HANOI — It is easy to see why Vietnam, despite its troubled past, has risen to become Asia's mecca for trade and even an undisputed poker hub hereabouts.

Walking around the capital, in between covering the Asian Poker Tour's Hanoi Billions — the largest poker festival in the region — you can feel the boundless energy everywhere. People whiz by on scooters, buy and sell everything from phones to food in the countless small shops, and run to and fro to get to school or work. Vietnam is young, growing, and anything feels possible.

As we immersed ourselves in this nation that experienced a long, divisive conflict known as the Vietnam War, Chinese domination, and French colonization, we discovered for ourselves why it has become a star in the emerging markets universe.

When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the World Economic Forum reported that the country was one of the poorest in the world, with an anemic per capita growth of $200 to $300.

In 1986, however, when the government introduced "Đổi Mới," a series of economic and political reforms, everything changed as this steered the country to becoming a "socialist-oriented market economy."

Its economic growth of 6-7 percent rivals that of China, and its exports are worth as much as the total value of its GDP. Anything from Nike sportswear to Samsung smartphones is manufactured in this ASEAN nation. Such is the success of the country that there are few spare workers or production facilities left.

According to analysts, the country's meteoric rise can be attributed to its investing heavily in human and physical capital, predominantly through public investments.

Those investments paid off as Vietnam became a hub for foreign investment and manufacturing in Southeast Asia. Japanese and Korean electronics companies like Samsung, LG, Olympus and Pioneer, and countless European and American apparel makers set up shop in the country.

Today, the Vietnamese are reaping the rewards of those reforms as they have quickly transitioned to a middle-income economy. Its economic boom has likewise propelled Vietnam's rise in the poker scene.

An increasingly enthusiastic poker community has made it a destination of choice for casual players and seasoned professionals alike.