http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Vu
Tom Vu
Tommy Vu
Nickname(s) Tommy
Residence Orlando, Florida
World Series of Poker
Money finish(es) 4
Highest ITM
Main Event finish 22nd, 2005
Information accurate as of 25 February 2010.
Tuan "Tommy" 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.
Vu's investment theory involved finding "distressed" properties: foreclosures, bankruptcies, divorces, tax liens, and selling them at a profit.
Vu's somewhat loose grasp of the English language and his use of beautiful models as backdrops made him one of the more humorous and memorable personalities of the infomercial genre.
Formerly of Longwood, Florida and later a California resident, Vu has retired from real estate and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Professional poker career
Vu continues his parallel career as a tournament poker player. As of 2010, he has won more than $1,500,000 in casino poker tournaments, including a second place finish in a no limit Texas hold 'em event at the 2007 World Series of Poker[1] and a 22nd place finish at the 2005 World Series of Poker championship event.[2] His 4 cashes at the WSOP account for $678,633 of his lifetime tournament winnings.
In April 2006, he finished ninth in the Season Five World Poker Tour championship event, earning $216,585.
Quotes
"Are you man enough to get off your lazy American ass and go to Vu’s seminars?"
"A lot of your friends will tell you, 'Don't come to the seminar. It's a get-rich-quick plan.' Well, tell them, it is a get-rich-quick plan because life is too short to get rich slow."
"Tom Vu says his system is different than other experts'."
"Okay. You've seen me make a lot of money. You've seen my students who are average people make a lot of money. Isn't it about time for you to go out and make a lot of money?"
"Don't say someday you will do it. Someday may never come. Come to my free 90-minute seminar now."
"There's two kinds of work in America: hard work and smart work. Which one are you doing now?"
"This is not a country club! This is my house!"
"Are you afraid to ask your Boss for the day off to come to my seminar? Well then you don't deserve to be rich"
"Today I'm gonna show you how to drive a sports car. First, you need a lot of money!"
"Don't listen to your friends. They're losers!"
"Do you think these girls like me? NO, they like my money!"
"At first I got lots of discouragement from friends and stranger who are loser! You know what these people kept telling me? They kept saying, 'Well Tom Vu, you a crazy nut, here you are, a poor immigrant, poor minority, speak no English, no contact, on and on, and you trying to be rich in America! You crazy, man! Look at people out there! They smarter than you are, they not even rich! Who are you to try?' And you know what? I have to keep telling these people every time, I kept saying, 'You are loser! Get out of my way! I make it somehow!'"
References in popular culture
Tom Vu was lampooned in the fourth-season Family Guy episode "Brian Sings and Swings".
Tom Vu is mentioned in the lyric "I'm like Tom Vu with yachts and mansions" in the song "Professor Booty" on the album Check Your Head by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys.
"Johnny Vong" appeared on Castle episode "Sucker Punch", clearly inspired by Tom Vu.
Courage the Cowardly Dog featured an episode where Di Lung is shown in an infomercial with beautiful women and may be a recurring character inspired by Tom Vu.
Tom Vu made an appearance in "Peace, Love and Understanding," the second pilot episode of Beavis and Butt-head.
Tom Vu is referenced in the title of a song by Unagi Patrol on the Highways Over Gardens compilation album on the Carpet Bomb record label.
A recurring gag on the animated series King of the Hill involves a get-rich-quick infomercial featuring an Asian spokesman named "Dr. Money," parodying Tom Vu's videos. In one episode, Kahn Souphanousinphone creates a similar persona named "Dr. Quarters".
The Rich Jerk website was loosely based on Tom Vu
The 2013 movie Pain & Gain features a profane and sexist Asian mogul named Johnny Wu (played by Ken Jeong) who promotes a get-rich-quick scheme using the same tactics used by Tom Vu.
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher, 121-180 A.D.