Johnny Chan: A Successful Asian Poker Player

Most professional poker players come from the United States or Great Britain or other parts of the world, but not a lot are from Asia. This is what makes Johnny Chan popular in the poker industry. Aside from being one of the best professional poker players in the world, Johnny Chan attracts attention due to the fact that he is an Asian.

Johnny Chan was born in 1957 in Guangzhou, China. From Guangzhou, his family moved to Hong Kong, China in 1962 to seek a better life. They then moved to Phoenix, Arizona and then to Houston, Texas to try their luck in another country. Successfully, his father was able to establish several Chinese restaurants in Texas.

Since the restaurants were family-owned business enterprises, Johnny Chan was expected to be one of those who would continue managing the operations of the business. However, his vacation to Las Vegas, Nevada when he was sixteen years old changed everything. Johnny Chan knew that he did not want to continue studying hotel and restaurant management. So by the time he reached twenty one years old, he decided to drop out of the University of Houston. Soon thereafter, Johnny Chan made a decision to live in Las Vegas, Nevada to pursue his dream of becoming a professional poker player.

The mere fact that professional poker players did not have that much experience in terms of playing against Asians became an edge for Johnny Chan. It was in 1985 when Johnny Chan won his first World Series of Poker bracelet. The game he participated in was the US$1,000 Limit Hold'em event, in which the cash he took home totaled to US$171,000.

However, it was in 1987 and 1988 when this professional poker player really proved his capabilities as an Asian player. During these years, he won in the US$10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship event, earning a bracelet for each year and taking home US$625,000 during the first year and US$700,000 in the next year.

From 1994 to 2005, Johnny Chan continued to earn seven more World Series of Poker bracelets. The events that he joined in included the US$1,500 Seven Card Stud event in 1994, the US$5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw event in 1997, the US$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event in 2000, the US$2,500 No Limit Hold'em Gold Bracelet Match Play in 2002, the US$5,000 No Limit Hold'em and US$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha events in 2003, and the US$2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em event in 2005.

Johnny Chan is known for bringing with him an orange fruit whenever he plays poker. He places the orange in front of him because, according to him, he does not want to smell cigarette smoke. This professional poker player used to smoke but has stopped smoking and drinking a long time ago. Well, some poker enthusiasts believe that the orange brings him luck, which is why some professional poker players have also started bringing fruits at poker tables.

Now, the fact that he is a great Asian professional poker player earns him the respect of some poker giants, including T. J. Cloutier and Doyle Brunson.