1st  Chau Giang  Las Vegas, NV $187,920 2nd Robert Williamson III  Dallas, TX $103,580 3rd  Jeffrey Lisandro  Perth, Australia $56,940 4th  David Colclough  Birmingham, England $45,560 5th  Meng La  Torrance, CA $34,160 6th  Karsten Johansen  Copenhagen, Denmark $28,480 7th  Mike Wattel  Phoenix, AZ $22,780 8th  Paul Maxfield  Stoke-on-Kent, England $17,080 9th  Chris “Jesus” Ferguson  Pacific Palisades, CA $11,380 10th James Hoeppner Las Vegas, NV $7,980 11th Michael Pancer San Diego, CA $7,980 12th Chris Bjorn London, England $7,980 13th Seyed Sarkeshik Northampton, England $6,840 14th Dewey Tomko Winter Haven, FL $6,840 15th George Pitsilides Virginia Beach, VA $6,840 16th O'Neil Longson Las Vegas, NV $5,700 17th Erick Lindgren Martinez, CA $5,700 18th Bruce Corman Nottingham, England $5,700

Against All Odds: Chau Giang Wins Third World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

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.
-- Poker Champion Chau Giang (as told to Dana Smith in a 1994 interview)

If CHAU GIANG was named �John Smith� and was from Oklahoma instead Vietnam (by way of Florida and Colorado), he would probably be one of the most famous poker players in the world. Instead, GIANG shuffles around casinos and cardrooms in relative anonymity. Although GIANG routinely plays in poker games with the highest limits in the world � try playing $2,000-4,000 limit as your regular Thursday night poker game � he rarely gets recognized publicly for the immense poker talent he maintains and the bankroll management he exercises. He sits down among, plays with, and often defeats the living legends every poker player will recognize � be it Brunson, Berman, Baldwin, or Reese. His peers universally agree that GIANG possesses a brilliant poker mind and is one of the toughest players in the world to beat � whatever the game, whatever the limit, and whatever the decision.

The story of how this former cook making $160 a week evolved into a high stakes poker player is astounding, but also secondary to the more remarkable story