Anyone ever heard about Jimmy "Jimmy" Cha??

[892King]

I wonder any of you have heard about Jimmy "Jimmy" Cha.
Here's some data about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Cha
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/play...=r&n=14470

In Korea, he is regarded as a Legend of Poker.
Some people said that he was one of the Top 3 poker player along with Doyle Brunson, and Chip Reese in 80s;I thought maybe Johnny Chan, instead of Jimmy Cha(quite analogous!), was the one of the Top 3 player.
But when I present these data above, some people defend him with the reason that there are only few data available about 80s and since he was the ring game pro, like Ted Forest or Ming, there can't be many data about him.
I know he's a good player, but 'NOT THAT' good one.
I wonder any of you know quite exactly about him.
I really want to know exactly 'HOW GOOD' he was.

[menacing_1]

I met and talked with Jimmy prior to his appearance on the Intercontinental Poker Championship shown on CBS last summer, and he is a very nice guy. Information below updated to include 2006 results.

Jimmy Min Su Cha, usually referred to as “Jimmy Jimmy,” was born on 1/15/51 in Seoul, South Korea. He immigrated to the United States in 1976, where he had a sister living. He spends about half of the year in Korea, and the other half in the United States.

Jimmy has been a professional poker player for 35 years. In addition to a home in Korea, he has homes in La Habra, CA and in Las Vegas. His home casino is the Bike in Orange County in California, and he is a noted high-stakes cash game specialist, usually playing in $400/$800 mixed games.

Jimmy is also a professional Go player, and is affiliated with the Korean Go Association out of Seoul. While a student in 1971 and 1972, Jimmy won the All Korea Amateur Go Championship two years in a row, being recognized as his country’s top amateur player. He turned professional in 1974. He often represents the United States while participating in North American Go events, and is largely responsible for contributing to the popularity of the game in America.

Cha also has many business interests that keep him extremely busy, but lately has been making time to play in a few more poker tournaments. He had 4 World Series of Poker cashes in 2003, and has 16 lifetime tournament cashes good for more than $322,000.

Jimmy is married and has four children. His mother still resides in Seoul.

[Ludanto]

Thank you 892King for bringing the name Jimmy Cha up and thank you menacing-1 for the information about Jimmy. I like the game of go myself (even though I am an absolute beginner) and of course I like poker. Because of this it is interesting for me to find a player who also likes both of those games and excells in them. Thanks again to both of you.

[Ray Zee]

i played some with him in the 80's and later on at the bike and commerce. he played only limit holdem then and was a really good player shorthanded. when holdem was new to california he made a bunch.

[betgo]

[ QUOTE ]
The Fujitsu Cup is an international competition. Fujitsu and Yomiuri Shimbun host the oldest international Go competition. The players are picked like the following.

The top 3 players from the previous years competition
7 players from Japan
5 players from China
4 players from South Korea
2 players from Taiwan
1 player from North America
1 player from South America
1 player from Europe
All 24 players play through preliminaries, until 8 players with the best record are given automatic advancement to the second round. The other 16 play against each other in the first round. The format is single knockout with 5.5 komi. The time limit is 3 hours thinking time, and the winner's purse is 15,000,000 Yen ($142,000).


[/ QUOTE ]

I knew about him before I played poker through go. He won the North American seat in the Fijutsu Cup, defeating Micheal Redmond, a fairly strong US professional living in Japan, and some oriental professionals who were US citizens. It was a big upset when he won the North American place. Then he twice won his first two matches in the actual cup, reaching the quarterfinals by beating strong Japanese players.

He was a strong player but it was suprising that he did so well against world class competition. There is no luck in go and the differences in skill are such that players at slightly different levels normally play each other with a handicap.

His style was tricky and he made usual open plays that were technically bad but might cause his opponents to make bigger errors. He probably did not know the book plays as well as top professionals and was trying to reduce their advantage of knowledge of standard opening plays.

My impression was that he could be a top professional go player, but that he was doing better financially playing poker and with business interests.