Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan: The Orient Express
Born in 1957 in Guangzhou, China, Johnny Chan moved to Houston, Texas in 1973. The Chan family entered the restaurant business with great success, and young Johnny was groomed at an early age to eventually take over. However, he had other ideas.
From the time he was 13, Chan became enamored with poker. Chan organized and played poker games underneath the family’s restaurant where he worked part-time. At age 21, the moment he reached the legal age for gambling, Chan left his family to move to Las Vegas for good. The year was 1978.
Chan is fearless at the poker table. He became a regular at all the big games in Vegas and proved to be an expert at making the big plays. He won his first major poker tournament: Bob Stupack’s America’s Cup. Showing off his new-found poker strength, Chan eliminated 13 of the 16 players in just under 30 minutes. People said he steamrolled the competition so decisively that they gave him the nickname “The Orient Express” for his extremely aggressive style of play.
In 1985, Chan won his first WSOP tournament, the $1,000 Limit Hold’Em tournament, which earned him a $171,000 first prize. He would win the big one in 1987, capturing the WSOP’s showcase event, the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship and its hefty $625,000 top prize. He would defend his title the very next year, winning the same event in 1988 and pocketing $700,000. That feat installed Chan in the history books as only the fourth back-to-back world champion of poker.
From 1985 to 2005, Chan would win 10 WSOP tournament bracelets. That puts him at second place in the all-time list behind his old nemesis, Hellmuth, who has won an all-time best 11 WSOP bracelets. In 2002, Chan received the highest honor in poker; induction into the Poker Hall of Fame. As of 2008, Chan has won over $4 million in WSOP events.
Aside from poker, Chan owns a fastfood franchise at the Las Vegas Stratosphere Hotel and has written two instructional books on pokerreleased in 2005 and 2008. He has six children.
