Wei Seng "Paul" Phua (born 29 April 1964) is a

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

businessman and poker player. Phua is a casino VIP junket operator who regularly hosts high stakes gambling in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

. Phua has been called "A Legend in the Gambling World" and the "World's Biggest Bookmaker"(IBCBET).

Early life

Phua was born in 1964 in

Miri, Malaysia ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...

, a coastal city in northeastern

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

. As a child, he had a passion for sports, he played badminton, football, basketball, softball and table tennis. At the age of 15, Phua was sent to attend school in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. There, he played bowling before becoming involved in the Macau casino junket business.

Career

Phua has a career as a VIP junket operator in Macau and was an ambassador for San Marino to Montenegro. In 2006, he worked with

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn (''né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction ...

who opened

Wynn Macau Wynn Macau () is a luxury hotel and casino resort in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China with two towers containing a total of 1,008 rooms and suites, approximately of casino space, over of retail space, e ...

and expanded Wynn's business. He regularly hosts high stakes gambling where he allegedly built up a net worth of USD$1 billion.

Poker

Phua did not start playing

Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fa ...

until he was in his 40s. In 2010, when Las Vegas high stakes cash games began moving to Macau, players such as

Tom Dwan Thomas Dwan Jr. (born 1986) is an American professional poker player who played online in the highest-stakes No-Limit Texas hold 'em and Pot-Limit Omaha games, primarily on Full Tilt Poker under the screen name "durrrr". Dwan has won prize mone ...

Phil Ivey Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. (born February 1, 1977) is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numero ...

, Chau Giang,

Patrik Antonius } Patrik Antonius (born 13 December 1980) is a Finnish professional poker player, former tennis player and coach, and model from Vantaa, Finland. He currently resides in Monte Carlo. Antonius was mentored by poker pro Marcel Lüske as a member of ...

and

John Juanda Johnson "John" Juanda (born July 8, 1971) is an Indonesian professional poker player of Chinese descent based in Tokyo, Japan. He has won five World Series of Poker bracelets. Personal life Juanda was born into a Hoklo family in Medan, Nort ...

started playing there. By 2011, other professional poker players had joined the games in Macau. Phua played and learned from these players. In 2012, Phua entered the

2012 World Series of Poker The 2012 World Series of Poker was the 43rd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Paradise, Nevada between May 27 – July 16, 2012, with the final table of the Main Event delayed until late Oct ...

$1,000,000

Big One for One Drop The Big One for One Drop is a $1,000,000 buy-in No Limit Texas hold 'em tournament hosted at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Added in 2012, it became the highest buy-in poker tournament in history as well as the largest single payout offered. T ...

event. In 2012, Phua won the Aspers £100K High Roller in London after defeating

Richard Yong Seng Chen "Richard" Yong (born 25 December 1957) is a Malaysian businessman, bookmaker and poker player. Career Yong has a career in the information-technology and data-mining industries. Poker Yong entered the $1,000,000 dollar Big One for One ...

in heads up play, earning him his largest cash of $1,621,297. In 2016, he won One Drop Extravaganza €100,000 Super High Roller after defeating

Mikita Badziakouski Mikita Badziakouski ( be, Мікіта Бадзякоўскі, russian: Никита Бодяковский, Nikita Bodyakovskiy; born February 6, 1992) is a Belarusian professional poker player known for his accomplishments in live poker tourna ...

in heads-up play, earning $827,722 in the process. During a cash game at the 2014

Aussie Millions The Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Event of the series is the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament with a ...

, Phua was involved in a AUD$991,000 pot against fellow Macau poker player, Lo Shing Fung. Fung () put Phua () all in on the turn with the board reading . The two elected to run the board only once, the river came the , giving Fung the pot with his turned straight. In September 2018, Phua was involved in the biggest televised cash game pot of all time, winning $2.35 million against Tom Dwan. On August 8, 2019, Paul Phua finished second at Triton Series 2019 £100,000 Tournament and won £2,558,305. As of March 2020, Paul Phua's total live tournament cashes exceed $19,330,992.

Paul Phua Poker

In 2016, Phua started his own poker strategy website Paul Phua Poker. Players such as Phil Ivey,

Timofey Kuznetsov Timofey Kuznetsov (born 1991) is a Russian professional poker player who specializes in online no-limit Texas hold 'em and pot-limit Omaha hold'em cash games. Poker career Kuznetsov plays under the alias "Trueteller" on PokerStars and has earned ...

Dan Colman Daniel Alan Colman (born July 11, 1990) is an American professional poker player, originally from Holden, Massachusetts. He is best known for winning the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop at the 2014 World Series of Poker. He beat Daniel N ...

Daniel Cates Daniel Cates (born November 14, 1989) also known as jungleman12 or w00ki3z. is a professional poker player from the United States, once considered to be one of the best heads-up No Limit Texas Hold 'em players in the world. As of 2014, his onli ...

, Tom Dwan,

Sam Trickett Sam Trickett (born 2 July 1986 in East Retford, Nottinghamshire, England) is an English professional poker player. He is best known for finishing second, losing heads-up to Antonio Esfandiari in the Big One for One Drop - winning over $10 millio ...

, Lauren Roberts and others have contributed videos and tips for the site. The site also promotes six-plus hold 'em, a newer variation of Texas hold 'em where the cards valued 2 through 5 are removed. Phua is close personal friends with many of these stars who often give interviews on his YouTube channel. He has the closest relationship with Tom Dwan.

Personal life

Phua and his son Darren Wai Kit Phua both play poker. He currently resides in

References

External links

* *
Paul Phua Hendon Mob profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phua, Paul 1964 births Living people Chinese businesspeople Malaysian businesspeople Chinese poker players People from Miri People from Sarawak