Cardplayer.com’s weekly excerpt from Phil Hellmuth’s book ‘Deal me in’ focuses on 10 times WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan. The ‘Poker Brat’s’ book documents the trials and tribulations of 20 poker players.
The poker legend, affectionately known as the ‘Orient Express’ for his Oriental origins and bullish, aggressive play, explains how he moved to Las Vegas against the will of his parents.
Despite ‘Sin City’ being riddled with degenerate gamblers with shattered dreams, Chan craved ‘constant action’ and the ‘lure of money’ was too great for him. To his distraught parents, who wanted him to continue working in a restaurant, Chan’s departing words were, ‘One day I’ll be a world champion and I’ll be rich. I’m going to make it. That’s what I want to do’.
And made it Chan certainly has. With 10 World Series bracelets to his name, including a Main Event triumph, poker hall of fame status, and a regular at the biggest games in Bobby’s Room, he is up there with the greatest of all time.