David Pham was born in 1967 in South Vietnam. At the age of 17 he came to the United States to avoid the turmoil in Vietnam. He traveled in boat carrying 145 people out of which only 46 survived. Pham’s cousin was the famous professional poker player Men “The Master” Nguyen. Pham not only got a job in his cousin’s laundry business but also came under Nguyen’s tutelage for learning poker. At one point Pham and his wife opened a salon and Pham functioned as a manicurist.

Throughout the 1990s Pham steadily improved his poker game and his bankroll. He once went bust but made a comeback in 2000, from which there was no looking back.

2000 was a great year for Pham. He cashed in 17 major events and in his first appearance at the WSOP he reached two final tables. He was back at the WSOP in 2001. He won his first bracelet that year in the $2,000 S.H.O.E event, defeating a host of professional poker players. He also cashed in the 44th place in the Main Event. Pham’s second WSOP bracelet came five years later in 2006 in the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event.

Pham has performed well in other live poker tournaments. In 2003 he won the $5,000 Limit Hold’em event at the L.A. Poker Classic, where he beat poker professionals such as Jennifer Harman and Erick Lindgren. In December 2004 he beat Alan Goehring in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Pham has made seven final tables at WPT events such as the 2008 World Poker Challenge and Foxwoods World Poker Finals. However a WPT title has eluded him so far. Another poker circuit in which Pham has done well is the EPT. In 2008 he finished fourth in the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure. Pham’s total live tournament poker earnings are at about $8.2 million. He has had 179 cashes and 29 first place finishes.

Pham is one of the elite few poker players who have been named “Player of the Year” twice by CardPlayer. The first time was in 2000 when he had a phenomenal run of cashes. He was named again in 2007 when he made 11 final tables and won over $1.8 million. Since first getting the title Pham has been in the rankings every year. He just about missed out winning the title in 2004, when he lost narrowly to poker professional Daniel Negreanu.

Pham is a member of Full Tilt Pros. He is often seen playing online poker at their poker room.

Pham is nicknamed “Dragon”. The reason is that he is always putting on the heat on his opponents at the poker tables. His following statement reveals the secret of his success. He said, “Asians gamble a lot you know, I think the Asians are more tricky than the Americans, tricky. They read the hand, but sometimes they don't play the cards, they play the player.”

He and his wife live in Bell Gardens in California. They have four children. Pham has not forgotten his Vietnamese roots and regularly donates to charities there.