No matter where he finishes in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event, 34-year-old Ryan Phan, who immigrated from Vietnam when he was seven, is guaranteed a career-high score. Playing in his third consecutive WSOP Main Event, Phan has gotten better each year.
In 2016, he made it to Day 3 busting out of the money shortly after the dinner break but before the money. Last year, he min-cashed on Day 4 taking down $15,000 for finishing in 1,076th place.
“This year I predicted I was going to make it to Day 7. A lot of people said it should’ve been Day 5, but my logic was Day 3 plus Day 4 equals Day 7,” Phan joked. “I was being optimistic and confident about it because my play has been strong lately. I’ve been studying a lot and playing well.”
Prior to his Main Event run, the poker pro from Omaha, Nebraska had $452,622 in lifetime earnings including a previous best of $69,962 for finishing runner-up in the 2016 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event. A month before that, he also had a second-place finish in the MSPT Meskwaki for $58,296. Earlier this year, Phan won a gold ring at the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Baltimore in Event #7: $580 NLHE Re-Entry for $22,950.
Phan, who primarily plays cash games 3-5 times a week at Horseshoe Council Bluffs, decided to use some of the $6,075 he won for finishing 117th in the 2018 WSOP Event #62: $888 Crazy Eights to play a $1,100 satellite. It’s there that he won his way into the Main Event.
“I did a small swap with some friends and sold a small percentage,” Phan shared. “It’s a lucky money type of deal for me. When people have a piece of me then I do very well. Mainly I sell to my friends and family because I want to make them money. They don’t play poker so I want to help out my family and close friends. I ask them to buy a piece of me, I want them to buy a piece of me because I want to win them a large chunk of life-changing money.”
Phan, who is divorced, has custody of his two children Armani, 9, and Sophia, 11.
“They’re very excited every time I go and play,” he said of his family. “When I took second in the MSPT they called and were excited I won $60,000. They’re going to be excited about this. I haven’t had much time to talk to them because I’ve been so focused and playing long hours.”
While in Vegas, Phan is staying with fellow poker pro John Phan (no relation), who he met two years ago.
“It’s been unreal so far,” Phan said of his run thus far. “I can’t believe how calm and relaxed, focused and composed, I’ve been at the table. Like right now, I’m not even thinking about the money, I don’t know what the payout or pay jump is. I’m focused on playing the best poker of my life right now.”
| Day | End-of-Day Chip Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1c | 49,900 | 2,090/3,480 |
| 2c | 251,000 | 173/1,655 |
| 3 | 251,100 | 296/1,182 |
| 4 | 850,000 | 192/310 |
| 5 | 2,075,000 | 79/109 |
| 6 | 9,545,000 | 18/26 |
While Phan is getting plenty of coverage on Day 7 of the Main Event, the biggest hand for him came back on Day 2 and wasn’t captured by any media. Phan had started the day with 50,000 but had both kings and queens cracked to drop down to 15,000 at the 400/800/100.
“There was a late opener and I defended with the jack-nine of clubs,” Phan explained. “The flop came 9x6x7x with two clubs. I had top pair with a flush draw and was ready to go with it. I checked and he bet small. I jammed all in and he called with the queen-eight of clubs for the higher flush draw and an open-ended straight draw.”
Phan faded that and soon scored another double to put himself back in contention.
“I ran that up to 250K for Day 3. That was a very crucial hand for me."
You can follow Phan on Twitter at @TheJanit0r84.
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on the turn was checked through and the 
river completed the board. 
by Metalidi. Phan mucked the 
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flop and the 
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appeared on the river. Metalidi showed the 
and won the pot.
flop, Labat check-called a bet of 800,000 and checked again the 
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river, Labat checked and Zobian emptied the clip by moving all in for his last 6,030,000. 
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for top pair.
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