J.C. Tran Wins WPT Reno Title

Filed in archive Tournament News on March 31, 2007

J.C Tran's name has been popping up all over the poker scene in recent years. Live and even online where he managed to crush the World Championship of Online Poker main event at PokerStars for a better winning a five dollar sit and go cashing.

Last year JC was one card and one out away from advancing in his first World Poker Tour final table but was denied by getting outdrawn by Alan Goehring who eventually took down the LA Poker Classic in Season Four.

Now JC can name himself among the elite, as he won the Reno World Poker Challenge on Wednesday, and took home almost $700,000 in the process. Despite a star-studded final table at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, he managed to defeat Juan Carlo Alavardo to claim the first place prize along with a $25,000 buy in to the WPT season ending WPT Championship at the Bellagio.

Here's the summary article from Cardplayer:

J.C. Tran is simply on fire.

Since October of last year, he's cashed eight times for $2.6 million. He won almost $700,000 of that just last night by winning the $5,000 World Poker Tour's World Poker Challenge held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno.

Tran outlasted 474 players to win the WPT event. This was the first major tournament he played since finishing second in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, which attracted so many players (791), that second was worth $1.117 million. He also received a $25,000 entry into the WPT championship for his win in Reno.

He leads the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year race by 656 points with 3,504. Click here to see the complete standings.

The final table of the World Poker Challenge was a tough one, with Tran, Mark Seif, Juan Carlos Alvarado, David Pham, and John Hom. All these players have at least $200,000 in tournaments poker winnings, but Tran has reached the poker stratosphere with more than $4 million in lifetime winnings himself.

Alvarado finished second, winning $366,798. He started the day second in chips with $1.1 million.

Pham started the day with the chip lead, but it was only good for a third-place finish, worth $182,260. It was his seventh cash of the year. He now sits in the third spot on the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year race.