The Scoop -- John Phan

John Phan is the reigning Card Player Player of the Year after an incredible 2008. His amazing run began at the World Series of Poker when he won his first and second bracelets. He followed that up with a final-table finish at the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup IV and a win at the WPT Legends of Poker. Phan might be known as "The Razor" for his ultra-aggressive play, but he attributed much of his success last year to adjusting his play. He sits down with Adam and Diego to talk about it.

John Phan: Four or five years ago, in any tournament, if you found out who would be the chip leader the fastest, it was me. I built my chip stack so fast, but now I have kind of changed my game a little bit, and I've kind of slowed down.

Adam Schoenfeld: What made you do that?

JP: When I was really young, back then, I was really fearless. Now I pick my spots. If I'm really hot, I'll play whatever cards I have. But I stay away from the big stacks if they raise; I'm not going to get too creative with them.

Diego Cordovez: Is it also because the overall style of play out there has changed, because when we started playing against each other 10 years ago, it was very rare for someone to be as loose and as aggressive as you were? Just that aggression itself was a very powerful weapon. Now that so many young guys have learned to play on the Internet, it's like aggression in itself isn't enough anymore, and you have to counter that to some degree. Is part of the adjustment based on the fact that the opponents have changed a lot, or is it just a matter of experience and learning from mistakes and improving?

JP: You're right. The online kids watch a lot of TV, and they are so good online. Before, you would see kids at the table, and they just want to beat you; they don't care what they have. Just because of who you are, they don't care if they give you all their chips. They'll play against you every single pot. All these online kids are 21 to 23 or 24, and they are so good. Sometimes you can't even read them. They are so good. That's why all these old-school guys can't win anymore, because these young kids are so aggressive. If they put a read on you, they'll put it all in on the turn. If you have a flush draw and an overcard, you don't really want to risk all your chips, and they don't care if they have nothing.

DC: But you're an old-school guy, and you have been very successful, so is it a matter of you making some big adjustments in order to maintain your success, or do you just have a style that was able to work?

JP: Well, you have to make big adjustments. I've been very fortunate to have a gift that not a lot of people have. I can read cards really well. I catch a lot of cards and get lucky when I need to get lucky. I stay away from [situations] when I need to stay away, like laying down pocket queens or A-K. Before, I would never be able to lay down A-K or pocket queens before the flop, no matter what. Now, if I have a big stack, queens are easy for me to lay down; like, if I triple my chips up and a guy has the same amount of chips in a big event and I raise, he reraises, I reraise, and the guy ships it all in, sometimes I lay down queens and the guy will show me A-K; a lot of people play so powerfully with A-K. I don't agree with them. Just the other day, a guy raised, someone reraised, and I mucked A-K. I'm so afraid with A-K. They could have pocket jacks or pocket tens.

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