The Vietnam War has been over for decades.

But now there’s Vietnamese success in another type of war–the one at the poker tables.

Yes, Vietnamese poker players have been a winning presence at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas for years, but this year they are really doing a job.

For the second time in a matter of days, a Vietnamese immigrant who came to the USA for a better life and found poker has won a championship gold bracelet at the 2008 WSOP in Las Vegas.

He is John Phan, 33, native of Vietnam, now a resident of Los Angeles, California, USA, and winner of 2008 WSOP Event #29, a $3,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament that had 716 entrants, 72 payouts and a total prize pool of about $2 million.

For the victory, Phan, obviously a big fan of poker, collects almost half a million bucks–$434,789 to be exact.

He came to the USA as a youth.

It’s his first WSOP championship gold bracelet.

Just a few days earlier, in WSOP Event #25, a $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em heads-up tournament, the winner was Vietnamese immigrant Phuong “Kenny” Tran.

The runnerup in Event #29 was John Neckar of Madison, Wisconsin, USA, earning $277,420.

Third was Matt Vengrin of Red Hook, New York, USA, earning $167,973.

Fourth was Alex “Diesel” Bolotin of New York City, New York, USA, earning $137,343.

Fifth was Dave Singer of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, earning $112,641.

Sixth was Stew Newman of Coral Gables, Florida, USA, earning $88,927.

Seventh was another Viet immigrant, Thuy Doan of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, earning $69,165.

Eighth was Tony Dunst of Melbourne, Australia, earning $54,344.

Ninth was Sebastian Segovia of Guatemala City, Guatemala, earning $39,523

He is the first person from Guatemala ever to finish in the Top 10 in a WSOP event.

Tenth was Alex Zaslavsky of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, USA, earning $24,702.

Top female poker pros Kathy Liebert and Beth Shak ended up in 39th and 52nd places, respectively.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)