David Pham is an exceptionally talented professional poker player with 2 WSOP Bracelets under his belt. Pham is also a two-time winner of Card Player Magazine’s prestigious “Player of the Year Award”, first in 2000, then again in 2007. David has finished in 6 WPT final tables, adding to his career live tournament winnings of $7,437,926 (April 2008).

David Pham’s history is quite remarkable, having escaped his home country of Vietnam at the age of 17. Pham road among a boat of 145 passengers, of which only 46 survived the journey. Upon reaching the United States, Pham was hired into the family laundry business by his cousin, the famously successful poker pro, Men “The Master” Nguyen.

Pham learned to play poker from his cousin, Nguyen, eventually opening a nail salon in Los Angeles, California, with his wife. Even though he had found a significantly better life in the US, including his own flourishing business, Pham continued to study the game of poker under his mentoring cousin.

Pham accomplished his first live tournament cash in July of 1999 - his only poker profit of the year - earning a mere $750 playing Omaha Hi/Lo at the Summer Challenge, in which he finished 7th. As menial as this feat may seem, it was the start of a wondrous career as a professional live tournament poker player.

Since then, David Pham has cashed in a total of 170 tournaments, with 29 first-place victories over his illustrious career. Pham has secured 10 World Poker Tour tournaments, bestowed with 2 WSOP Bracelets and reaped well over $7 million thus far. Along his prolific journey in the world of poker, Pham gained the honorable nickname, David “Dragon” Pham.

After earning the Card Player Magazine “Player of the Year” award in 2000, Pham went on to claim his first WSOP gold Bracelet in the 2001 World Series of Poker, clearing the field at Event #9, Limit S.H.O.E., worth $140,445. David was awarded his second WSOP Bracelet in 2006, taking down a NL Hold’em Shootout event for $240,222.

Many of David Pham’s most lucrative victories occurred during World Poker Tour events. On February 8, 2003, Pham took down the LA Poker Classic in WPT Season 1, earning himself an impressive cash of $457,320 - his largest prize at the time.

The 3rd season of the WPT was even more lucrative for David, earning seven cashes, 3 in 1st place. The most profitable win of the season came in December of 2004 at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, where Pham’s 1st place victory earned him $414,419. Overall, Pham pocketed more than $1.3 million in the WPT’s 3rd season alone.

Pham’s largest single-cash victory was also realized along the World Poker Tour, finishing 2nd at the Legends of Poker tournament in August of 2007. The WPT Season 6 event netted David a vast profit of $800,185. David’s second largest prize thus far came only a few short months later in January of 2008. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, part of the European Poker Tour (EPT), saw David Pham close in on the final table, only to be ousted in 4th position for a cool $600,000.

When asked about his outstanding poker skills, David Pham once said, “Asians gamble a lot you know; I think the Asians are more tricky than the Americans, tricky. They read the hand, but sometimes they don’t play the cards, they play the player.”