Poker Ghetto

NICKNAME:
The Orient Express

POKER STYLE:
Aggressive – plays impatiently.

FELT ACCESSORIES:
Chan’s remowned for bringing a ‘lucky orange’ to the table. Originally because it smelt nice and cut through the smell of the smoke – at the time when smoking was allowed in the poker rooms. Now it is purely a lucky charm. He also wears a diamond rattlesnake ring.

TABLE MANNERS:
His superstitious outlook means that if he loses a hand he asks for a deck change and sometimes blames the dealer, taking it personally, if he keeps losing.

POKER BLING:
10 WSOP bracelets, two of those back-to-back, Chan is one of poker’s big guns. He also played himself in the movie Rounders; it included footage of him beating Erik Seidel in the 1988 World Series. Slightly less glitzy, but profitable never-the-less, is Chan’s fast-food franchaise that he owns in the Las Vegas Stratosphere Hotel.

RUMOUR HAS IT:
Chan attributed his early success in the 80’s to the fact that many players had not previously played against Asian players – believing that they underestimated him thinking he could not be that good a player. Before making the big-time, Chan would pawn jewellery and personal items to fund his poker sessions and 80-a-day smoking habit. When he cleaned up his health, he started cleaning up at the tables.

FAMOUS PROP BETS:
Not by his own doing so much, but there are always prop bets in the circuit as to whether Johnny Chan or Doyle Brunson will win their 11th WSOP bracelet.