Famous Poker Players: Johnny Chan
Johnny "The Orient Express" Chan

Johnny Chan is among the most respected and well known players in the world.  He is one of only three players in the world to win nine WSOP gold bracelets (the other two being Phil Hellmuth Jr. and Doyle Brunson).  Even more impressive was winning the main event back to back in 1987 and 1988.  Amazingly he nearly won a third consecutive event in 1989 but finished a close second to Phil Hellmuth Jr.  Johnny Chan is also famous for playing himself in the movie Rounders which also included actual footage of the 1988 WSOP final where beat Erik Seidel.

Johnny Chan moved with his family from Hong Kong to Phoenix in 1968.  They later moved to Houston Texas where his family owned a number of restaurants.  He was expected to continue in the family business but in the early 80's he got involved in poker and never looked back.  When he started playing poker he was also an enthusiastic bowler and used to tell people he was at the bowling alley when he was in fact honing his poker skills.