JC Tran bested a field of 13 top professionals to emerge victorious in the third PartyPoker.com Premier League. Now a PKR sponsored player, Tran battled his way through an amazing series of heats to reach the final table with the chip lead and take down the top prize of $300,000.Now in its third year, Tran claimed the Premier League title on his debut at the coveted tournament, defeating Tony G in a heated clash after over an hour of intense heads-up action. His record of 1-1-2-2-1-4 from six earlier heats gave him a deserved chip lead as he moved onto a final table filled to the brim with superstar talent, including the likes of Juha Helppi, Tom Dwan, Roland De Wolfe and reigning WSOP Champion Peter Eastgate.
JC Tran is the first professional poker player to represent PKR.com and the superb win comes just three days after Tran took to the virtual felt with fellow APT ambassadors Nam Le, Chino Rheem and Quinn Do in a special Pro Bounty Tournament held on the next-gen site. The event attracted 1,130 runners – the largest ever field for a PKR.com bounty tournament – all vying for the chance to play against the ‘Poker Pack’ and for a shot at a $5k APT Manila package.
Born in Vietnam before moving to Sacramento, California, 31-year old Tran is an American poker professional who has quickly become one of the most well-respected players in the game, and often regarded as surpassing Phil Ivey as the world's greatest poker player. In just the space of five years, Tran has managed to accrue an impressive set of results including a WPT title at the 2007 World Poker Challenge, $1,177,010 for a second place finish in the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic, a bracelet win earlier this year for $631,170, all combining to over $6.8 million in tournament winnings. And now, with his reputation in America cemented, Tran can add an esteemed European title to his already impressive list of accolades, the PartyPoker.com Premier League. Can anybody stop this man?
image courtesy of IMAGEMASTERS PDI