John Phan Wins First Bracelet at 2008 WSOP Event 29
June 18th, 2008
John Phan has claimed the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Event #29 after a dominating display at the final table. With two previous runner-up finishes at the WSOP to his name, this is John Phan’s first WSOP victory and he takes home $434,789 in winnings to go with his first golden bracelet.
Going into the final table’s play Matt Vengrin held the chip lead over online pro John Neckar:
Seat 1 - Sebastian Segovia - 128,500
Seat 2 - Alex Bolotin - 534,000
Seat 3 - David Singer - 334,000
Seat 4 - Thuyen Doan - 369,500
Seat 5 - John Phan - 396,500
Seat 6 - Matt Vengrin - 1,007,500
Seat 7 - Stewart Newman - 398,000
Seat 8 - John Neckar - 796,000
Seat 9 - Tony Dunst - 333,000
Out first was Sebastian Segovia who couldn’t cope with Matt Vengrin’s triple queens. Soon after Tony Dunst also fell to Vengrin, this time a flopped straight did the damage. Thuyen Doan was next to go, John Phan’s two pair proving too strong for the last female poker player left in the event.
Stewart Newman was next to be eliminated, Phan again coming out on top with a pair of jacks, before Phan then got rid of 208 WSOP Event #3 winner David Singer to leave four players left in the event. Phan continued his good run knocking out Alex Bolotin, who had reached his second final table of this year’s WSOP, and once John Neckar saw off Matt Vengrin, it was down to heads-up play between Phan and Neckar.
After six hours of heads-up play John Phan finally out-muscled John Neckar with a pair of aces to take the title and the $434,789 first place prize. He successfully saw off a total of 716 players to win his first WSOP bracelet.
Final Standings:
John Phan - $434,789
John Neckar - $277,452
Matthew Vengrin - $167,973
Alex Bolotin - $137,343
David Singer - $112,641
Stewart Newman - $88,927
Thuyen Doan - $69,165
Tony Dunst - $54,344
Sebastian Segovia - $39,523
