Chau Giang was born on July 2, 1955. This Vietnamese-American made his way to the United States in the 1970s by fleeing Vietnam in a small boat.  He worked minimum wage jobs for a few years, including a job as a chef in Colorado, before he realized that poker “paid better.”  He moved to Las Vegas and made more than $100,000 in his first year playing poker.  Chau Giang also experimented with playing baccarat, but after he lost a lot of his early poker winnings he started to focus exclusively on poker.

Chau Giang has won three World Series of Poker bracelets, the first coming in 1993 at the $1500 Ace to Five Draw event.  Chau won his second bracelet in 1998 at the $2000 Omaha 8s or Better event and his third bracelet came in 2004 at the $2000 Pot Limit Omaha event.  Chau Giang’s highest finish in the WSOP Main Event came in 1996, when he finished 13th.

Chau is primarily a cash game player, playing at poker rooms on a regular basis. He actually quit all tournament play for a long time, but because of his children he started playing tournaments again.  One day Chau Giang’s children asked him why they never saw him playing on TV.  Because of this question Chau began playing in tournaments again so that they could see him on TV.

Chau Giang has made it to three final tables at the World Poker Tour, but has not yet won an event.  To date, his tournament winnings surpass $2.5 million.  Chau Giang’s philosophy on poker is well summed up in a 1994 interview.  In the interview, he said “At the table I hear people say, ‘Poker is luck.’ That is 100 percent wrong. If they are losing, it is because they’re doing something wrong. Poker is skill, it isn’t luck. In the long run, day after day after day, you cannot get lucky all the time.”

Chau Giang is one of the least recognized poker players, but he is also one of the best.  He regularly plays at the ultra high stakes poker cash games, playing against well known players such as Doyle Brunson, and many other top professionals.