Poker pro John Phan Gets it
Card Player magazine awarded its esteemed “Player of the Year” award to John Phan in 2008. This is the seventh year that the award has been offered. Former winners include such well-known poker names as Men Nguyen, T.J. Cloutier, David Pham, Daniel Negreanu, and Michael Mizrachi.
The award is based by players amassing points in various poker games at the casino. In 2008, Phan achieved 6,704 points, and finished in the money 14 times, for a total of $2,075,323 in earnings. He was a finalist at eight tables and finished first in three major contests.
Phan won his first WSOP gold bracelet in 2008 in a no-limit Hold ‘Em event; then won a second bracelet later in the week for a deuce-to-seven lowball game. He also achieved a first-time World Poker Tour win and made it to two final WPT tables.
The runner-up and biggest threat to Phan was Men “The Master” Nguyen, who won the award last year. The Master also surpassed 6,000 points and almost became the first to win the title for two consecutive years.
Two Europeans threatened Phan’s run. Bertrand Grospellier took two tournaments, including a WPT title to earn 5,5510 points. Russian player Ivan Demidov made two prestigious final tables in 2008 – finishing second in the Las Vegas World Series of Poker, and third in WSOP Europe; and accumulating 4,490 points. Congratulations to 2008 Player of the Year, John Phan.
