World Poker Tour

David Pham “The Dragon“

Birthplace
Vietnam

Hometown
Cerritos, CA

Birthday
February 10

Total Winnings
$2,212,962

Born in Vietnam, David Pham decided to come to the United States to make a better life for his family, and he came to Southern California for the opportunities it might hold. After working a number of jobs, he and his wife opened a nail salon in Los Angeles, although much of his time was being spent learning poker at its most basic levels from his cousin, famed poker player Men “The Master” Nguyen. While his skills weren’t good enough to make a living at poker for a number of years, he was determined enough to keep learning and practicing to better his game.

By 1992, David’s first recorded tournament cash was on record with a third place finish in the Hall of Fame Poker Classic for $15,700. When the late 1990’s brought regularly occurring cashes in numerous tournaments, he asked his wife to close their business, as he was able to then support his family on his poker winnings alone. In 2000, he made two no-limit hold’em final tables at the World Series of Poker and won the Player of the Year award, then won his first WSOP bracelet the following year in the $2,000 S.H.O.E. event.

David made his first World Poker Tour final table in 2003 at the L.A. Poker Classic, where he placed fourth. The next year, he made two final tables – one at the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship where he finished third, and the other at the World Poker Finals for a sixth place finish – within one month of each other and totaling over $500,000. His fourth final table appearance on the WPT came in 2007 at the Reno World Poker Challenge, with two more final tables in the sixth season of the WPT, and his motivation to win a WPT is greater than ever, all in the hopes of providing for his family and allowing them to live the life he feels they deserve.