John Phan has had a monster year. First, he won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. Then he made two WPT final tables in little over a month, including winning his first WPT title at the Legends of Poker. Now he is the Bluff Magazine 2008 Player of the Year.

Phan edged out Michael Binger for the award, which is the first for Phan. He started the year off with a 6th place finish at the Bay 101 WPT event. He then went on a historic run at the World Series of Poker that netted him two championship bracelets. The first of his bracelets came in the $3,000 No Limit Holdem event. This event saw an epic heads-up match between Phan and Johnny Neckar. After several hours of play and a private chopping of the prize money, the two decided that they would go all-in blind for three straight hands. This provided some of the best entertainment of the WSOP, with Neckar taking two out of the three hands. In the end, Phan came out on top for the top prize and his first bracelet.

He then made the final table of the 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event. Both Michael Mizrachi and David Sklansky made the table with Phan. In the end, Phan emerged from this table victorious as well to claim his 2nd WSOP bracelet. Phan was the only multi-bracelet winner of the WSOP.

Next, Phan made the final table of the Bellagio Cup IV, where he finished in 5th place. He then a little over a month later made the final table of the Legends of Poker event in Los Angeles. This time, Phan was able to take down the event, the WPT championship bracelet, and the $1.1 Million top prize.

For the year, Phan earned over $2.1 Million.

The seventh season of the World Poker Tour will kick off on January 4th on Fox Sports Net. It will take a spot in the Sunday Night Sports Block on FSN.

Steve Lipscomb, the Founder and CEO of the WPT had the following to say, “Not only are we excited to bring our seventh season to the airwaves, we’re ecstatic to be a part of one of the leading networks for sports, FSN. Together, WPT and FSN continue to bring the action into living rooms and put fans on the edge of their seats.”

George Greenburg, Executive VP of Programming and Production at FSN commented, “FSN is pleased to be the new home of the WPT, the foremost brand in televised poker. This season promises the biggest names, the highest stakes, and the most drama and we are very excited to watch all the action unfold.”

The first five season of the WPT aired on the Travel Channel while season six aired on the Game Show Network. Unlike years past, this year’s format will be one hour long episodes with two episodes covering a tournament. In the past, a single episode was two hours long and covered a single tournament in an episode.

Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten will return to provide commentary. Joining them will be Amanda Leatherman. Amanda will serve as a sideline reporter and hostess. She has been providing live online updates for the WPT since July of this years and has previously served as an on air personality for both PokerWire and PokerNews.com.

On difference this year will be that the WPT will be sponsored by FullTiltPoker.net. They will receive a lot of airtime both with their logos displayed prominently on felt and with an instructional segment during the show.

Action will kick off on January 4th at 9 p.m.

Last month, Chino Rheem finished 7th at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. This month, Rheem was able to overcome a 497 player field to win his first ever WPT title at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

The final table of the this event was stacked with many top pros including Amnon Filippi, Hoyt Corkins, Justin Young, and Steve Sung. Corkins was the first player to be eliminated from the event when his flopped pair of queens ran into a flopped pair of kings by Justin Young.

Amnon Filippi and Steve Sung were both eliminated from the event when when they were on the short end of a three way all-in against Justin Young. Filippi held pocket nines against the pocked kings of Sung and the pocket aces of Young. Young’s rockets were good and both Filippi and Sung hit the door. Sung started the hand with more chips and would become the 4th place finisher.

Evan McNiff was eliminated after a couple of hands against Chino Rheem. Rheem first outdrew McNiff when his A-9 spiked a nine on the turn against the A-J of McNiff. Later, McNiff was all-in against Rheem. Rheem miraculously was ahead with 10-9 suited against the 10-4 offsuit of McNiff. The board missed both players and the 10-9 played. At this point play was heads up between Chino Rheem and Justin Young.

Heads up play would last over five hours with both players taking their turn as the chip leader. The tide turned to Chino’s favor when he caught a better two pair against Young to take the chip lead. A few hands later Chino would move all-in over the top of a 4.4 million chip raise from Young. The board read Ks-7d-3d and Young went into the tank. Finally he let the hand go and Rheem showed Ad-4d for the nut flush draw.

The final hand between these two would come around 1:30 A.M. Pacific time when Young moved all-in on a Q-8-3 flop. Rheem snap called with pocket kings and Young showed Q-5 for a pair of queens. The turn and river missed both players and Chino Rheem became the champion of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

For his win, Chino Rheem took home $1.538 Million and his first WPT title. After finishing 7th in the WSOP Main Event, Rheem felt that this win was validation. This win will surely prove that his run in the WSOP Main Event was no fluke.