Chau Tu Giang
Name: Chau Tu Giang
Nickname:
The Animal
Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Born:
2. Juli 1955 in Vietnam
Tournament Winnings: ~$3,000,000
WSOP Bracelets: 3
Even poker legend Doyle Brunson
speaks his name with awe: "He is one of the toughest players in the
world to beat". A sentence like a thunder bolt, but still Chau
Giang remains one of pokers unknown players.
Like an observer
- unimposing, narrow shoulders and without distinguishing features
- he sits night after night between well known poker greats and
personalities on the highest limits, but seldom enters the limelight.
Chau Giang was born on July 2, 1955 in Vietnam, the son of
Chinese parents. His life story is a classic rags to riches tale.
Giang left Vietnam in 1978 and sought his fortune in the land
of boundless possibilities. He bet everything on one card, boarded a
small ship, and fled to the USA. He spent his first month in Florida
and did odd jobs for a time. Then moved to Colorado, where he worked
as a cook in a Chinese restaurant for $160 per week. It was then that
the young immigrant had his first contact with poker.
He
played on low limits with great success, and soon noticed that his
natural talent for cards could win him a better life.
So he
moved to that capital city of gamers, Las Vegas. He began on the
lowest limits and steadily worked his way up. He made $100,00 0 in
his first year in Las Vegas.
In the years that followed,
though, Giang learned the dark side of gaming, spending a great
portion of his winnings at Baccara.
Back at the poker table,
he decided in the early 90's to test his skills at the WSOP. And the
cashgame specialist actually won in his second year in 1992, at
$1,500 Ace to Five Draw. He followed this success five years later
with a victory in $2,000 Omaha 8 or Better.
Despite this
success, Giang played only a few mor tournaments and instead returned
to high limit cashgames.
He did not return to the tables at
media-heavy events until his 3 children asked why he wasn't on TV
anymore. And like any good success story, this one, too , has a happy
ending.
He made it to the final table in the 35th
WSOP for $2,00 Pot Limit Omaha, where considerable events would soon
take place. Seven players were eliminated in the first hour, and
after Jeffrey Lisandro was eliminated in the next hour, only Giang
and Robert Williamson III remained. Everything was done in record
time. But Giang, whose 60,000 chips numbered just a tenth of
Williamson's, played brilliant poker and stayed in the game. The
chips slowly wandered to his side of the table, and after another 3
hours of play, Giang beat Williamson's two pair with a flush and won
his third bracelet.
"I wanted to win this tournament for my
children," said the freshly made champion after the tournament,
showing a rarely seen emotional side and bringing public attention to
bear on Chau Tu Giang for perhaps the first time.
Bracelets
at the World Series of Poker:
1993 $1,500 Ace to Five Draw
- $82,800)
1998 $2,000 Omaha 8 or Better - $150,960
2004 $2,000
Pot Limit Omaha - $187,920
Author: Manuel Stempel
Picture
source: Wikipedia