WSOP 2008 Event 40 - John wins again in the $2,500 2-7 triple draw event

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 | Francis Lee

The Amazon card room hosted the 40th event at the World Series of Poker 2008 which was the $2,500 2-7 triple draw tournament. This event replaced the $1,000 2-7 triple draw rebuy event at last year’s WSOP. 238 players started out which was a star studded field with the likes of Greg Raymer, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and 2-7 triple draw expert Bill Baxter.

The first day started out with just a few early eliminations due to the limit format of this event but once the blinds increased they became more and more regular. Only 30 players survived the first days play with Greg Raymer leading the field.

The second day saw the bubble burst early on with the top 24 player’s cashing in. Trung Ly was the unfortunate 25th place finisher, the last player not to make the money. After the bubble burst the field quickly reduced in size and didn’t take too long to reach the six seat final table. The official chip rankings at this point was as follows.

Final Table Chip Rankings

• 1st John Phan $294,000
• 2nd Gioi Luong $291,000
• 3rd Robert Mizrachi $215,000
• 4th Shun Uchida $200,000
• 5th Ben Ponzio $113,000
• 6th David Sklansky $78,000

David Sklansky couldn’t add to his short stack early on and moved his last $12,000 in against Robert Mizrachi. At the showdown Mizrachi tabled 8-7-5-3-2, Sklansky’s first four card down were 2-3-4-6 and needed a Seven or Eight to survive. The last card turned out to be a Six giving him a pair which in turn ended his tournament in 6th place winning $20,528.

Fifth place was decided when Ben Ponzio clashed with John Phan. Ponzio got his last $35,000 in with 7-5-4-2 with one card to draw and Phan had 8-7-4-3. Phan’s last card was a Deuce leaving Ponzio needing a three or Six to win. His last card was a Ten leaving him to head to the rail to collect $28,739 in 5th place. After two more hours play, Robert Mizrachi was the next player out as his J-8-6-4-2 was bettered by Gioi Luong with 10-6-5-4-2. Mizrachi won $41,055 finishing in 4th place.

Three handed play lasted for over four hours before we were down to heads up. Gioi Luong was the short stack throughout this time not able to make an impression on the chip leaders. The end finally came for Luong when he got all his chips in holding 8-7-6-5-2. Phan tabled 7-6-5-4-2 to better Luong’s hand sending him to the rail.

Phan entered heads up with $605,000 chips, just ahead of Shun Uchidi with $595,000, only$10,000 more in chips. Phan dominated play from the start and took control finishing off the event in just one hour. Uchidi’s last hand came when he got all his chips in with 8-7-6-5-3, when Phan was sitting on 7-6-4-3-2 almost the nuts. This was a fitting way for John Phan to win his second WSOP 2008 event, taking home the $151,795 first place prize and the WSOP bracelet to go with it.

WSOP 2008 Event 40 Final Standings

• 1st John Phan $151,896
• 2nd Shun Uchida $95,795
• 3rd Gioi Luong $61,583
• 4th Robert Mizrachi $41,055
• 5th Ben Ponzio $28,739
• 6th David Sklansky $20,528

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