J.C. Tran made a terrific comeback to take first in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em (Event 49) against Rasmus Nielsen, who at one point in the final table had a 6:1 chip lead over the remaining players. However, Nielsen fell short to J.C. Tran, and took home second place earning $389,557. Tran’s first place performance was worth $631,170 and his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet.
Coming into the final table J.C. Tran held the second largest stack trailing Rasmus Nielsen who had nearly 3 million in chips to Tran’s 1,438,000. It was no surprise that these two met heads up considering their chip stacks.
Official chip stacks and players coming into the final table:
Rasmus Nielsen 2,998,000
J.C. Tran 1,438,000
Joe Pelton 1,093,000
Peter Nguyen 870,000
John Conroy 501,000
Robert Kalb 456,000
Jesper Hoog 320,000
Christoph Kohnen 293,000
Chad Siu 185,000
Chad Siu came into the final table with a super short stack, although he did not find himself finishing in 9th place. The first player to be eliminated from the final table was Christoph Kohnen on the 12th hand dealt of the final table when he was dealt Ac-Jh and pushed all in from the small blind against a raise from John Conroy in early position and Conroy called with Kc-Jc. Kohnen had Conroy dominated until the flop came 9-9-Q, which gave Conroy an extra card to hit, which he did on the river when a 10 came giving him a straight to the king and eliminated Kohnen in 9th place earning $58,248.
Three hands later Robert Kalb joined Kohnen on the rail when Nielsen raised to 80,000 and Kalb pushed all in for 355,000 total from the big blind and Nielsen made the call. The players showed:
Kalb: Ac-9s
Nielsen: As-Qd
Kalb did not want to see Nielsen with a bigger kicker to go with an ace and he also didn’t want to see the board run 6-k-A-10-4. That was it for Kalb’s tournament performance, although he is taking home an impressive $85,331.
On the 27th hand of the final table Jesper Hoog found himself all in against Peter Nguyen. From middle position Hoog pushed all in for 220,000 and Nguyen called from the button. The players showed:
Hoog: Kd-7s
Nguyen: Ad-Kc
A worst case senario for Hoog and he failed to receive any help with the flop, turn and river. The board ran 2-10-2-J-9 and Hoog was sent home in 7th place earning $113,157.
Shortly after this elimination the stack sizes and players remaining were:
Rasmus Nielsen - 3.3 mil
JC Tran - 1.98 mil
Peter Nguyen - 1.1 mil
Joe Pelton - 768,000
John Conroy - 610,000
Chad Siu – 304,000
Chad Siu who came into the final table as a super short stack finally found himself on the rail when he moved all in from middle position for a total of 210,000 and Joe Pelton called. The players showed:
Siu: Ah-Ks
Pelton: Ac-9c
Siu was very excited to see that he had his opponent dominated and was satisfied when the flop came 4s-10d-7s. He would only have to dodge a 9 from here or a runner runner straight. The turn brought a 3 of spades, but the river hit a 9 of diamonds, which made Pelton a pair and was enough to eliminate Siu on a major suckout. Siu was awarded $150,257 for his 6th place effort.
On the 100th hand of the tournament Joe Pelton was eliminated when he moved all in from the button for a total of 320,000 in chips and received a call from J.C. Tran. The players revealed the cards and they were:
Tran: Kc-Js
Pelton: Qs-6
The flop ran in favor of Pelton when it came 7c-6s-2c. The turn was an 8 of spades, but the river was the best card in the deck for Tran with a king of diamonds falling and was enough to send Pelton home. 5th place was worth $191,068.
On the 116th hand the heads up players were known when John Conroy went out in third place. From the button he raised to 175,000 and Nielsen raised all in and Conroy called. The players flipped over their hands:
Nielsen: Ah-8s
Conroy: Ad-Qh
Another perfect situation that ended badly as the board ran 5h-8h-5s-3s-4s and Nielsen’s pair of 8’s was enough to beat Conroy’s Ace-Queen high and sent him home with $278,255 worth of prize money.
When heads up started Rasmus Nielsen had 5.9 million in chips to J.C. Tran’s 2.3 million in chips. It didn’t take long for these two to tangle. Tran was chipping away at Nielsen’s stack and won two pots back to back that were worth over 1.5 million in chips each. Both hands Tran hit two pair and was paid off on each hand. The final hand of the event was on the 190th hand of the final table.
From the button J.C. Tran raised to 215,000 and Nielsen called. The flop came 8h-Qs-2h, Nielsen checked and Tran came out betting 275,000 and Nielsen called. The turn was a 4 of diamonds and Nielsen check raised Tran all in after he bet 900,000, Tran called immediately after Nielsen moved all in. The players showed:
Tran: Kc-Qc
Nielsen: Qd-Jh
Nielsen needed a jack on the river to not be eliminated in second place. The river brought a 2 of spades and J.C. Tran won his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet, along with 631,170.
J.C Tran is a very successful poker player who has a World Poker Tour title, five World Poker Tour final tables, PokerStars WCOOP Main Event title, and a second place finish in a WSOP event. He has a live tournament poker career winnings that exceed $6.5 million. Congratulations JC on your first WSOP bracelet.
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