John Phan Wins the Legends of Poker Main Event

On August 25th, 2008, the Legends of Poker Main Event featured a lot of familiar faces, but only one of them walked away with the grand prize of more than of over more than $1 million. That player was well-known poker professional John Phan. Phan overcame a tedious heads-up poker showdown with Amit Makhija that lasted more than three hours. When it was finally finished, Phan emerged as the winner of the event and took home the top prize of $1.116, 428 million.

The total number of participants at this year's event dropped from last year. The economy is slowing down, which in turn is hurting the poker industry like other sectors all over the world. The Legends of Poker event was no exception, but there still were many poker pros that showed up in the event. One of the astonishing moments of the tournament happened early on.

Daniel Negreanu showed up in the tournament to play but did not stay long. He was edged out of the tournament only 20 minutes into play when he went all-in with a card hand that he would normally execute. The move by Negreanu sound off warning bells that may be he was not fully prepared to play deep into the tournament. Negreanu did not explain on what happened during the game as he left the event.

10/23/2008, Thursday
Matthew Dorst

John Phan Wins the Legends of Poker Main Event

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