John Phan - Event #40 $2,500 2-7 triple draw

Six people started the final table of the $2,500 2-7 triple draw event, yet when all was said and done, over 120 people would become winners. John Phan started the final table as the chip leader with 294,000 closely followed by Gioi Luong with 291,000. David Sklansky was the short stack with 78,000 and a prayer of ending his 25 year WSOP Bracelet slump.

The complete list of chip counts and seat positioning looks like this:
Seat 1: Ben Ponzio (Elmwood Park, Illinois) — 113,000
Seat 2: Shun Uchida (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 200,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 78,000
Seat 4: Gioi Luong (Westminster, California) — 291,000
Seat 5: Robert Mizrachi (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 215,000
Seat 6: John Phan (Stockton, California) — 294,000

David Sklansky’s prayers of ending his Bracelet drought seemed to be going unanswered as he seemed unable to win a pot and his chip stack shrunk to 12,000. At this point he found himself all in against Robert Mizrachi and must have known he was drawing slim or even dead when Mizrachi stood pat on the third draw and he was drawing one to his 6 4 3 2. Would his luck change? Of course not. Sklansky drew another 6 and was out in sixth place with $20,528.

The table’s next casualty came when John Phan raised and Ben Ponzio 3 bet from the button, action folded around to Phan who made the call. Nothing too exciting happened between then and the final draw, when both players were drawing one and turned up their cards. Ponzio was drawing to his 7 5 4 2 while Phan held 8 7 4 3. Phan drew a 2 and Ponzio drew a 10, winning Phan the pot and Ponzio $28,739 for a fifth place finish.

Robert Mizrachi had been running pretty badly, unable to catch the cards he needed to continue with a hand once he’d put money into the pot. Due to this, he found himself to be the short stack with just 30,000 and his tournament life was on the line as he got the money in against Gioi Luong. On the final draw, Luong held 10 6 5 4 2 and Mizrachi was drawing one to his 8 6 4 2. Mizrachi Picked up a Jack and $41,055 as the fourth place finisher.

Once play got down to 3 handed, things really began to get interesting. John Phan had been losing chips to both of his opponents and found himself dangerously low on chips. On top of that, a verbal sparring match had begun to unfold between Phan and Luong. This created a situation for Pham where he would either focus or fall apart. Like any great champion, when faced with the prospect of do or die, dying is never really an option. Thus Phan began his ascent.

Shortly after a dinner break in which Phan must have done whatever it is real champions do when they need to pull themselves together, John Phan battled his way back to 500,000 chips.
Once he had accumulated a bit of chips, it was time to go for it all. Luong raised from the small blind and Phan reraised from the big. Luong called and drew two cards, which Phan must have liked his chances to beat since he stayed pat on the first draw. On the second round of betting, Phan put Luong all in and his opponent made the call. When Luong stood pat on the second draw, Phan decided that he didn’t like his chances quite so much anymore and drew 2 cards. The cards he drew must not have been what he was looking for, though, as he drew two more on the third draw. Luck was on Phan’s side today as he turned over 7 6 5 4 2 to beat Luong’s 8 7 6 5 2. Luong walked away in third place with $61,583.

Heads up play saw Phan turn the aggression on full-force and take a commanding lead when he won two key pots with an 8 low and a 10 low to reduce Shun Uchida to a few big bets. Phan’s luck continued on the final hand when he drew number 2 (7 6 4 3 2) against Uchida’s 8 7 6 5 3. Sun Uchida earned $95,795 for his second place finish.

John Phan, as well as the over 120 friends and relatives whom he supports back in his home country of Vietnam, won a prize of $151,896 for first place as well as his second gold bracelet this week.