Professional poker player John Phan has been selected as the 2008 Card Player Player of the Year, poker’s most respected annual award after scoring a total of 6,704 points. 2007 Player of the Year, David “The Dragon” Pham finished in second place after getting 6,022 points.

 

Phan finished in the runner-up position in the 2005 POY race, losing the title in the final month of the year to Nguyen, who won 636 points during the last month of the race to secure his fourth POY title with only 176 points over Phan. The 2008 POY award is an important recognition for Phan, who took the lead on the POY race lead after winning the WPT Legends of Poker in late August.  The Vietnamese born player finished the current year with 14 cashes for a total of $2,075,323 in prize money, playing eight final tables and winning three major events. Phan won two WSOP bracelets in 2008 after an amazing performance at the 39th Annual World Series of Poker Event #29 and Triple Draw Event #40; he also won the WPT No-Limit Hold'em Championship Event title at the Legends of Poker in August, and made several WPT final tables, finishing in sixth pace at the Bay 101 Shooting Star event in March and fifth at the Bellagio Cup IV in July.

 

So far, Phan resume includes over $5.3 million in career tournament winnings, two WSOP bracelets, one WPT title, and most recently, the 2008 Card Player POY title.

 

Here the complete list of POY winners:

           

1997: Men “The Master” Nguyen

1998: T.J. Cloutier

1999: Tony Ma

2000: David “The Dragon” Pham

2001: Men “The Master” Nguyen

2002: T.J. Cloutier

2003: Men “The Master” Nguyen

2004: Daniel Negreanu

2005: Men “The Master” Nguyen

2006: Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi

2007: David “The Dragon” Pham

2008: John Phan