Bellagio | Champions of Poker

Chau Giang is the definition of a survivor. Born in Vietnam around 1955, Giang fled Vietnam in the late 70’s via a small boat and arrived in Florida. Here he started working minimum wage jobs to survive. Afterward, he moved to Colorado where he $160 per week as a chef. While working as a chef he began to learn the game of poker. After honing his abilities he decided to move to Las Vegas to become a professional gambler. After he moved to Vegas, he made over $100,000 in the first year he was there. From that point Giang never looked back.

Giang has primarily focused on cash games over the years. As a result, he really didn’t start playing tournaments until the early 90’s and then very sparingly. The only tournaments that he frequented were at the World Series of Poker. Giang won his first WSOP bracelet in 1993 when he took down the $1,500 Ace to Five Draw event. He also finished runner-up in the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem event that year.

Giang’s tournament play over the next few years centered almost entirely around the WSOP. When he did play, he did achieve a lot of success. He cashed six times in 1995 and made two final tables. In 1996 he finished 13th in the Main Event. In 97 he finished 3rd in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event. In 1998, Giang won his second bracelet when he took down the $2,000 Omaha 8 or Better event.

From 1999 to 2004, his only tournament cashes were at the WSOP which included 4 final table appearances. In 2004, Giang started to play a few more major events due to his family wondering why he was never on TV. This led to his third bracelet win in 2004 when he won the $2,000 Pot Limit Omaha event. Giang would continue to make strong showings at the WSOP including eight cashes in the 2008 WSOP. He just missed the final table by a couple spots in 3 of those events and made his 2nd cash ever in the Main Event.

Giang has also had a lot of success on the World Poker Tour. He has cashed in 13 WPT events and has made two final tables. He finished 2nd at the World Poker Open in 2005 and he finished 5th at the L.A. Poker Classic in 2007.

In total, Giang has made over $3.29 Million in live tournaments. This amount could have been a lot higher but Giang prefers to play high stakes cash games. For years he has been a highly respected high stakes player and regular participant in the “Big Game” in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.

Chau Giang escaped from Vietnam to make a better life for himself in America. Through hard work, he has made a name for him in the poker world and is among the most respect high stakes players in the game. Whether at the poker felt or in major poker tournament, Chau Gian is a force to be reckoned with at the poker table.

Sometimes players come along in the world of poker or in other aspects of life and take off like a rocket. They become highly successful and then, just as suddenly, they step away. Whether it is because of lack of interest or because they feel they have accomplished all that they can, they decide to walk away on top. This seems to have been the case with former World Champion Hamid Dastmalchi.

Dastmalchi originally moved to the United States to become a real estate investor. On occasion he would travel to Las Vegas to play poker. His first big score came in 1985 in Vegas. He finished 5th in a Limit Holdem event for $10,450. Later that year, he finished 5th in the 1985 WSOP Main Event where he took home $70,000. Later that year he finished 2nd in an event at the now defunct Stardust.

1986 saw Dastmalchi win his first major title. He took home the bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Holdem event at the World Series of Poker. He won $165,000 for this victory. He would then come back the next year and cash twice more at the WSOP, including the Main Event.

1992 saw Dastmalchi achieve his greatest feat in poker. 201 players entered the 1992 Main Event. This was actually a drop from the prior year. Dastmalchi made the final table of the event. Only Hans “Tuna” Lund could be considered a big name at this table. Dastmalchi made it heads up in the event with Tom Jacobs and in the end Dastmalchi emerged as the Main Event Champion. He took home $1 Million for his victory.

1993 saw Dastmalchi take his third WSOP bracelet when he won the $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem event for $114,000. Two years later, Dastmalchi made the final table again of the Main Event, finishing 4th for $173,000.

After his finish in the Main Event in 1995, Dastmalchi primarily switched to cash games. A big dispute came up regarding chips won in a cash game at Binion’s Horseshoe. When Becky Binion Behnen took over as the head of the Horseshoe, she refused to honor his chips and said it was due to the change in management. Dastmalchi sued the Horseshoe over the affair and in the end a judge ordered that the Horseshoe must pay Dastmalchi.

It is unknown whether this helped to drive Dastmalchi away from the poker tables, but it would be of no surprise. After 1995, Dastmalchi has only had a couple of major tournament cashes and from what has been told, he rarely plays anymore. One in a while he is spotted playing, but when it occurs, it is usually at the Bellagio.

As to why Hamid Dastmalchi decided to step away from poker, we may never know. Perhaps he is playing online under an unknown name. He might have done very well in real estate and permanently retired. Perhaps the events with Behnen soured him beyond repair. Regardless of the reason, he is a prescience that is missed in the poker world. At least for a few years, Dastmalchi was a dominant prescience in the poker world. Even if he never decides to return, he can still be remembered as a champion of poker.