Congratulations to our newest two-time WPT Champion, J.C. Tran, who captured the $3,500 Rolling Thunder title in his own backyard.
After the tournament, Tran, who outlasted a 465-player field, said claiming victory in his hometown was more important to him than the $302,750 first-place prize. Of course, he’s not complaining about the money either, which pushes his total career winnings to more than $11.2 million, according to the Hendon Mob poker database.
Tran began heads-up play with nearly three million fewer chips than eventual second-place finisher, Preston Harwell, but quickly evened up the match by winning seven hands in a row. From that point, the two traded the chip lead multiple times before Tran finally built up an insurmountable lead and eliminated the last player standing between him and one of his sweetest career victories.
Tran wasn’t the day’s only winner, however, as Rolling Thunder marked the end of the popular WPT California Swing, which found Michael Rocco sitting atop the leader board after Benjamin Zamani was eliminated from the final table in fifth position. As always, a full recap of the day’s action can be found over at our Live Updates, while payouts are listed below.
Payouts
- JC Tran – $302,750
- Preston Harwell – $200,030
- Quoc Pham – $127,140
- Mimi Luu – $100,240
- Benjamin Zamani – $80,130
- Ken Jorgensen – $60,180