When David Pham took the chance of leaving Vietnam to get to the United States as a refugee he gambled with his life. Of the 145 people on the boat 46 made it out alive - you get better odds drawing to a flush on the flop, so you cannot scare The Dragon at a poker table. Perhaps his early experiences immunized him to the element of gambling risk, which must seem petty by comparison.
He arrived in the USA 41 years ago when he was just a teenager and started out working for a dry cleaner courtesy of his cousin Men "The Master" Nguyen. Pham is extremely well liked and highly respected in the poker world, and obviously that's not genetic!
Pham is definitely one of the best tournament poker players around today, renowned for aggressive reads and playing to win as opposed to plodding into the money. Few players have been as consistent on all the major poker tours. You're likely to see David on WSOP telecasts as well as WPT final tables and if you travel you can catch him on the EPT also.
David Pham has achieved excellent results online as well, winning a WCOOP title to go with his two World Series Of Poker bracelets.
Finally, one has to mention that "The Dragon" was Cardplayer's player of the year in 2000 as well as last year (2007). His talent is indisputable.
