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David “The Dragon” Pham Wins Two Tournaments in a Week

Odds are that if you have played enough poker or have paid close attention to the results of big name players, you’ve noticed that the game can be streaky. Players start getting hot and post several huge results in a row and in many cases over a short stretch of time.

Jason Mercier had such a run a couple of summers ago at the World Series of Poker and David “The Dragon” Pham appears to be in the middle of such a streak. He kicked off March by taking down the Main Event of the Wynn Spring Classic in Las Vegas. Less than two weeks later, he’s won his first WSOP Circuit ring after taking down the WSOP Circuit Los Angeles Main Event.

Pham Wins Winn Spring Classic for $240,254

Pham began him impressive run earlier this month when he took down the Main Event of the Wynn Spring Classic. The event drew a solid field of 984 entries. The lower buy-in brings out a mixture of pros and amateur players looking to take a solid six-figure score.

A player of the caliber of David Pham can often flourish in this environment and over the last couple of years we’ve seen well-known pros frequent these events to supplement their bankroll. Such was the case in this event.

Pham ultimately made the final table of this event against a relatively solid field. Other players making the final table included Danny Wong, WSOP bracelet winner Clayton Mcguire and three-time WSOP Circuit champ Kurt Jewell.

Ultimately, it was Jewell against Pham for the title. Pham ended up taking down the event in strong style and earned $240,254 in prize money.

Pham Wins First Circuit Ring One Week Laster

Just a week after winning the Wynn Spring Classic Main Event, Pham took down the WSOP Circuit Los Angeles Main Event at the Bicycle Hotel and Casino in Los Angeles.

The Circuit Main Event drew a solid field of 705 entrants and created a prize pool of just over $1 million. The final table of this event had several well known players including Kevin Gimble, Nick Palma, Owen Crowe and former PokerNews presenter Kristy Arnett-Moreno.

Ultimately, it was Pham facing Tom Braband for the title. Braband started heads-up play with a slight chip lead but Pham took the chip lead in just the first hand of heads-up play. Finally, the event came down to a race of pairs. Braband was all-in with pocket threes against pocket tens for Pham. The tens held and Pham had his second title in a week.

This was David Pham’s first WSOP Circuit title in his long career. This isn’t very surprising considering that many pros stayed away from the Circuit in the early years except for a few key Main Event tournaments.

In addition to his first Circuit Ring, Pham wins $216,790 and an entry into the WSOP Global Championship at the end of the season. The event awards a WSOP bracelet to the winner.

Pham Eclipses $10 Million in Earnings

David Pham’s recent victories has put him over the $10 million mark in career earnings. His $10.4 million total puts him 6th on California’s All-Time Money List and 62nd on the overall All-Time Money List.

Pham has been on a nice run the last three years. In 2016, he posted his best annual earnings since 2008 and followed that up with his third career WSOP bracelet victory at the 2017 WSOP. This year, he already has $464,304 in earnings and is on pace to win over $1 million for the fourth time in his career.

While the poker world focuses a lot of attention on younger players and select “celebrity pros,” it is good to see on of the start of the Poker Boom era do well. It shows that older pros still have the ability to compete in the modern era of poker.

Photo Courtesy: WSOP.com

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