A huge field at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) circuit main event in Atlantic City saw Tuan Phan take a big $188,830 first place prize in his first ever WSOP Circuit event.
The event drew 618 players for the $1,600 buy-in event, a massive jump from the 352 that bought into the same event last year, creating a prize pool of just under $900,000.
Phan made it to the final table with a short stack, and many may have assumed that an inexperienced player with a short stack would struggle. However, he avoided putting his life on the line too many times and slowly gathered chips together, turning himself from an also-ran into a real force at the nine-handed final table.
Heads-Up Play
By the time he made it heads-up with Hao Le he had a solid 2:1 chip advantage over his opponent. Le already had a solid cash earlier in the Atlantic City series of events and was hoping for a win here. He may have thought that when he was dealt pocket Aces, it was going to be his day as he managed to get the money all in on the turn, after slow playing his big pocket pair. However, sadly for Le, Phan had turned trip threes with his K3 and with no river Ace, the bullets were cracked and the title was Phan’s.
The $116,796 consolation prize along with the player of the series title will no doubt help ease the pain. Both have earned free entry to the WSOP Circuit National Championships for their individual wins.
Final table payouts:
1st Tuan Phan $188,190
2nd Hao Le $116,796
3rd Marc Roy $85,405
4th Larry Riggs $63,375
5th Manh Nguyen $47,684
6th Anthony Zinno $36,372
7th Kevin Kaikko $28,127
8th Danis Gnidash $22,048
9th Mike Devinsky $17,516
John
- hailing from Watford, UK John became hooked on the game of poker ever since his uncle taught him the rules of 7-card stud during a home game at the young age of 15. He caught the online bug three short years later after turning 18 and began regularly playing Texas Hold'em SNGs.
