After an August lull, the tournament circuit was back in full swing in late August with the
World Poker Tour Legends of Poker tournament. The event attracted 485 players and awarded a healthy $1.6 million to the victor.
In the end,
Legends ended in an amazing heads-up battle, perhaps the hottest player in poker finished third, and the
Card Player 2007 Player of the Year race was turned upside down.
First, the man who now holds the 2007 Legends title is indeed a legend. "Action" Dan Harrington, the 1995
World Series of Poker champion, bested David "The Dragon" Pham to claim the title and joined an elite group of players (Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, and Joseph Hachem) who have won both the
WSOP main event and a
WPT title.
Pham, who pocketed a healthy $800,000 for his runner-up finish, rocketed up the Player of the Year leader board and now sits in first place. The Dragon, who won the Player of the Year race in 2000 and has knocked on the door of the title several other times, has had an amazing year so far in 2007. With 10 final tables and more than $1.5 million in earnings, he unseated J.C. Tran, who had sat atop the standings for the entire year after making three
WPT final tables (
Gold Strike World Poker Open, sixth place;
L.A. Poker Classic, second place; and
World Poker Challenge, first place) before the end of March. With fewer than 1,000 points separating these two excellent players, the next few months will surely be exciting.
In addition, Tom Schneider, who won two
World Series of Poker bracelets and added a fourth-place finish, continued his hot play with a third-place finish at
Legends. This puts him in third position in the Player of the Year race. Schneider has proven himself a complete player with his recent wins, as his bracelets were in seven-card stud eight-or-better and mixed Omaha/seven-card stud events, and his final-table appearance was in a H.O.R.S.E. event. If Tom stays hot, watch out.
For a look at all of the juicy Player of the Year details, check out Page 34, and to read all about the
Legends event, check out our recap on Page 90.
Last, but certainly not least, we are proud to profile one of poker's biggest humanitarians in this issue. Victor Ramdin won the 2006
Foxwoods Poker Classic and has accrued more than $2.2 million in lifetime tournament winnings. He has used these winnings to help his native country by working with Guyana Watch, an organization that provides general and urgent health care in Guyana. He's been involved with the organization for more than 10 years and now acts as vice president, but this doesn't stop him from rolling up his sleeves and working his butt off. Victor was kind enough to allow one of
Card Player's staff writers, a former emergency medical technician, to accompany him, 17 doctors, one dentist, and a 25-person support staff on his last mission. We hope that you will enjoy this glimpse into the good that Victor and his organization are bringing to Guyana. Check it out on Page 68.
