Athletes - Johnny Chan

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	Athletes - Johnny Chan

Johnny "Orient(al) Express" Chan (born 1957?) is a professional poker player.

Early life

Chan was born in Canton, China but moved with his family in 1962 to Hong Kong, then in 1968 to Phoenix, Arizona and later in 1973 to Houston, Texas where his family owned restaurants. He was going to continue in the family business, but when he was 16 he went on a junket to Las Vegas, Nevada. When he was 21, Chan dropped out of the University of Houston, where he was majoring in hotel and restaurant management, and moved to Las Vegas to become a professional gambler.

World Series of Poker

Chan attributes some of his early success to the fact that many players had not previously played against Asian players before. He shot to fame in the late 1980s, winning the championship event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in two consecutive years (1987 and 1988). A videotape of the 1988 WSOP final heads up match is featured in the movie Rounders, in which Johnny Chan makes a cameo appearance. He almost won a third consecutive title, but finished in 2nd place in 1989 to Phil Hellmuth. Jerry Buss, an avid poker player and owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, promised Chan an NBA championship ring if he could win three in a row.

Chan is known for keeping a "lucky" orange in front of him on the table, and after the second consecutive WSOP title other players began bringing fruit to the table in hopes of increasing their luck. Chan says he only had an orange with him because of the pleasant scent, as smoking, which was allowed in many tournaments then, bothers him. Chan was once a smoker, but now he neither smokes nor drinks alcohol.

In 2005, Chan won his tenth World Series of Poker title, defeating Phil Laak in a Texas hold 'em event. He is now tied with Doyle Brunson for the record of 10 World Series of Poker bracelets. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002.

World Series of Poker Bracelets

Through 2005, Chan has won $3,744,331 at the World Series of Poker.

Poker Superstars

Chan competed in the $400,000 Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament in February 2005. He came back from only having $20,000 chips out of $3,200,000 in play to finish in second place to Gus Hansen. Chan later competed in Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament II around summer 2005. He defeated 22 of the best players to make it to the finals. Then he defeated Todd Brunson in the finals after three matches to win the $400,000 first prize.

Personal life

In addition to playing poker, Chan owns a fast-food franchise in the Las Vegas Stratosphere Hotel and is a consultant for various casinos and game makers. He has aspirations of opening his own casino. Chan has also written for Card Player magazine. He is currently appearing in the GSN series High Stakes Poker.

Chan has six children. He relaxes by swimming, playing pool, and tenpin bowling.

In 2005, Johnny collaborated with Mark Karowe to release Play Poker Like Johnny Chan, an instructional book on several different types of poker. In April 2006 they will release the follow-up titled: Million Dollar Hold'em: Winning Big in Limit Cash Games, which focuses on limit hold'em strategy.

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