Professional poker player and California native J.C. Tran is renowned for his success in the industry. The Asian Poker Tour (APT) sponsored player just added a new title to his long list of accomplishments, which already include a World Poker Tour (WPT) event win, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, and nearly $8 million in tournament winnings. Recently, Tran won his second career bracelet in the $2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Event. The win brings him an additional $235,685 and more bragging rights in his tight circle of accomplished friends that includes Amnon Filippi, Theo Tran, Steve Sung, and Nam Le.
We caught up with Tran shortly after his bracelet ceremony and he gave us some insight on his final table and how his Omaha game compares to his Hold’em game.
Poker News Daily: Congratulations on your second bracelet. You had a really tough final table to beat in order to win. Did you have a player or two in mind that you were especially worried about?
Tran: You know what? They were all tough. The thing about it is that they were all really solid. There wasn’t a guy who would hand me chips, you know? And in tournaments, you need those guys who just hand you half of their stack or their whole stack and there were just none of them there; they were all solid. I just happened to catch hands and my timing was right. I was able to win a lot of dead pots.
I have a lot of respect for [runner-up] Jeff Kimber. He was the one guy I didn’t want to play heads-up. When I got down to heads-up, I caught a bunch of hands early and took his confidence away, I guess. He was a little bit confused and didn’t seem to know what to do because every time he called me, I had a hand. It’s tough to play against someone who just keeps getting hands. If it were the other way around, I would be in a daze too. I definitely caught more hands than the rest of the guys.
PND: Do you think your Omaha game compares to your Hold’em game in terms of the way that you play?
Tran: No. I still have a lot to learn about Omaha. I think I’m getting good at it, but I am far from being great. I am going to keep playing and learning.
PND: You’re known for being part of a big group of friends who are all doing really well at the WSOP right now. For example, Steve Sung won a bracelet and you railed your friend Daniel Alaei at the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em Championship table. How much time do you think you’ll spend cheering people on from the rail?
Tran: Hopefully every other night!
PND: Congratulations again and good luck to you and your friends during the rest of the 2009 WSOP.
