Johnny Chan

Johnny Chan is one of the best known professional poker players. He was born in Guangzhou China in 1957 from where he lived with his parents until they moved to Hong Kong in 1962 and then to the US, specifically to Phoenix, Arizona and Houston, Texas in 1968 and 1973 respectively. In Texas his parents owned a family restaurant business which he was expected to manage after graduating from the University of Houston. However Johnny Chan who was studying for a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management did not go on with school as he dropped out to try out his luck in professional poker in Las Vegas. His early encounters with the game of poker were those that were spend in the poker casino that was behind their restaurants. He was still a young man by this time and his life in Las Vegas was not exactly what one would expect it to be. The fact is that he amassed a lot of debt as he made his way betting through the casinos of Las Vegas.

His earliest victories came in the American Cup Poker tournament that was hosted by Bob Stupak in 1981. Here he was able to gain two things: his nickname Orient Express and the fact that he won over the other 9 players in less than an hour. This spectacular victory and those that were to follow set Johnny Chan apart as the first Asian to play, win immensely and gain such great fortunes in the world of professional poker. For this reason he has a great following in Asia and by Asians around the world who aspire to take after the legacy trail that he has left. Today there are an untold number of Asian players, both armatures and professionals, who center their game around the strategies that they have observed their hero play with. The most popular imitation that has been borrowed by those who greatly admire this professional poker player is bringing an orange to the table. Many are of the belief that the magic orange that he brought to the table brought him the luck and the success that he has under his name. He discounts these claims and says that he simply likes the smell of an orange opposed to the cigarette smoke that is characteristic of casinos.

Johnny Chan was the first professional poker player at his time to win 10 titles of the World Poker Series and is only matched with Doyle Brunson and surpassed by the living legend Phil Hellmuth who has 11 of these titles. He was also credited as being the first player to win a back-to -back win in the World Poker Series of 1987 and 1988. He almost won the third consecutive title but lost in the last minute to Phil Hellmuth. The second win against Erik Seidel in 1988 is credited as being one of the most incredible wins seen in the professional poker world and the most phenomenal played by Chan. He is the last player to have won the Main Event in a back-to back win and is likely to remain so for a long time due to the entrance of more players in the game who offer stiff competition. He came from a loss of $1.2 million pot and emerged from the game with over $700,000. This was his last win at the World Poker Series and has been quoted lamenting the fact that it has becoming increasingly difficult to make a phenomenal win in the Series because more and more players have jumped in the professional poker bandwagon.

Other notable wins include the 2005 Pot-Limit Hold’em Event; 2003 No-Limit Hold’em Event; 2003 Pot-Limit Hold’em Event; 2000 Pot-Limit Omaha Event; 1997 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Event; 1994 Seven-Card Stud Event. His fortune is substantial as he has won over $2 million in the World Series of Poker and much more in all the other tournaments that he has played in and won .Other than these wins Chan is credited as having the most victories in the popular poker reality show that is Poker After Dark. He is still involved in the poker world through the consultation work that he does with poker game developers that seek to have an online presence; and he also runs a fast-food franchise at the Las Vegas Stratosphere hotel.

His style of play is composed and less aggressive in comparison to most other professional poker players. He, as well, does not have single style that he plays with but he is known to make big bets that have sometimes cost him. Yet despite his subtle play Johnny Chan has managed to be one of the greatest presence in professional poker and his life is epitomized in the acclaimed film Rounders in which he appears in person in two scenes.

Posted by Joel on May 3 2010. Filed under Player Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry