Tournament Trail Q and A -- POY Runner-Up David Pham

David "The Dragon" Pham has won the Card Player Player of the Year title twice. His firsct victory came in 2000, and he followed that up with a POY title in 2007. As the defending champion in 2008, Pham gave POY winner John Phan a major scare as he put together an impressive title defense. The Dragon accumulated more than 6,000 points for the second year in a row, finishing with 6,022. Pham came within 682 points of becoming the first back-to-back champion in history. He now has $8,056,332 in career tournament winnings. Card Player caught up with Pham at Bellagio and he talked about the final stages of yet another successfual year.

Ryan Lucchesi: When you get late in a POY race and you go deep into a tournament how much does this weigh on your tournament decisions? This is familiar territory for you, so what do you do if you’re dealt a drawing hand that might pay off large for you and help you make a final table this late in the year? Do you play it conservatively or really try to accumulate a lot of chips in that spot due to the extra value hanging over everything?

David “The Dragon” Pham: Sometimes you gamble, but when you get close to the end of a tournament you have to make good decisions. That’s very important to determine if you will make the final table. Three-four tables left in the tournament I’m really focused in every tournament I play, even $2,000-$3,000 tournaments, and especially $10,000 events. When you come close that’s the main thing, usually when I make decisions to make a call I never let myself go broke, unless I have the nuts. It’s all survival games if you have a chance.

RL: How important is the POY award to building a player’s legacy. What will your two titles mean to you 10 years from now?

DP: Wow, that’s awesome because no one can ever take that away from you. I’m so blessed. I think I’m doing very well in my life. When I do win I deduct a percent to give to charity in Vietnam. I do this with my partner David Tran, and we take the money and give it to sick people and poor people. We gave money to people with heart problems for an operation. I’m very blessed.

RL: Last year at this time it was you that everyone was trying to chase down for the POY title, and now you’ve become one of the hunters. What are the differences in your state of mind in 2007 and 2008?

DP: I look at the internet and there are only a few people that can catch John [Phan], but it’s really, really hard, because this is a tough field for the last event. If I get down to four days left in the tournament I have a good chance to get there, because I play really well during the closing of a tournament.

RL: How much does your experience in multiple POY races assist you now?

DP: I believe my experience with playing so many tournaments in my life helps me here. If my mindset is good then I always do the right thing in tournaments. If the finances are OK, if the family is OK, then I can just focus and play the game well.  
 

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