J.C. Tran Wins 2014 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder Main Event

J.C. Tran has emerged victorious in the inaugural 2014 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event. Tran topped a field of 456 entries at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort just outside of his hometown of Sacramento to earn the $302,750 first-place prize and his second WPT title. As a result Tran, who also has two WSOP gold bracelets, became the 20th player in poker history to win multiple WPT main event titles. His lifetime live tournament earnings now exceed $11 million.

In addition to the title and the money Tran also scored 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points. Tran had already made one final table this year at the Heartland Poker Tour’s main event, which like this event also took place at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort. With his eighth=place finish in that event and this win Tran has climbed to 23rd place in the overall POY standings with 1,220 points and year-to-date earnings of $322,208.

Tran entered the final table as the second shortest stack, starting the day with only 23 big blinds. Despite that fact, he was able to eliminate four opponents in a row to get heads-up with with Preston Harwell. Tran once again began at a chip disadvantage, but the final two did battle for 62 hands with multiple lead changes taking place along the way. Eventually Tran pulled out to a big lead, and by the time the final hand arose he had just over 11 times as many chips as Harwell.

From the button Harwell moved all in for 1,125,000 with the 85 and Tran called with the K4. The board ran out 642109 and with that Tran’s pair of four’s secured him the pot and the title. For his runner-up finish Harwell took home $200,030 and 900 POY points. Harwell finished fourth in the WSOP Circuit Choctaw main event, and as a result of these two scores has climbed to 20th-place in the overall standings with 1,380 points.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Place	Player	Earnings (USD)	POY Points
1	J.C. Tran	$302,750	1,080
2	Preston Harwell	$200,030	900
3	Quoc Pham	$127,140	720
4	Mimi Luu	$100,240	540
5	Benjamin Zamani	$80,130	450
6	Ken Jorgensen	$60,180	360

Photos Courtesy of Joe Giron / World Poker Tour.