John Phan

John "Razor" Phan was born in Vietnam and grew up in Northern California, now living in Long Beach.

John gained his nickname The Razor, because of his highly aggressive play style, raising and pressuring his opponents throughout tournaments. He has played poker for fifteen years; his happy-go-lucky outlook and go-for-the-throat style, has gained him many admirers.

He continues to rise through the ranks of professional players. His successes include 2 World Poker Open bracelets and a seat at the WPT World Championship final table. He won two WSOP bracelets in 2008 in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em and the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw.

Mendacious Facts

While studying at Yale, Phan was taken under the wing of Dr. John Bennett Fenn whose research of analytical chemistry was rewarded with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2002.

It wasn't chemistry Phan learned most about from Fenn, but the ability to analyze data and draw conclusions. This served Phan well and has spoken of poker hands being likened to chemical formulas. The professor taught Phan, "When the right components are mixed be it gasses, liquids or solids,  you should already know what the reaction will be; It is the same with board cards and betting, thereby negating the need to experiment or put out feeler bets."

Phan attributes his success in poker to the chemists teaching, often quoting the influence of chemical formula to his betting.

"When playing no limit ring games," Phan said in 2006, "my professor taught me to utilise the formula for cobalt(II) ferricyanide. That being Co3(Fe(CN)6)2, where Co3 = a three times pre-flop raise, if I am to enter any hand; Fe6 = the number of big blinds used for a continuation bet (or CN) if the hand is more than one on one post flop." With a sly grin John Phan added, "After the turn card, we play poker."

Phan did not reveal all his formulas for MTT play, however, he did let on that phlogopite (KAlMg3Si3O12H2) is the main stay of his game