Raising the Bar - With Five Final-Table Appearances in 2005, the Current Player of the Year Leader, John Phan is Lighting It Up

During the first hand of the recent World Poker Tour Mirage Poker Showdown, John Phan was up to his usual antics. Preflop, he tossed in a big raise with 9-7 offsuit. He was called by someone with pocket aces. The flop came 7-7-4 and, after some heavy action, Phan sent a guy from Canada home after only one hand. It seems like a recurring nightmare for his opponents. As has been the case for most of 2005, Phan had himself a commanding chip stack and was an early force to be reckoned with in this multimillion dollar event.

While Phan is no stranger to the poker world, his run of five final-table finishes in 2005, more than $1 million in winnings, and the current top spot in the Card Player Player of the Year standings, has him riding higher than ever.

Roots

"I would play days and nights on end, never go home, and kill the game." – John Phan

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.

Grinding It Out

Phan's play in household games morphed into low-limit action at small Northern California cardrooms. There, Phan says, he cut his teeth on low-limit hold'em for about five years. Besides working at his family's grocery store when he was young, he has not held a job other than working the felt. When he was 16, one of Phan's close friends began running a two-table cardroom in Stockton. "Back in the day, we would wait in line for two hours before the room opened," Phan said. "They gave the first nine people who bought in for $20 an extra $20. If you played for more than an hour, you got to keep the extra $20," he laughed.

After graduating from high school, Phan stayed in Stockton and enrolled in San Joaquin Delta College. He admits that he didn't take his academics too seriously. "All we did was go get our financial aid and gamble with it," he said. "I was playing at home a lot, in low-limit games like $2-$4 and $3-$6, and at a casino in Sacramento, where the stakes were a bit higher, like $4-$8 and $6-$12." At that time, Phan said he worked on building his bankroll, with his sights set on bigger, juicier games.

Working up the economic ladder with an increasingly more acute understanding of the game, he began making a living playing poker by the time he was 21. "When I started playing $15-$30 limit hold'em at places like Hollywood Park, the Oaks Club, and Commerce Casino, I was making enough money to dedicate myself to poker and call it a full-time profession." Back then, Phan said, all people played was limit hold'em, and there were lots of beginner players to prey on. "I would play days and nights on end, never go home, and kill the game."

He first took down a $1,000 win when he was 12 years old while playing with friends, and a $10,000 win when he was 18, playing Asian stud. The first time he cracked $100,000 was about four years ago, when he captured first place in a Bicycle Casino no-limit hold'em tournament.

The "Raiser's" Winning Style

Early in his poker career, Phan quickly and easily distinguished his game from the competition. "Back when I started playing cards, I was in a roomful of guys who would lay down A-Q or A-K at a $2 limit hold'em table," he stated. "I knew right away that this wasn't the way to play the game. My natural instinct was always to play very aggressively." He said that you will never see him lay down kings before the flop. He would rather go home early than play like a miser.

Many beginners think that success in no-limit hold'em comes down to sheer aggression. Phan said aggressive play is key, but added, "It must be smart aggressive play, not stupid aggressive play. Stupid aggressive play is moving all in when you are drawing dead and have given your opponent an opportunity to read your hand. Smart aggressive play is finding weakness and making a move that you know a weak player cannot call."

While Phan's game is aggressive, he also has earned a reputation as a very calculated player when a big decision is hanging in the balance. At the recent World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio, someone reporting on the final table remarked, "You could time Phan's poker actions with a calendar." Phan laughed at this comment. "I play every hand, and the only time I really have to think for an extended period of time is when someone moves in on me and all of my chips are in jeopardy." Playing "every hand" keeps many of Phan's opponents convinced that he is running a constant bluff. At the recent Mirage Poker Showdown, his table frequently grilled him to show the bluff as he took down pot after pot, rebuilding his stack from $25,000 to more than $180,000 on a big day-two run. This verbal back and forth caught the World Poker Tour camera's attention on one occasion. Phan turned over top pair with the nut flush draw. "See, you guys, I'm not bluffing all the time," he laughed.

With many players, it is easy to categorically say they play loose or they play tight. But Phan says his opponents cannot pigeonhole his play into such absolutes. "I think it is hard for anyone to predict my game," he stated. "My instincts are very good, and I rely on them to apply pressure at the right times. If my opponent is weak, I will put lots of pressure on him. If I know he cannot call, I will put all of my chips in. And I am right 90 percent of the time."

Phan said his recipe for success is a combination of confidence, patience, and following the instincts that Mother Nature gave him. "If you build more confidence, you will improve your game and not second-guess your gut instincts. With patience and the right timing, your cards will get there. And by following your natural instincts, it's possible to know when it's the right time to lay down A-10 but play 7-6." Of course, one staple of Phan's game is a healthy diet of the raise. "My friends call me the raiser. I have my own unique game that's built on raising and reraising nonstop. Only when I am running bad do I limp. To win at this game, you cannot just limp. You cannot just check and call."

School's in Session

Phan's approach to the game flies in the face of traditional starting-hand values. He said, "Young guys play real tricky and old guys play so predictably." He said that you can really assign value to what you hold only by accurately reading the players at your table, or, as he likes to call it, "by going to school." However, unlike his brief stint at Delta College, this educational experience is all business. "I immediately study all the players when I sit down at a table. I find out who will go all in on a draw, and who will lay down top pair. The players who are willing to go all in on a draw are the players that will win the tournament. They are playing to win. Tight players don't have a chance." He said his favorite hand is 6-5 suited. "I play so many hands, but this is the type of hand that can win a big pot," he said. "And I usually raise with it coming in, so that my opponent doesn't know what I have."

As tournament fields are filled with more and more young Internet hustlers and players who are new to the high-stakes circuit, Phan admits that you have to adjust your game to grapple with the diverse and often tricky talent. "Overall, the fields right now are just crazy," he said. "Young players have a unique game that, for the most part, is hard to read. It takes a few rounds before you can figure them out. My number-one goal is not to let them figure out what I have."

Player of the Year?

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.

Last year, 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.

Phan's strong tournament finishes have propelled him into first place in the Card Player Player of the Year race, passing Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi in early May. Phan says walking away with the crown as the best tournament player is his biggest goal for 2005. "That would just be sick," he said. "The Player of the Year award means so much now since the tournament circuit is so big." Unfortunately for John, his pole position has left him unable to travel, one of his biggest passions. "I love to travel, especially to Vietnam with my mom and dad." Last year, he took a trip about every other month, but not in 2005. "Vacation will have to wait," Phan said. "I am on top in the points race and am playing my best game, and I plan on continuing to make a final table a month."

Despite his ferocious tournament tear in the past few years, there have been some lessons learned along the way. His nemesis has been the L.A. Poker Classic's limit hold'em event. Phan has been the chip leader each of the last three years, but has been unable to crack the number-five spot. In 2004, he was the chip leader with three tables left and had a third of the chips. However, he lost every hand he played until the final table. In 2005, he was the chip leader again at one point, but finished 40th. "In previous years, I played badly," he said. "I would risk all of my chips on a draw against a player I knew wouldn't lay his hand down. Since then, I have realized that you cannot play with a lucky guy. You have to stay away from the hot player with a big stack."

When not on the tournament circuit, Phan can be found playing in live games near his Long Beach, California, home. He frequently plays at Commerce Casino, usually in the $100-$200 limit hold'em game. "It is a crazy game," he commented. "Everyone is willing to gamble, with the mentality, 'I'll see you at the river.' It's crazy to think that the bigger games can be looser than the low limits!"

Identifying With the Aggressor

Phan said he really admires the play of both Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. "Essentially, we all have the same game. By mixing it up and reading cards well, usually nobody can predict what we have." He said Phil Ivey's gift of sensing weakness is "crazy," and that the player he passed on the way up to the top of the Player of the Year standings, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, is one we all should watch out for. "The Grinder has the natural gift of playing to win, and believe me, he will continue to win."

On the circuit, Phan and Scotty Nguyen are frequently seen in each other's company, both usually sporting a large jade Buddha medallion, which, Phan said, is his good luck charm and reminder that, like karma, if you play your "A" game, you will get there in the long run. With Scotty, Phan said he discusses hands and strategy, and the two give one another pointers.

Giving Some Back

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.