Phan reigns after six-hour heads-up battle
By Andrew FeldmanJohn "Razor" Phan, a 33-year-old professional poker player from Stockton, California, had finished runner-up in WSOP events twice in his career prior to the final table of Event 29. On his third try, he wouldn't accept second place and defeated his opponent Johnny Neckar in a six-hour long heads-up battle for the title. Phan, cashing for the 11th time, won $434,789 and his first major tournament victory. The $3,000 no-limit hold 'em event attracted 716 players and created a prize pool of nearly $2 million dollars.
Now, this next sentence might seem a little crazy considering that the players were playing for a $160,000 difference in prize money, but after over six hours, both of them agreed to move all-in in the dark and roll the dice for three hands.
"What can I say? I love to gamble," Phan said about the decision. "To me, gambling is what it's all about."
On the first hand, Phan doubled up Neckar when his Q-4 lost to his opponent's 7-9. The next hand Neckar played the board when holding 4-2. Phan held 7-4 and his seven qualified to win the pot. For the third hand in a row, both of them moved all-in and with Neckar rivering a pair of fours, he doubled through Phan.
After that hand, Neckar lasted another eight minutes before Phan was celebrating. Phan has $3,876,921 in career earnings and mentioned after the tournament that he plans on donating some money to a charity for his hometown in Vietnam.
Making his second final-table appearance at the 2008 WSOP was David Singer. After winning Event 3, Singer cashed in Event 21 before finishing fifth in this event. He is currently fifth in the race for 2008 Player of the Year.
Other notable finishers include Lee Childs (12th), Kathy Liebert (39th) and Eric Lynch (46th).
Below are the complete results of Event 29 of the 2008 World Series of Poker:
Event 29: No-limit hold 'em
Buy-in: $3,000
Entries: 716
Prize pool: $1,976,160
Players in the money: 72
1. John Phan ($434,789)
2. Johnny Neckar ($277,452)
3. Matt Vengrin ($167,973)
4. Alex Bolotin ($137,343)
5. David Singer ($112,641)
6. Stewart Newman ($88,927)
7. Thuyen Doan ($69,165)
8. George Dunst ($54,344)
9. Sebastian Segovia ($39,523)
10. Aleksander Zaslavsly ($24,702)
11. Linda Lee ($24,702)
12. Lee Childs ($24,702)
13. Matthew Stout ($19,761)
14. Dustin Pattinson ($19,761)
15. Vincent Peraino ($19,761)
16. Don Mullis ($14,821)
17. Ryan Young ($14,821)
18. Richard Tatalovich ($14,821)
19. Dale Pinchot ($11,264)
20. Carter King ($11,264)
21. Jon Traver ($11,264)
22. Douglas Miranda ($11,264)
23. Daniel Obrien ($11,264)
24. Hjalti Jacobsen ($11,264)
25. Leo Wolpert ($11,264)
26. Mclean Karr ($11,264)
27. Alex Melnikow ($11,264)
28. Norman Gautron ($9,287)
29. Christopher Glover ($9,287)
30. Kyu Cho ($9,287)
31. Rem Remington ($9,287)
32. Steven Vanzadelhoff ($9,287)
33. James Fricke ($9,287)
34. Leonid Yanovski ($9,287)
35. Abdol Vahedi ($9,287)
36. Betty Carey ($9,287)
37. Byron Kaverman ($7,311)
38. Erik Jansson ($7,311)
39. Kathy Liebert ($7,311)
40. Thijs Wessels ($7,311)
41. Thomas Alcorn ($7,311)
42. Markus Gonsalves ($7,311)
43. Nathan Hoines ($7,311)
44. Derrick Plyler ($7,311)
45. John Anhalt ($7,311)
46. Eric Lynch ($6,718)
47. Marty Wong ($6,718)
48. Julius Colman ($6,718)
49. Jim Sachinidis ($6,718)
50. Barny Boatman ($6,718)
51. Nachman Berlin ($6,718)
52. Beth Shak ($6,718)
53. Maxwell Greenwood ($6,718)
54. Pier Scatola ($6,718)
55. Kristy Gazes ($6,126)
56. Oktay Altinbas ($6,126)
57. Stuart Patterson ($6,126)
58. Mark Muchnik ($6,126)
59. Rob Sterken ($6,126)
60. Stephen O'Dwyer ($6,126)
61. Jason Somerville ($6,126)
62. Nicolas Levi ($6,126)
63. Douglas Mackinnon ($6,126)
64. Francis Mahiout ($5,533)
65. Todd Sisley ($5,533)
66. Hans Winzeler ($5,533)
67. Stephen Delvin ($5,533)
68. Joseph Grech ($5,533)
69. Justin Newton ($5,533)
70. Daniel Shak ($5,533)
71. Jeffrey King ($5,533)
72. Alan Myerson ($5,533)
