Things you might not know:
- Pham fled Vietnam on a boat when he was 17-years old. Twelve of the 145 refugee passengers died on the journey.
- Pham began life in the U.S. by working in his cousin's laundry business in Southern California.
- Pham is a nephew of Men "The Master" Nguyen, who taught him to play poker seriously.
- Pham owns a nail salon along with his wife.
- Pham's first two years of poker were tough, and he quite the game for nearly four years while helping out in the salon.
- Pham spent many hours analyzing different situations by taking a deck of cards and dealing out many nine-handed games while alone.
- Pham's first recorded victory was in the National Championship of Poker at Hollywood Park in 1998.
- Pham earned the "Dragon" nickname when friends railing him play kept cheering him saying "You on fire. You a dragon." which stuck.
- Pham was a consistent winner in his return to poker, but it wasn't until 2000 that his bankroll allowed him to play the World Series of Poker when he final tabled two no-limit hold'em events that year and won $60k.
- Pham's biggest disappointment was finishing second to Dan Harrington at the 2007 Legends of Poker at the Bike as he has never closed for a outright victory, despite phenomenal success on the tour.
- Pham made 11 final tables and won $1.8 million in 2007 which led to his CardPlayer award.
- Pham finished 4th in the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure for $600k, losing to a rivered flush against eventual winner Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
David "The Dragon" Pham prefers to play an aggressive style of poker that relies heavily on his reads. He plays a lot of events in Southern California, while traveling to many WPT and WSOP events. Pham is very thankful for his life.
“I go back home [to Vietnam] very often. Sometimes I don’t go but I still send them money. My older sister works in the church, so she always knows where she’s going to find the poor people, the kids with no parents, and the sick people. When I go home I bring them money and give for the charity.”
“I think probably I make more final tables because everything is OK. My family is OK, my mind is fresh and my energy around me is not disturbed, so I can play well. Usually my mind isn’t bothered or anything, so I can play good. Sometimes any pro poker player can lose his mind because of maybe their family or friends or just financial problems. I believe in that. You don’t let anything bother you so you can play well, read others well, have patience – and sometimes you run good too.”
One hand at the PCA and one interview on the WPT:
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