The Poker Career of Vietnamese John Phan
More and more Vietnamese-Americans are getting involved in the world of professional poker. Some of these Vietnamese-American poker players who have been raking millions of dollars from participating in poker events alone are Chau Giang, David Pham, Men Nguyen, Mimi Tran, and Scotty Nguyen. Another successful Vietnamese-American player is John Phan, who is also known as Razor.
John Phan was born in Da Nang, Vietnam on October 10, 1974 and now resides in Long Beach, California. He began to be fascinated with playing cards when he was only sixteen years old. During this time, John Phan learned how to play low-limit poker games. He was merely playing as a hobby but then, he came to a realization that he had the skills to turn into a professional player of poker. At first, his family disapproved of his decision to engage in professional poker but as years passed by, they eventually learned to accept that poker formed part of John Phan's life. Perhaps, John Phan's family eventually approved of his decision after witnessing his potential as a poker player and after he started earning money from his games.
It was in 2000 when John Phan started to prove that he's got the skills of a poker professional. On February 27, he was the third placer in a Limit Hold'em and Seven Card Stud game at the L.A. Poker Classic. On February 28, he won first place in a Limit Hold'em game conducted at the Guaranteed Hold'em tournament. On April 22, John Phan attended the 31st Annual World Series of Poker and placed thirteenth in a Limit Hold'em game. On June 19, he finished in the money in an event of the California State Poker Classic. On July 31, he was one of the poker players who reached the final table in a Guaranteed Summer Challenge event. He was also one of the poker players who reached the final table in a Big Poker Oktober event held on October 13.
Although John Phan has not yet won any World Poker Tour title or any World Series of Poker bracelet, he has had several chances of beating some of the big names in the poker scene. One good example was when he reached the final table of the US$5,000 Seven Card Stud event at the 36th Annual World Series of Poker. Such event was held on June 23, 2005, wherein he only emerged as the fourth placer and only received US$72,190. Nevertheless, John Phan considered such play a victorious one because he was able to defeat a couple of big names in the poker scene, namely, Rob Hollink and Dave Colclough.
When he won fourth place in an event of the Five Star World Poker Classic held on April 24, 2005, John Phan felt like he won first place due to the fact that he outlasted some of the big names in the poker scene once again. Some of those poker giants were Juha Helppi, Chris Ferguson, Joe Beevers, Phil Ivey, and Hollink. He also received US$518,920 from the said event.
With these achievements, we are pretty sure that we know why John Phan's family finally decided to respect his decision of venturing into the world of professional poker.