History of Poker on Broadway

Johnny Chan was born in 1957 in China, but later moved to the United States in his teenage years with his family. His family owned restaurants and this is where Johnny worked most of his teenage years while attending the University of Houston. Chan was studying in the Hotel & Restaurant Management sector at university, but when he was 21 Johnny dropped out before finishing, to move to Las Vegas. At the age of only 21 Chan was in Vegas looking to become the next professional gambler.

Chan quickly became a player to reckon with in the Vegas casinos and he thinks that his success came early because players didn’t know how to play against Asians. I’m unsure if this had anything to do with anything, but Chan definitely lit up the poker scene early with two consecutive WSOP main event bracelets coming in 1987 and 1988. Over Chan’s long internet poker room career he has earned himself quite the list of wins with a total of 10 WSOP bracelets. The 10 bracelets puts Chan tied in second place with Brunson for the most WSOP bracelets both trailing Hellmuth of Ultimate Bet who has 11.

Johnny Chan is another one of the poker players who is very well rounded and has won bracelets in multiple different poker games including Holdem, Seven Card Stud, Omaha and a couple others. Not many poker players can say that they are as well rounded as Chan is and I don’t think we’ll see anyone come close to his accomplishments anytime soon. Chan has seen some success in No Limit Holdem, but there was a long stretch where Johnny didn’t cash in any no limit Holdem tournaments.

Johnny has been played in a movie due to his final table appearance in the 1988 main event No Limit Holdem tournament and has been featured on many television shows. Some of the shows Chan has been on consist of Poker After Dark (run by FullTiltPoker.com) and Poker Superstars where has had made multiple appearances.

When Johnny isn’t on the poker tables winning money he is usually found operating his fast food franchise in Vegas or consulting casinos on various things. Chan would like to one day own his own casino, but that dream doesn’t look like it will become reality anytime soon. Chan has also written and released a poker book on how to play poker online with training modules for players and a follow up book as well. Another thing you might not have known is that Johnny runs his own online poker room at ChanPoker where you can play with thousands of other poker players.

Johnny Chan has a nickname “Oriental Express”, but it isn’t commonly associated with him in the poker world so you might not hear this nickname often on TV. Chan has had a very long career in poker and he continues to play to this day on television and in the casinos in Vegas. He thrives for action and is one of the biggest high stakes players you’ll ever meet. There is no doubt that Chan belongs on the list of the best poker players in history and I’m sure he’ll continue to prove this in the future.