-Limit Hold’em event.
He had some of his best performances in 2007, including the 38th Annual WSOP Event #7 – WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha in June when he secured fifth place and walked away with $174,537. Though he managed only a 449th place at the Event #55 - WSOP No-Limit Hold’em Championship, he still made $29,883 in the event. He came fourth in the MiniSeries Warm Ups No-Limit Hold’em and earned $5,420. Minh Ly came in first place and earned $41,450 at the Holiday Bonus Tournament Event #1 – No-Limit Hold’em. During the same tournament in Event #11 – No-Limit Hold’em, he made $4,335 more and finished fourth.
The year 2008 has been good to Minh Ly as well. He finished fourth in the Heavenly Hold’em Poker Pages Ranking No-Limit Hold’em Championship, winning a cash prize of $31,510. Minh Ly also made it to 13th place at the Stars and Stripes No-Limit Hold’em event. He finished fourth at the So. Cal. 20/30 tournament Event #8 – No-Limit Hold’em, winning another $1,075 in June. His most remarkable achievement during 2008 was his fourth-place finish at the 39th World Series of Poker Event 314 – WSOP Seven Card Stud World Championship, which fetched him $118,816. Minh Ly also won $30,482 at the 39th WSOP Event #24- Pot-Limit Hold’em and Omaha when he finished in eighth place.
Being a high stakes poker player, Minh Ly was invited to make a guest appearance in season 2 of GSN’s television series High Stakes Poker.
