After making several World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables, Nguyen eventually won a WPT event in January 2006, defeating Michael Mizrachi heads-up in the fourth season Gold Strike World Poker Open when his made a flush against Mizrachi's on the very first hand of heads-up round. With this WPT victory, Scotty became one of only 6 people to win both the main event of the World Series of Poker and a World Poker Tour title. Nguyen earned a second-place finish at the 2007 World Series of Poker in the seven card stud high low split eight or better event won by Eli Elezra. Scotty stated after the event that he hadn't played cash games in over two years because he enjoys a friendly environment which is difficult in serious cash games. Scotty also nearly made the final table of the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing in 11th place out of a field of 6,358 and earning $476,926.