Christian Pham Wins Las Vegas WSOP Circuit Main Event

Christian Pham the semi professional player from Minnesota claimed victory at the Las Vegas WSOP Circuit Main Event at Caesar's Palace and with that he took home the circuit gold ring, a seat in the National Championships and a sweet $214,332. There were a few signs however that he may just do well in this tournament and if you're a little superstitious these few facts will be of interest to you. Firstly Pham wasn't even going to play in the tournament and it was only due to a phone call from a backer who offered to pay him into the event, and fly him to Vegas that he got involved in the first place, then just before he sat down and began playing he had a Chinese meal with friends and opened up a fortune cookie that simply read, 'All your dreams will come true'. Spooky!

Adding a little more spice to this story is that Pham didn't even have to pay the full $1,675 buy in amount, as he won his seat in a satellite for $200, and that $200 led to Pham winning his first ever big event in Las Vegas. So the luck had been on Pham's side so far with the backing, the flights and the cheap entry, and as he was up against a field that included WSOP bracelet winners and a Main Event final tablist he could have done with a little more, but they way he played he didn't really need the luck. A total of 14 players made it through to the final day of play and Pham was bottom of the pile, short stacked and arguably the least experienced player remaining, however he quickly doubled his stack in the first hour of play, bluffed his way past a few opponents and started making his way to the top. The player that Pham had to beat was Jonathan Gaviao who was on a hot streak of form and aiming to become the very first player to win back to back WSOP Circuit Main Events, however Pham played brilliantly and proved to be a worthy winner on the biggest stage he's played on to date. He knew he would have to raise his game in Vegas and he did just that.