Johnnie Chann is a professional poker player. He was born in China but now call Las Vegas Nevada, the poker hub of the world home. In addition to living in China and Nevada, Chann has also called Arizona, Texas, and Hong Kong home.
Chann was not always destined to become a professional full tilt poker player. His family fully expected him to become actively involved in the restaurants that they owned. Chann seems to echo their sentiments when he enrolled in the University of Houston where he studied hotel and restaurant management. Chen stuck to his education for a few years, but by the time he was twenty-one he decided that he had had enough. He dropped out of school and moved to Las Vegas. He has never looked back.
It took a while, but Chann did eventually return to tradition and started his very own restaurant. The fast food type establishment is located in the Stratosphere. Chann is also planning ahead. He knows that at some point in his life he would like to have an opportunity to own his very own casino. For a while Chann was able to see a portion of his dream come true when he created and launched an online casino. The online casino started accepting members in 2007 and shut down my August of 2008.
While poker stars will always be Chann’s chosen profession, he has dabbled in other occupations as well. He has written an article that appeared in the Trader Monthly magazine. Card Player magazine is another magazine that has published Chann’s writing. He has also dabbled in acting. Twice he has been seen in movies, the first time was in the Poker cult it Rounders starring Matt Damon. The second time Chann stepped in front of the movie camera it was for a Hong Kong movie which was called Poker King. In both movies, Chann played himself.
If you are playing in the World Series of Poker, Chann is not someone who you want to see at your table. He has enjoyed an enormous amount of success at the event. He has collected exactly ten championship bracelets, including back to back bracelets from 1987 and 1988 when he won the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold ‘em championship games. Most of the experts feel that this back to back win is something that the World Series of Poker will never see again, they feel that the competition has gotten to big and the caliber of the players is to good for another player to win it two times in a row.
Chann’s nickname at the partypoker table is the Orient Express, a moniker he earned during the 1981 American Cup poker tournament. He sat down at a table with 9 players and had won the entire thing in less than a single hour. This was in 1981.
Today Chann is still active at the poker tables. He still regularly plays in the biggest tournaments and has also participated in the television show, Poker After Dark.