The respected international poker pro and live tournament veteran J.C. Tran scored another memorable victory this week in taking down the inaugural 2014 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder, a $3,500 buy-in, NLHE main event.
On the way through a field of 455 other hopefuls, many of them top names in the global game, Tran displayed the talent that has earned him two WSOP gold bracelets and major career earnings of over $11 million as he powered through to claim the top prize of $302,750.
Tran did not have far to travel for this tournament – the Thunder Valley Casino Resort is close to the poker veteran’s home city of Sacramento, California.
By the time the final table composition had been decided, Tran faced Preston Harwell, Quoc Pham, Mimi Luu, Benjamin Zamani and Ken Jorgensen – all more than capable players.
At that point Tran had the second lowest stack, but that did not seem to discourage him in any way…he set about demolishing all but one of his opponents to finish in the heads up against Preston Harwell, with the latter holding the chip advantage.
Again, the chip disparity did little to slow Tran down, although the heads up developed into a rather protracted affair over around 63 hands before he was finally able to gain control with a more than 10 to 1 advantage and eliminate his last opponent.
Preston Harwell’s very impressive runner-up showing was rewarded with a $200,030 pay-day.