David Pham Tightens Grip on Player of the Year Lead

Determined to join the elite group of players that have won more than one Card Player Player of the Year (POY) award, David Pham further distanced himself at the No. 1 position from other top-ranked players close on his heels by winning event No. 8, a $2,500 buy-in tournament, at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic.

Before this win, Pham had 5,410 points, which meant that Jonathan Little (second) and Scott Clements (third) were less than 300 points behind him. After clinching this win, he added 1,152 points to his score.

Known for being a dangerous player with any size chip stack, Pham had the extra advantage of entering the final table second in chips.The one competitor ahead of him was accomplished player Cory Carroll, but Carroll made an early exit in ninth place. Pham fought his way through the last remaining players of a 319-deep field to win. In addition to the points, Pham also earned nearly $280,000 of the three-quarters of a million dollar prize pool. He was also awarded a gold Bellagio bracelet, a $25,000 seat in the World Poker Tour Championship in April of 2008, and a choke-hold on the POY lead.

Pham won the POY award back in 2000, and by comparison to this year, it is clear how much poker has changed in the past few years by looking at the major difference in what it takes to win this award. In 2000, Pham had 17 major tournament cashes, all of which were top-10 finishes. Two came at the World Series of Poker, and two were wins. Pham earned just over $200,000 the entire year, which is less than just his most recent cash. This year, he has made 11 final tables and added more than $1.8 million to his lifetime earnings. If no one surpasses him in the next 24 days, Pham will join the likes of Men Nguyen (1997, 2001, 2003, 2005) and T.J. Cloutier (1998, 2002) who own multiple POY titles.

Here are the top 10 POY standings as they stand right now:

For the complete Player of the Year results, click here.

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