John Phan broke through in 2008 with his first two World Series of Poker bracelets and his first World Poker Tour title at the Legends of Poker. While three titles in a single year would be good enough for most professional poker players, Phan gets to add one more: BLUFF Magazine Player-of-the-Year.

Phan joins Bill Edler, Chad Brown and Phil Ivey as previous winners of poker’s most prestigious award. The win wasn’t easy for Phan though, he held off fellow pros David Pham, Bertrand Grospellier and a late charge from Michael Binger.

“Phan’s year was certainly one of the most impressive in recent memory. With two bracelets and a WPT win he’s earned the right to call himself BLUFF Magazine Player-of-the-Year,” said Eric Morris, publisher of BLUFF Magazine. “The closeness of the race goes to show that the changes to our points system made the race fair and exciting for poker fans around the world.”

Phan’s year included a win in Event #29 ($3,000 No Limit Hold’em) where he outlasted 715 other players to take home the bracelet and the $434,789 first place prize money. He followed that up with another bracelet win a week later in Event #40 ($2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball) that saw him earn another $151,911 for besting a field of 238 players.

His biggest cash however came in late August at the WPT’s Legends of Poker event. With 373 of the world’s best players putting up the $10,000 buy-in Phan emerged with his third win of the year and a $1,116,428 payday. Phan finished the year with 1,214.1 POY points, just ahead of Binger who wound up with 1,183.67 POY points. Binger went as far as travelling to Atlantic City for the final eligible event of 2008, the Trump Classic. Needing to win the event to pass Phan, Binger only managed a third place finish.

“Seeing a competitor travel across the country during the holiday season for a shot at winning this title really speaks to the prestige and honor professional poker players see in the award,” said Morris. “That’s what makes our winner so deserving - the race wasn’t really over until the final event of the year.”

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