David Chiu was born and raised in China, and he came to the United States in 1978 as an 18-year old college exchange student. Looking forward to the opportunities that America would provide for his future, he settled in Oregon and attended Oregon State University where he majored in computer science. After college, he moved to Denver, Colorado where he owned a Chinese restaurant. During the 1990’s, poker became a bigger part of David’s life, and by 1996 he had sold the restaurant and begun playing poker professionally.