Thien Phan, an American professional poker player hailing from Westminster, California, was born into a family of nine children. Thien Phan, also known as Tim, married his middle-school girlfriend and has three children.
Thien Phan learnt to play poker from his mother, who played the game very often. He continued playing poker for many years with family and friends, after which he started playing at the Bicycle Casino. Though he started off with low-stakes, he soon began playing with high-stakes.
The 31st Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) was the first major tournament that he took part in and managed a final-table finish in the Limit Hold’em event held on May 4, 2000 and made $10,685 in cash. On November 2, 2003 Thien Phan emerged victorious in Limit Seven Card Stud at the World Poker Finals of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Season 2 and won $38,380 for his impressive win.
On June 8, 2004 Thien Phan finished as the runner-up in No-Limit Hold’em event at the California State Poker Championship, and walked away with $47,880. He had his first six-digit cash on July 18, 2004 at the Larry Flynt's Grand Slam of Poker III, where he emerged as the winner in the No-Limit Hold’em event and bagged a handsome $148,200. The following year, on July 31, Thien Phan returned to the same tournament and event, to earn $12,000 for his final-table finish. Thien Phan managed another final-table finish at the Legends of Poker - World Poker Tour Season 4 and took home $291,900 for finishing fourth in the No-Limit Hold’em event.
The year 2006 saw Thien Phan competing in many tournaments and cashing a lot in most of the games he played. He started off 2006 by playing at the Winnin 'O' the Green tournament on March 19 and went on to win the No-Limit Hold’em event for which he got $103,200 as cash prize. After this victory, Thien Phan played at the Caesars Las Vegas Poker Tournament –World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event and Mandalay Bay Poker Championships/WPT Event Season 5, and he increased his bankroll by $53,246. On July 8, 2006 he participated in the WSOP No-Limit Hold’em event at the 37th Annual World Series of Poker, where he finished sixth and pocketed $115,894. Thien Phan amassed a total of $51,812 in the subsequent tournaments he played that year.
The following year was a big one for Thien Phan as he earned big money in two of the tournaments he played. On April 27, 2007 he played in No-Limit Hold’em Championship at the WPT World Championship/Event Season 5 and managed to reach the final table. Thien Phan played well to finish in fifth place and took away close to half a million dollars in prize money. Nearly two months after this brilliant finish, he cashed in at the 38th Annual World Series of Poker, where he got richer by over a hundred thousand dollars by finishing thirteenth in the WSOP H.O.R.S.E World Championship event.
As of 2008, Thien Phan has had 3 first-place finishes, 26 cashes and total tournament winnings that add up to $1,799,816.
