The alter ego of John Phan

Poker players can be anyone they want to be at the poker table, and they can be anyone they want to be away from the table. Sometimes those two people are the same, but some players are so different when they are away from the table and close to their families that their alter egos are left far behind. They become the person they were before they ever touched a poker chip or a deck of cards.

John Phan is one of those players. At the table, he is a smart, aggressive player with a plan, a player who enjoys life on the road and a drink at the table while he rakes in pot after pot. In 2008, he has been raking in a lot of pots - so many during the summer, in fact, that he was the only player to win multiple gold bracelets at the 2008 World Series of Poker. He followed that up by finishing in fifth place at the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup IV to cap off an impressive summer run that helped him to climb near the top of the Card Player 2008, Player of the Year (POY) leader board.

This is the John Phan everyone knows, the one who is often called the "The Razor." There is another side of Phan, an alter ego, but to find that person, you have to go to his homeland in Vietnam. People in Da Nang, the town where he grew up and currently owns a house, know him, as well. They know him as their nephew or their cousin. Even strangers there know him as the person who feeds their families, or gives them extra money when they are down. People in Da Nang, Hoi An, and the many villages surrounding Hue know him for his random acts of kindness.

Each Day is a Gift

If you ask Phan, the inspiration for both of his personalities is rooted in humble beginnings. The fact that he lives every day as if it is a gift is because he truly believes it, after he almost died at sea when he was young. "Definitely, I have two sides. When I'm with my family, especially when I'm back in Vietnam, I'm just someone who is very thankful for the chance to go to the U.S. and become a better person and have all of these opportunities to become a professional poker player," Phan said. "It's like I tell everyone, since I got off that boat back in the early '80s, I was freerolling with my life."

Almost 30 years ago, his family was forced to flee their homeland, like so many others during the political unrest after the conclusion of the Vietnam War. Phan was just 7 years old, and his family split into two groups to escape the country. Others in his family were not so lucky. "Some of my cousins left in 1979, and we never saw them again; their boat got lost at sea," said Phan. John spent a month in a boat that was 30 feet long and 5 feet wide with nearly 40 other refugees; it was piloted by his uncle. The group barely had enough food and water, and at one point, the boat almost sank because it took on so much water. Eventually, another boat picked them up, took them to a refugee camp in Hong Kong, and eventually shuffled them to the Philippines. Nearly two years later, he wound up in the United States.

A (Family) Volunteer Army

When Phan goes back to Vietnam, he helps thousands of people by giving them food and money. Helping thousands of people all over the central coast of Vietnam on the scale that Phan does every couple of months requires an army of volunteers. Luckily, he has one - his family. With 19 aunts and uncles and countless cousins of multiple generations in his family all offering a helping hand, Phan is able to help 5,000 more people than he could on his own, by his estimation. "They love it. They like giving back, but they can't afford it. They love helping me with their hands. I like to be there to be involved and give it to the people who really need it," said Phan.

The base for his operation is a second home that he purchased in Da Nang. He houses six people in his home year-round, including an aunt and two generations of his cousins. John's house is also the site of his largest charity donation each trip. When we arrived in Da Nang, there were 500 boxes of ramen shrimp noodles with 30 packets of noodles in each box. Phan and his family passed out more than 15,000 meals to families in his Da Nang neighborhood over the next few hours, and they planned to do it multiple times during the trip. His cousins mounted motorcycles with as many boxes as they could carry, to take them to the sick and elderly people who couldn't make it to his home.

The next morning began three days of giving. John and 20 members of his family hopped into a van (one of two he bought for his family) every morning and drove up and down the coast of Vietnam, as far north as Hue and as far south as Hoi An, donating food and money.

One Random Act of Kindness at a Time … and One Big Commitment

The beauty of what Phan does in Vietnam lies in the simplicity of each donation he makes. He knows exactly what the people need in each area he visits, thanks to the advice of family members who live there, and that is what he provides. In most cases it is food, and John gives away the noodles because they make the largest amount of impact and help thousands. In some of the villages, a cooked meal was provided, and in others, they cooked a meal for John, to share their gratitude for what he did to help. The smiles on the faces of those who had just received a box of noodles that would feed their family for a week, when those meals otherwise would have been hard to come by, said much more than any words of gratitude. This is exactly why Phan wants to be a part of the giving on the ground level, as much as his schedule allows. "Everybody appreciates everything you do with a big smile, and every time they see you coming back, they have a big smile on their face and they're really happy and appreciate what you do," Phan said. "And when you're done doing it, it makes you feel so much better inside. I know there are a lot of different ways to donate to charities, but I like to do it myself, because I know I can give stuff to so many people."

Small villages and his neighborhood were not the only places to benefit from Phan's acts of kindness during the three-day marathon of giving. Homes for the elderly benefited, as well. In Da Nang, Phan and his family gave the residents a fresh, home-cooked meal, as well as money to pay for the home's food for the next week. He explained that at the Mai Am Tinh Thoung (Home for the Aged), the people eat the same meals every day, and that the reason they were so happy was because for the next week, they would be able to eat different meals. "When you're poor, all you can eat is just an average meal every day. Bread and butter, maybe rice, that's it; no chicken, no fish. If someone gives you money, you can buy chicken or fish. That makes people's day sometimes when they're poor," said Phan. In Hoi An, he gave the people of the Quangnam Center for the Homeless and the Disabled cans of food, as well as envelopes of money. In Da Nang, he stopped by a hospital's intensive care unit for children. There, he gave envelopes of money to each patient.

With all of this going on, it was easy to overlook, perhaps, the largest charitable commitment that John has undertaken yet. Three years ago, one of his cousins passed away, and his cousin's wife could no longer afford to support her child, Minh, without assistance. Phan not only stepped in financially, but also adopted the child. Minh is now 4 years old and John will bring him to the United States in a few years. "There was no way she could raise Minh by herself, and I decided that I wanted to give him a better future, which I've been doing for over two years since his dad passed away, and down the road I know he will definitely have a better future and be more successful than I am," said Phan. He went on to say that he wants Minh to have a few more years to experience Vietnamese culture so that he doesn't forget where he came from. He plans for his son to move to the U.S. when he is 7 or 8 years old.

Attempting to Top 2005 and Forget '06 and '07

In 2005, Phan finished in second place in the Card Player POY race. At the time, he said it was his best year of poker ever, but he looks to have an even bigger 2008. He has come back strong in 2008 and has rattled off a string of impressive results during the first seven months of the year. He already has won $933,350 in tournaments in 2008. Along with the two gold bracelets and a WPT final table that he has to his name this summer, Phan also has made one other WPT final table (the Bay 101 Shooting Star) and has cashed nine times this year. He knew he was playing well and he was focused on the task at hand. "I was so focused going into this summer, and every year going into the World Series, I want to do really well, so I prepare myself and train for it. No partying, no going out; all I want to do is stay focused and do well." He is also very happy to be rewarded for his efforts. "That's like mission impossible, winning two bracelets; there are poker players who dream about winning one in their whole lifetime. I've been playing for 18 years, and deep down, it's really nice to win one bracelet. I tried so hard but failed so many times, but that will never keep me from trying."

In 2006 and 2007, Phan was seen less frequently on the tournament trail, and his poker results faltered. "After [2005], I started taking a lot of time off, and I was doing a lot of charity work. I was just so busy giving back," said Phan. The break was due to a few reasons. Part of it was burnout, but most of it was tragedy. During those two years, there were two deaths in his family. "One of my brothers passed away in Vietnam, and I didn't play a lot of tournaments. I just focused on my family in 2006 and did a lot of charity work on the side, helping out my aunt and my cousins with whatever they needed. If you ever lose a loved one in your family, it takes a lot of energy from you. You only live once, and for those who exit early, that is the worst thing that can happen. Last year, my uncle passed away; in those two years, 2006 and 2007, I was sad."

If Phan is going to chase down the Player of the Year title this year, he's going to do it his way. He didn't come so close to dying at a young age not to appreciate every day at the poker tables. He is going to bring "The Razor" persona with him, because he knows he can't hide it. "You never really want to hide yourself, because that's who you are - so be who you are. I don't care if I'm drinking when I'm playing. I've got my limits, though. Sometimes, drinking a beer just makes you play better, and I'm used to it. Drinking is fun sometimes. When I was playing for one of the two bracelets, I was playing the guy sober and I couldn't beat him, so I started drinking one or two beers and was a little buzzed, and I accomplished my goal; it's funny. You'll be disappointed if you don't enjoy yourself, and when you don't do so well, you get mad at yourself. Poker is like that, you have got to have fun. Everybody in this business wants to win. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you get unlucky, but if you play solid in the long run, you'll overcome a lot of other players."

The Strange Case of John Phan and "The Razor"

So, the next time you see "The Razor" with a beer in his hand at a final table, laughing and grinning with shades on as he sits behind a mountain of chips, realize that you are watching only one side of the man. He'll probably be gathering information with raises here and there, to set his opponents up for one of the biggest pots of the night while he casually listens to his iPod. This poker Mr. Hyde is exposing only part of his hand, though. The real John Phan is back in Vietnam, where his name in Vietnamese is actually Bon Phan. That is the name that sits on a plaque on the wall of a Buddhist temple in Da Nang. The Dr. Jekyll side of Phan donated money to that temple for renovations in 2006. Every time he visits there, the people invite him inside and offer what little they have to thank him for his kindness.