Johnny Chan: Last Back-to-Back WSOP Main Event Champion

Mountaineers talk about summit passes—narrow routes where one wrong step ends the climb. Johnny Chan navigated the most dangerous pass in WSOP history: winning the Main Event in 1987 and 1988, then nearly reaching a third peak in 1989 before Phil Hellmuth turned him back at the ridge.

No one has completed that double ascent since. Chan remains the last back-to-back WSOP Main Event champion.

Base Camp: Guangzhou to Houston

Johnny Chan (陳金海; born 1957, Guangzhou) moved with his family to Hong Kong in 1962, Phoenix in 1968, and Houston in 1973, where the family ran restaurants. He learned cards playing with restaurant staff.

At 16, a Las Vegas trip allegedly turned $500 into $20,000 in one night—and lost it all the next day. At 21 he dropped out of the University of Houston (hotel and restaurant management major) and moved to Vegas to gamble professionally.

The base camp was set. The first serious climb would take another decade.

First Ascent Gear: 1985 Bracelet

Chan won his first WSOP bracelet in 1985 — $1,000 Limit Hold'em, 342 entries, $171,000. He was not yet a Main Event climber, but the equipment was tested.

Bob Stupak had already nicknamed him "Orient Express" after Chan won the 1981 American Cup, defeating all nine final-table opponents in under an hour. Chinese-language media often render his English name as 陈强尼 (Chen Qiangni)—a transliteration, not his birth name 陳金海.

Summit I: 1987 Main Event ($625,000)

Detail	1987 Main Event
Entries	152
Prize	$625,000
Significance	First foreign-born national to win the WSOP Main Event

The field was growing but still small enough that one dominant player could control the final table. Chan's aggressive, fast-paced style—what Stupak had called Orient Express speed—carried him to the first peak.

Summit II: 1988 Main Event ($700,000)

Detail	1988 Main Event
Entries	167 (record at the time)
Prize	$700,000
Final-table note	Erik Seidel finished 2nd

Chan became the fourth player to win consecutive Main Events, joining Doyle Brunson (1976–77), Stu Ungar (1980–81), and Johnny Moss (1970–71, with a vote-based first year).

The 1988 heads-up final was filmed and later featured in the 1998 movie Rounders—Chan makes a cameo, and Matt Damon's Mike McDermott bluffs him out of a pot in a flashback. That clip introduced Chan to millions who never watched a WSOP broadcast.

The Third Ridge: 1989 Runner-Up

In 1989, Chan reached heads-up again—one elimination from becoming the first triple Main Event champion. Phil Hellmuth, 24, held the chip lead with pocket nines, three-bet Chan's button raise, and shoved. Chan called with suited ace. Hellmuth won $755,000 and his first bracelet; Chan settled for second.

178 entrants. The three-peat died on that ridge. Chan has never returned to the Main Event summit.

The Full Ridge Map: Ten Bracelets

Year	Tournament	Prize
1985	$1,000 Limit Hold'em	$171,000
1987	$10,000 NLHE World Championship	$625,000
1988	$10,000 NLHE World Championship	$700,000
1994	$1,500 Seven-Card Stud	$135,600
1997	$5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw	$164,250
2000	$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha	$178,800
2002	$2,500 NLHE Gold Bracelet Match Play	$34,000
2003	$5,000 No-Limit Hold'em	$224,400
2003	$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha	$158,100
2005	$2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em	$303,025

In 2005, Chan defeated Phil Laak heads-up to become the first player to reach 10 WSOP bracelets—breaking a tie with Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Hellmuth at the time. He is now tied for third all-time with Brunson and Erik Seidel, behind Phil Ivey (11) and Phil Hellmuth (17).

Poker Hall of Fame induction: 2002.

Live tournament earnings exceed $8.7 million as of 2025.

Beyond the Pass: Television and Side Routes

Chan dominated Poker After Dark—four wins in six appearances, including heads-up victories over Chris Moneymaker, Phil Hellmuth, Patrik Antonius, and Jennifer Tilly.

He won Poker Superstars II ($400,000), defeating Todd Brunson in the finals. He appeared on High Stakes Poker (2006 and 2011 seasons).

Authored Play Poker Like Johnny Chan (2005) and Million Dollar Hold'em: Winning Big in Limit Cash Games (2006). Operated ChanPokerOnline.com (2007–2008, closed). Owns a fast-food franchise at the Las Vegas Stratosphere and consults for casinos.

Why the Pass Closed Behind Him

Back-to-back Main Event wins require a rare combination:

1. Peak form across two Junes — not one hot run
2. Final-table survival as fields grew from 152 to 167 to 178
3. No catastrophic cooler at the worst moment

Doyle Brunson and Stu Ungar cleared the pass before Chan. Since 1989, fields exploded into thousands. Variance at the Main Event summit increased. Chan's 1987–88 double remains unreplicated for nearly four decades.

The near-miss in 1989 makes the story sharper: Chan did not fall off the mountain—Hellmuth simply reached the third peak first.

Reading the Map Today

Johnny Chan's legacy is not one bracelet count—it is the Twin Summit Pass itself:

• Last consecutive Main Event champion
• First foreign-born Main Event winner
• Rounders cultural footprint
• Ten-bracelet pioneer before the modern bracelet arms race

Chinese poker fans sometimes call him 东方龙 ("Oriental Dragon")—a fitting image for someone who crossed two peaks in a row. English poker history knows him as the Orient Express: fast, relentless, and impossible to catch on the final ridge—until a 24-year-old from Wisconsin blocked the third summit in 1989.

The pass is still there. No one else has walked through it.