After nearly a decade of coming ever so close to a World Series of Poker bracelet, John "The Razor" Phan finally got his in last week’s $3,000 no-limit hold’em event. Little did he know that just a few days later he would have another title under his belt and, more importantly, another bracelet in his trophy case.
Phan spoke to Card Player shortly after winning his second bracelet of the series in the $2,500 deuce-to-seven triple-draw lowball event.
Question: You were aggressive throughout the final table, which can sometimes spell disaster in a limit game such as triple draw. How does the game suit your playing style?
John Phan: I’m really aggressive, and I think I can read people OK. Someone was saying I won every single hand. At one point I think I won 20 hands in a row. How many hands was I raising?
Q: You’ve been known to share your success with friends and family back in
JP: Yeah, I donate a lot of my money to charity and to my family. I give like 30 or 40 percent of all my winnings to my family and to the unfortunate people there. I support over 120 of my cousins and family, making sure they have food, a decent house, and clothes. The more I win, the more I can donate. There are so many poor people, and I really like that feeling of giving back.
Q: You and Gioi Luong got into a few arguments at the table. Can you explain the circumstances?
JP: Well, poker’s all about karma. I’ll always gamble, anytime, but he’s taking so many angle shots at the table it’s not even funny. It wasn’t always against me, but I’ll try to protect all of the players at the table when someone’s trying to take shots. You’ve got to play fair and square, and he does a lot of stuff that I wasn’t happy about. A lot of people know this about him and aren’t happy. It’s all about karma, though, and that’s why he came out third.
Q: You seemed happier to win this bracelet than you did the first time around.
JP: Going into the World Series, I didn’t expect to win a bracelet, so winning one was really nice. I’ve come second so many times, so I’m used to that. The first one was nice, but winning the second one was so hard, it’s way bigger. I like to do things that not everyone has done, so getting player of the year and winning two bracelets is more important. I’ve been here so many times, at so many final tables, but I’ve never played as well as I did in the last week. If I had played this well in the past, my overall results would be a lot different.
Q: Speaking of player of the year, this win puts you in third place in the overall Card Player POY race, and in second behind Jacobo Fernandez in the Card Player WSOP POY race. How much would either mean to you?
JP: Well I didn’t know until you just told me. I guess I’ll be playing every event from here on out and I’ll be bringing my best game with me.
