John "The Razor" Phan
John Phan "The Razor"
Birthplace:Da Nang, Vietnam
Hometown:Stockton, California
Birthday:October 10
Total Winnings up till 2008:$642,825
Offical Site: John Phan.com
Phan was born on Oct. 10, 1974, in Hue, Vietnam. His family fled Vietnam for better opportunities when he was young. Their escape route was a harrowing boat ride to Hong Kong and then on to the Philippines. "Back home in Vietnam, life is hard and it is very difficult to improve your situation," he said. "It isn't like the United States, where there are unlimited freedoms and opportunity." When John and the rest of his family reached the United States in 1982, they settled down in Stockton, California.
Almost immediately, John latched onto poker as a way to enjoy time with the family and make a buck. He grew up as part of a family that embraced it as a fun social activity. While Phan says he started playing poker by himself, it was observing and eventually participating in games with family and friends that stoked his interest in the game.
John Phan Wins the 2008 Player of the Year Award
Phan finished in the runner-up position in the 2005 POY race, losing the title in the final month of the year to Nguyen, who rallied in December to win 636 points and clinch his record fourth POY title by a slim margin of 176 points over Phan. The 2008 POY award is one of redemption for Phan, who caught fire this summer at the World Series of Poker and never looked back. He took the lead in the POY when he won the WPT Legends of Poker in late August, and no one was able to chase him down this time.
One player who gave Phan a scare was the 2007 POY champion Pham. The Dragon accumulated more than 6,000 points for the second year in a row, finishing with 6,022. Pham did a great job defending his title, coming within 682 points of becoming the first back-to-back champion in history. Pham confirmed with Card Player via phone today that he is done playing tournament poker in 2008.
Highlights of the year for Phan included his first WPT win at the Legends of Poker in August, which netted him $1,091,428 in prize money. He also made two additional WPT final tables, finishing in sixth place at the Bay 101 Shooting Star event in March, and placing in fifth at the Bellagio Cup IV in July. Phan also won his first WSOP gold bracelet in 2008, winning a $3,000 no-limit hold'em event. He followed that up by taking first in a $2,500 deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball event one week later for his second bracelet. The summer of Phan in 2008 was one of the most impressive runs of tournament poker success in the history of the game.
Phan finished the year with 14 cashes that won him $2,075,323 in prize money. He made eight final tables and won three major events. Phan now holds $5,371,996 in career tournament winnings, two WSOP gold bracelets, one WPT title, and the 2008 Card Player POY title.
Here is a look at the past winners of the Card Player POY award:
1997: Men "The Master" Nguyen
1998: T.J. Cloutier
1999: Tony Ma
2000: David "The Dragon" Pham
2001: Men "The Master" Nguyen
2002: T.J. Cloutier
2003: Men "The Master" Nguyen
2004: Daniel Negreanu
2005: Men "The Master" Nguyen
2006: Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi
2007: David "The Dragon" Pham
2008: John Phan
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Poker on the Rise for John Phan
In October of 1998, John won a small seven-card stud event at the Big Poker Oktober series in Los Angeles, followed up by a limit hold'em victory at the L.A. Poker Open later that same month. With cashes and wins in various tournaments around Southern California over the coming years, he knew that tournaments would be his key to longevity, and it was backed up by the tenacity to consistently win in cash games.John worked his way up to major tournaments like the World Poker Tour and played hard to achieve a victory. By 2005, he made it to a WPT final table at the $25,000 WPT World Championship at the Bellagio and finished a respectable fourth for over $500,000 in prize money and the fame that comes with appearing on a WPT televised tournament. And in 2006, he cashed in four tournaments at the World Series of Poker, which included a second place cash in the $1000 no-limit hold'em event. Though a title eludes him thus far, he continues to strive for the big win. In the meantime, smaller tournament wins will suffice and support his regular donations to various charities, including feeding and housing the poor in Vietnam. He enjoys his life, including his career as a professional poker player.
John Phan at a Glance
Bon "John" Phan (born October 10 1974 in Da Nang, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player based in Long Beach, California who is a two time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and is a winner and four time final tablist of World Poker Tour Championships.
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John Phan Twitters
Phan has a much loftier goal than just winning the Player of Year award. And just because he will sometimes raise up with trash while blasting 50 Cent on his iPod doesn't mean he isn't one of the classiest players in the game. He plans on using his poker winnings to help improve the quality of life for others in his hometown of Hue, Vietnam. "I am going to start a charity that helps children in Vietnam," he said. "The majority of people where my grandmother lives don't have enough to eat. They live day to day, many scraping by on less than a dollar a day."
Phan looks with admiration on what Barry Greenstein has done, donating his tournament winnings to charitable causes. "What Barry does is so meaningful," John said. "I'm in a position to make a difference, and I plan on doing so." If John keeps on cracking aces with his low suited connectors, hoodwinking his opponents as to what he is holding at all times and applying pressure on his opponents at all the right times, he will certainly make quite a difference.
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There is no question that Phan is a tenacious competitor. If you are at his table, he will revel in sending you home. "That is the fun part of this game: busting people out. I love the competition and being able to outplay others. People think I am bluffing and bluffing, but I usually am not. When they call me, it's usually at the wrong time."
So far this year, many of his competitors have fallen to this fate. He says 2004 and 2005 have, by far, been his best years to date. In 2006, Phan took down two bracelets and nearly a quarter of a million in Tunica in one week. He joined Scotty Nguyen and Can Kim Hua as the only players to win two titles at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in the same year.
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