Paul Phua  

Paul Phua is a Malaysian professional poker player with 

total earnings of approximately $20 million. Although Paul 

didn’t start playing poker until he reached his 40s, he is 

considered a legendary figure in the poker community today. 

Over the years, Phua has racked up some impressive wins at 

tournaments around the globe. His achievements include 

winning over $3 million at the Triton London 2019 NLH Main 

Event and taking a record-breaking pot of $2.35 million 

against Tom Dwan during a televised cash game.



Outside of his playing career, Paul Phua is an established 

businessman. In 2016, he and Richard Yong founded the Triton 

Series, an organization that hosts some of the most 

impressive and popular poker events in the world. Phua is 

close friends with some of the biggest names in poker today. 

He has become a widely-respected figure in the poker world 

after organizing exciting, high-stakes tournaments with high 

buy-ins through the Triton Series.



Poker Career: Paul Phua first became interested in poker 

when he was working in Macau’s booming casino industry 

during the early 2000s. After finding success as a VIP junket 

operator, Paul watched some of the biggest poker stars in the 

world travel to Macau from Vegas in search of high-stakes games. 

It was only a matter of time before Paul sat at the poker table 

and started to learn from these pros. 



In 2012, Paul was ready to start playing professionally. He 

entered the 2012 World Series of Power $1,000,000 Big One for 

One Drop event, learning plenty of lessons that would help him 

achieve success in the future. Next, he entered the Aspers 100K 

High Roller event in London, winning first place and a prize of 

roughly $1.6 million. This impressive achievement proved that 

Phua had the potential to play at the highest level. 



Over the next few years, Paul threw himself into professional 

poker, competing in tournaments around the world and regularly 

winning six-figure prizes. Not only that, but he also became 

close friends with a number of professional poker players, 

gaining popularity after buying shares in live tournaments and 

financing players who couldn’t afford expensive buy-ins. 



He followed up his initial win in London with another impressive 

result at the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific, winning $340,000 

after placing third in the No Limit Hold ‘Em High Roller Rebuy. 

Throughout the next few years, Phua continued to perform well at 

various tournaments, winning six-figure sums regularly. In 2016, 

Paul placed third at the newly-created Triton Poker Super High 

Roller Series in Manila, winning approximately $330,000. He then 

created a stir in 2016 after winning the Monte Carlo One Drop 

Extravaganza, taking home over $800,000 in the process. 



In 2018, Paul Phua played against Tom Dwan in a televised game 

that would make poker history. After calling a 5-bet all-in from 

Dwan (one of Paul’s closest friends), Phua won the biggest televised 

cash pot of all time. The record-breaking sum came out to $2.35 

million. Phua is also famous for live streaming his own high stakes 

cash games. 



2019 was another impressive year for Paul Phua. That year, he 

placed second in the Triton Jeju 2019 Short Deck Event, winning 

just over $2 million. He followed up that year with another fine 

result at the Triton Montenegro Short Deck Main Event, winning over 

$2 million after placing second once again. This was another event 

in the Triton High Roller Series. 



Although these results were impressive, the best was yet to come. 

After placing second in the No Limit Hold ‘Em - Triton London 2019 

Main Event, Paul won over $3 million - his biggest career win to date. 

At the same venue, he placed fourth at the Short Deck Main event, 

taking home a further $1.185 million in prize money. Paul’s strong form 

has continued well into 2020 and beyond, and he won $1.5 million after 

placing first at the partypoker MILLIONS Sochi Super High Roller Series. 



Today, Paul Phua is committed to helping up-and-coming poker stars reach 

their full potential with his poker strategy website, Paul Phua Poker. 

His informative videos and articles help poker players of all types reach 

for that level of achievement - whether they play poker professionally or 

for fun. As of 2020, Phua ranked 29th on the all-time money list. He is 

also the number-one-ranked Malaysian poker player in the world in terms 

of overall money won.



He won the Global Poker Award for Industry Person of the Year in March 2020.