Johnny Chan is a native of China, but he has made his fame and his living playing professional poker in the United States. A native of Guangzhou, China, Chan now lives and plays in Las Vegas.
In 1962, Johnny Chan and his family made the big move to Hong Kong. Six years later, they relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where he lived until 1973. Another move took his to Houston in 1973. There, his family operated a number of different restaurants. It was always Chan’s plan to continue the family business, but that changed when he was 16. He visited Las Vegas with a junket at that time and found the city to be intriguing. At his 21st birthday, Chan left the University of Houston and made his out to Las Vegas. He had no need for his degree in restaurant management, as he set his mind to making a living playing professional poker.
Though Johnny Chan is a highly skilled poker player who can make all of the moves, he admits that some of his early success might have been due to the fact that most American players had no experience playing against Asians. From that, he knew that the American players would have trouble reading him and breaking down his moves. He earned famed and fortune in 1987, when he famously won the first of two straight World Series of Poker Main Event titles. Chan became so popular that he was even asked to make an appearance in the popular poker movie, Rounders. Chan even came close to claiming the title a third straight time, but fell short when Phil Hellmuth won in 1989. Most feel that Chan’s two straight wins is something that will never be replicated in professional poker.
One of Johnny Chan’s trademarks is his love for fruit. He is known to keep an orange with him at the table. Predictably, Chan’s fruit luck promoted amateur players to bring their own fruit to the table in an attempt to try to get some luck of their own. According to Chan, he kept the orange around to counteract the smell of smoke that permeated most poker rooms during the time. Chan was himself once a smoker, but he doesn’t do that anymore.
Chan has had continued success in the World Series of Poker as recently as 2005, when he claimed a record 10th bracelet. Phil Hellmuth has since broken that record, so Chan is now tied with Doyle Brunson for second all time. Chan’s all-time World Series of Poker winnings are enormous, considering when he started. He has made close to $4 million at the event.
Like so many other players, Chan has struggled with the new World Poker Tour events. He plays in many and still has not made it to the final table in one. Considering his skill and experience level, that is a truly astonishing statistic.
Chan has still had enormous financial success playing poker. As of this year, his total live tournament winnings totaled more than $6 million.
Chan never lost the entrepreneurial spirit that was instilled into him from his family. He still plays poker, but he spends lot of time focusing on his fast-food business in the Stratosphere. He is also a gambling consultant that helps casinos come up with fresh new ideas. His advice and articles have been published in various magazines and one day, it is Johnny Chan’s hope to own a Las Vegas casino.
Johnny Chan’s poker instruction book, Play Poker Like Johnny Chan, has been enormously popular. It was released in 2005 and has sold a ton of copies to up and coming poker players. Chan uses his free time to work on more literary publications and to spend time with his six children in Las Vegas.
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