It is interesting to note that Bluff and ESPN have different results for the 2008 player of the year. That shows you the magnitude of Live world championship poker. Unlike tennis this isn’t a game you win over and over. Michael Binger is 1st in the player of the year rankings, Men (The Master) Nguyen 2nd, Erik Seidel 3rd and Glen Chorny 4th and John “Razor” Phan is 5th in the POY rankings.

Micheal Binger

Bluff magazine and ESPNs number one player of the year Micheal Binger is 32 years old is has earnings of $5,558,685. He’s a University Ph.D in Theoretical Particle Physics at Stanford University in 2006. Poker players he respects include Allen Cunningham and Chris Ferguson. It is interesting to note that Micheal Binger is 4th in the poker player rankings for 2008.

Micheal Binger started playing in 2001 and ranked in the top 30 for the first time, when he came 23rd in the No-Limit Hold’em Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic in April 2006. His latest world ranking was in the Pot-Limit Hold’em (Event 38) 39th Annual World Series of Poker in June 2008.

J.C Tran

Bluff Magazine/ESPN Poker Power Rankings put 31 year old J.C Tran as number one in their poker rankings. Tran has been in the top 50 players since 2004 when he came 32nd in the January 2004 Fifth Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open. This was soon followed with a placing of 4th place in a February championship and a win in that same year.

His first win came on the 16th March 2005 at the 2004/2005 WSOP Circuit Event in Rio Las Vegas. His last win was in December 2007 at the Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic. More recently J.C Tran has ranked 84th in 2008 39th Annual World Series of Poker, although he did have a 5th place in the June 2009 39th Annual World Series of Poker.

Tran originally from Vietnam resides in Sacramento, CA. Tran is the youngest of 8 kids and was introduced to poker by his brother on his 21st birthday. He has been playing ever since. Tran has a degree in Business Management Information Systems from California State University. J.C. Tran’s 2008 POY rank was 25th while his 2007 POY rank was 3rd.

David (Dragon) Pham

2nd in the poker player rankings is David (Dragon) Pham this man was cousin to “The Master” Nguyen and worked for a dry cleaning business owned by Men “The Master” Nguyen.

David (Dragon) Pham placed 4th for the first time in the No Limit Hold’em 31st Annual World Series of poker in May 2000. His most recent placing was in the Event 8 No-Limit Hold’em in April 2008 with the 6th Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic. His poker earnings come in at a cool $6,002,324.

Men (The Master) Nguyen  

It is all the more interesting to see that Men (The Master) Nguyen is 2nd in the player of the year rankings. Almost a planned coup for second place in the player of the year rankings and the poker player rankings in the live world championships!

The Master is 46 years old and was born in Phanthiet, Vietnam he now resides in Bell Gardens, California. He escaped from Vietnam in 1978 and owns a furniture store and dry cleaners. His earnings are $5,110,467

The Master has financed the building of two schools in Vietnam. He has made his presence felt for many years since his first Limit Hold’em placing of 9th place at the 1988 19th Annual World Series of Poker.

Apart from gaps in 1990, 1993 and 1997 The Master has placed in championships every year. He has placed in 15 tournaments this year the most recent being 45th place at the Seniors No-Limit Hold’em World Championship in June this year at the 39th Annual World Series of Poker.

Staying in the top five is not easy and I’m sure J.C Tran, David (Dragon) Pham, David Singer, Michael Binger and Danny Wong ranked first to fifth respectively in their poker player rankings, would love to take a leaf out of Men (The Master) Nguyen’s book. As would Michael Binger, Erik Seidel, Glen Chorny and John “Razor” Phan who rank 1st,3rd, 4th and 5th in the player of the year rankings where Men (The Master)Nguyen ranks 2nd.

It definitely isn’t easy staying with the top dogs in live world championship poker. So Men (The Master) Nguyen definitely has a lesson for every poker champion.