CardPlayer.com released the 2008 Poker Player of the Year (POY) rankings this week. The number one spot goes to Long Beach, California’s John Phan, who racked up a total of 6,704 points while playing qualifying POY tournaments this year.
Phan’s winning year started with three WPT World Poker Open places in January, followed by a 6th place win at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Event. His 2008 success is highlighted by his summer winnings, which made for one of the most substantial tournament poker runs in poker history. In June, he became a two-time WSOP bracelet winner when he won his first bracelet at the $3,000 no-limit hold ‘em event and his second a week later at the $2,500 2-7 triple-draw event. In July, he placed 5th at the WPT Bellagio Cup IV. Shortly thereafter, in August, he won almost $1.2 million when he won first place at the WPT Legends of Poker.
Phan’s 2008 totals included eight final tables, two WSOP gold bracelets, three major event wins, one WPT title, and 14 cashes totaling more than $2 million in winnings, making his total POY lifetime winnings just over $5.3 million. He now joins the ranks of #1 POY winners including David “The Dragon” Pham (2007 POY), Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi (2006 POY), Men “The Master” Nguyen (2005 POY), and Daniel Negreanu (2004 POY). In 2005, Phan barely missed first place, coming in 2nd to Nguyen, so it has been a long time coming, and he has earned the title. Other high ranking players this year include #2 David Pham, #3 Bertrand Grospellier, #4 Ivan Demidov, and #5 Erik Seidel. Peter Eastgate, 2009 WSOP finalist, ranked #8.
Phan commented on his poker attitude in a recent interview on CardPlayer.com’s The Scoop: “I’m here to gamble, and I’m not afraid to take risks.”
Point scoring for POY is determined by three criteria: finishing place at the final tables, cost of buy-ins, and number of players in the tournaments. Qualifying tournaments must have least 60 entrants, have a buy-in of at least $300, and payout a prize pool of at least $500K for invitational tournaments, $1.5 million for international events, $5 million for online tournaments, or $750K overall prize pool in a tournament series ($250K in single-event within a series).
2008 POY Standings
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