J.C. Tran outdueled an impressive lineup at the Party Poker Premier League III final table to pick up the crown in London and take home $300,000.
Tran, who was sponsored by team PKR for the event, entered the final table as the chip leader by dominating the preliminary rounds. He led all 12 players in points after Day 1 and maintained that advantage throughout the week, finishing with 45 total points. Peter Eastgate was the second automatic qualifier at the final table with a total of 39 points, followed by Juha Helppi with 34. Tony G and Tom Dwan tied for the fourth spot at the table, but the last automatic bid was given to Dwan based on his heat performances. Tony G went heads-up with Vicky Coren for a seat, and he won two out of three matches to earn it. Annette Obrestad and Roland de Wolfe battled for the last remaining seat, and de Wolfe won two out of three to take it.
The chip counts heading into the final day were as follows:
Seat 1 — Tom Dwan (United States), 260,000
Seat 2 — Juha Helppi (Finland), 340,000
Seat 3 — Tony G (Australia), 260,000
Seat 4 — Roland de Wolfe (United Kingdom), 230,000
Seat 5 — J.C. Tran (United States), 450,000
Seat 6 — Peter Eastgate (Denmark), 390,000
The action began quickly as Tony G and Tom Dwan battled egos on the fifth hand. Tony G raised preflop with T9o and Dwan re-raised him holding Qc4c. Tony G made the call and both players managed to catch a piece of the Tc Jc 4d flop. Dwan bet 43,000 and Tony G quickly moved in over the top. Dwan made the call with bottom pair and a flush draw but was unable to improve, leaving him short stacked. Tony G doubled to nearly 440,000 chips.
Dwan managed to hang on while Peter Eastgate was the first to be eliminated, falling into a trap set by JC Tran with pocket aces. Eastgate raised preflop with Ks9s and Tran smooth called. The 2009 WSOP champion moved all in on a flop of Kd Js 5d and Tran called and managed to hold on to win the pot and send Eastgate to the rail in 6th place. He earned $30,000.
Roland de Wolfe was the next to go when his pocket kings failed to hold up against the AdQc of Juha Helppi. The money went in preflop and Helppi pulled ahead on the As 4h 3c flop. De Wolfe failed to catch up to send him out in 5th place with a $40,000 prize.
Dwan followed shortly after, moving in preflop with 8h6s and falling short against the Js8d of Tony G. He earned $50,000 for his fourth place finish.
Tony G began three-handed play with more than half the chips at the table. He had 1.1 million to the 430,000 of Tran and 365,000 of Helppi. Tran chipped up to nearly 800,000 but watched Tony G’s stack increase back over 1 million when Helppi moved in preflop with AsTd and was unable to recover against the AdQc of the chip leader. Tony G flopped the Qh, sealing Helppi’s fate in third place. He took home $80,000 for his efforts.
With blinds at 20,000/40,000 during heads up play, Tran took over the chip lead and was the last man standing when the two players got all of their chips in on a 7h 6h 5d board. Tony G held Ks8d for a straight draw and an over card, but Tran’s 9c7d for top pair held when the turn and river revealed the Jc and 2s.
Tran adds a Premier League championship to an imposing resume that includes a PokerStars WCOOP main event title, a WPT title, and WSOP bracelet. His $300,000 first-place victory increased his career tournament earnings to over $7 million.
