John Phan(credit: Wikipedia)
The remaining six players vying for the 2008 Legends of Poker title sat down to play at 4pm PT on Friday, August 29, 2008. Each hoped to receive the first place prize of $1,091,428. Amit Makhija, sitting in Seat #2, had the chip lead with more than 3.2 million of the big ones.
Kyle Wilson, a 25 year old self-employed father of four from Canada, sang his tournament swan song nineteen hands into the final table. John Phan raised from the button in seat to 160k. Zachary Clark reraised from the small blind to 560k and Wilson moved in from the big blind with 995k.
Clark called and showed his A
,J
. Wilson, who has a PokerStars WCOOP bracelet, showed pocket kings (K
,K). However, the flop brought Clark and ace (A, 7, 5
). The turn card paired the board with a 5 and the river was a 3. Wilson, who attended the University of Massachusetts on a basketball scholarship, hit the rail in sixth place, earning $176,035.
On hand 35, the second elimination came. Trong Nguyen, a 23 year old poker player from Vietnam who usually plays online, went all-in after the turn. He was defeated by Amit Makhija , who held a pot with a club flush. Trong “Mike” Nguyen, whose biggest cash to date prior to this was online for $35,000, received $211,245 in his first live action tournament.
Just seven hands later (on hand #42), Paul “uclabruinz” Smith, a 38 year old online player from Chicago who is married with one daughter, took the long walk to the rail. He went all-in preflop. John “The Razor” Phan, who finally broke through and won not one, but two, WSOP bracelets this summer, went into the tank.
After a few minutes, Smith, a former lawyer who recently became a poker pro, called the clock on Phan. Phan made the call with his pocket eights (8, 8). Smith flipped up an A,7. The board came down 9, 7, 7, 10, 6. The river sealed Smith’s face and gave Phan the nut straight. Smith won $246,450.
It took a while for the third place finisher to be decided. During this time Makhija, a 23 year old online player from Wisconsin who goes by the moniker Amak316, and Phan made some big moves and solidified their standing as the top two players. Zachary Clark tried to keep up, but it proved to be difficult. Despite his legendary lineage – Zach’s uncle was Chip Reese – the 23 year old player headed to the rail on hand 93.
The online pro known as CrazyZachary, who already has four WSOP cashes and amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars on the net, moved all in for 1.855 mil with a Kd,2s, a pretty questionable and over-aggressive move in our estimation. Phan, who was in the small blind, folded and Amit Makhija, who has been playing professionally for the past three years and has his biggest live action score at the 2008 WSOP in the very first event (Makhija finished fifth in a tough final table which included Kathy Liebert, Patrik Antonius and eventual champ Nenad Medic), called with an A,6. The flop yielded 10,7,5. Makhija was still ahead. The turn was a killer for Clark as an As came down the pike. The river brought a meaningless J and Clark collected $281,645.
Due to the elimination of Clark, Makhija took the chip lead back from the Vietnamese-born Phan, who has made multiple WPT final tables but has not won a title. Pretty quickly into the heads up match, Phan doubled through Makhija and reclaimed the chip lead. Unfortunately, both players would double through each other multiple times, making the lead go back and forth like pendulum, keeping the crowd entertained but also hungry to crown the true Legend of Poker.
Finally, on hand 157, in what commentator/host Mike Sexton called “the greatest heads-up match in WPT history”, John Phan claimed victory. Here’s how it happened:
Pre-Flop:
Makhija had the button.
He moved in for 2.04 million.
Phan called with 3,3.
Makhija showed K,7.
Flop:
Q,,5,5
Phan holds onto the lead
Turn:
(Q,5,5) A
Makhija needs an ace or a queen (for two pair with better kicker) or a king (for better two pair). Otherwise, he’s outta there.
River:
(Q,5,5) (A) 10
It’s over! John Phan has his first WPT title and his Phan-atics celebrate.
Here are the final standings:
1) John Phan - $1,116,428
2) Amit Makhija - $563,320
3) Zach Clark - $281,645
4) Paul Smith - $246,450
5) Trong Nguyen - $211,245
6) Kyle Wilson - $176,035
Check out John Phan chatting with Kimberly Lansing in a previous WPT event after being named the "Bold Player of the Day":