J.C. Tran Wins Largest Tournament in Online Poker History: Consistent Pro is Hungry for the Respect He Deserves

J.C. Tran doesn't consider himself an online poker player. His laptop usually collects dust when he's on the tournament circuit.



Live tournament play is his business, and over the past few years, Tran has proved he is one of the game's rising stars, averaging more than $900,000 in tournament winnings alone in the last three years. And nothing seems to be slowing him down as he continues to rack up impressive results. He made four final tables in the last two months and cashed six times at the 2006 World Series of Poker. This year, he came within a few cards of capturing both his first World Series bracelet and World Poker Tour championship.



But it was his computer that landed him instant fame after he took first place in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. The event, which drew 2,510 players and generated a $6,275,000 prize pool, was the largest tournament in online history.



Tran is on a tear. He says he is hungry, that he is playing the best poker of his life, and that he is out to prove that he is one of the best in the game. Card Player sat down with J.C. at Bellagio during the Festa al Lago tournament, where he played four events, made three final tables, and added another $100,000 to his 2006 winnings.



Justin Marchand: So, let's start with the World Championship of Online Poker. There were more than 2,500 players and a $6 million prize pool, and you won the entire thing. What did it take to win?



J.C. Tran: I don't expect anything online. It is not like a live tourney, where I know I have a shot every time I sit down. When playing online, the beginning of an event is very important. If you don't get a stack right away and work to build that stack with aggressive play, you can forget about it. In this event, I started out playing very aggressively, and after building my chips up, I knew I had a chance.



One advantage of online poker that I used to my advantage is the fact that tables are broken up quickly. The minute an opponent picks up on what you are doing, your table breaks, so it's hard for anyone to play back at you. Also, the bubble play is different from live events and is something else I took advantage of. With around 300 players left, I kicked it into high gear and raised about four times per round. When I had a hand, I had guys play back at me and I busted them. When I didn't have a hand, I got away with it.



In all, I thought my timing was right the entire way. I won my coin flips and basically never had all of my chips at risk. I was in a zone.



JM: What is crazy is playing for more than 13 hours straight. How did you stay focused?



JCT: At the breaks, I ran out to the driveway and shot free throws to keep my blood flowing. But when we got down to two tables, my body went into shutdown mode. I didn't eat anything all day and was feeling it. I was falling asleep and knew I couldn't continue much longer.



JM: So, is that why a deal was made? As a tenacious competitor, didn't you want to bag your first $1 million win?



JCT: It wasn't really that. Actually, I didn't really want to win the title and have the spotlight of Internet poker shining on me. So, with six players left, I had the chip lead and thought it was time to make a deal. It was 3:30 a.m. and I had to fly out the next morning to go to the Taj for the U.S. Poker Championship.



JM: But $670,000 isn't bad, right?



JCT: After I won, it didn't hit me right away, because I didn't have the money in front of me. The next day, when I arrived at the Taj and everyone was congratulating me, I finally felt like I won something. With everything going on, it could remain the biggest tournament in online history. It is not really the way I wanted to go down in history, but I'll take it.



JM: You're far better known as a successful live player, so how did you get into the game? When and where did you start playing?



JCT: I started playing on my 21st birthday in the Sundown cardroom in Sacramento. The first time I played, I sat down at a $1-$3 limit hold'em game, bought in for $40, and walked away with $100. I was a broke college student and that money meant a lot to me. From that day, I was hooked.



I kept playing this game, and within three months I was playing $4-$8, the biggest game in the house. The Sundown moved to downtown Sacramento and became the Capital Casino. There, I started playing $9-$18. My life consisted of just classes and the cardroom. I played probably 28 out of 30 days and built my bankroll. I was making up to $10,000 a month playing this game.



However, I would lose most, if not all, of this money, gambling on sports and in the pit. Then, I would have to work my way back up. That was the circle I went through for many years.



JM: What was your childhood like? Can you tell me a bit about your family?



JCT: I am the youngest of eight children, and we grew up poor. Right around high school, most of my siblings were working and we were better off then. We were very family-oriented and all lived within a five-mile radius of one another. Hien, my older brother, really helped me out. He is the one who got me into poker, and when I went broke, he helped me out.



JM: Did you have any mentors who helped you learn the game?



JCT: Hien introduced me to poker, but nobody really taught me the advanced skills necessary to consistently win. I learned these on my own by putting many hours in at the table. I first looked up to Scotty Nguyen. I remember seeing him on TV in the cardroom and wondering if I ever would have a chance to make it. I never thought that I could make it to that level in three years.

JM: When was the first time you won a significant chunk of money playing poker?



JCT: I went down to Los Angeles in late 2003 and played in a Heavenly Hold'em event at the Commerce Casino. I had a $3,000 bankroll and made a final table in my first tournament with a buy-in of more than $300, a limit hold'em event in which I played with David Pham. I respected him a lot and studied his play the entire tournament. We got down to five players and made a deal that gave me close to $20,000. That was huge. I played the same tournament the next week and won $74,000. After that, I never looked back.



I figured I could make some serious money doing this. I knew I could always grind it out and make a few thousand here and there in cash games, but after playing in these events, my confidence was way up. I believed I was already in the top 10 percent of the players I encountered.



JM: You really had a breakout year in 2004. How did it all start?



JCT: I had a strong showing at the 2004 L.A. Poker Classic, chopping up the limit hold'em event four ways for $220,000. The next week, I played in my first $10,000 event, the no-limit hold'em championship, and finished seventh. I made the World Poker Tour TV bubble after Antonio Esfandiari rivered an ace on me when he held A-Q against my two nines. He went on to win the championship.



After I bubbled that event, I knew that I belonged on the tournament circuit. I knew this was for me, and getting so close made me hungry.



JM: This year, you made the final table at the L.A. Poker Classic and were a favorite to capture your first WPT title and million-dollar payday. You came to the final table with more than 25 percent of the chips in play, but you were eliminated in fifth place on an absolutely brutal beat. Alan Goehring moved all in with pocket fives, you woke up with aces, and then he hit a two-outer on the river to eliminate you. That card could have cost you $2 million, as Alan went on to win the championship. How do you pick yourself back up after such a brutal beat?



JCT: I didn't remember the rest of the day after that beat. I was in utter shock. Going into that day with the chip lead, I knew at the very least that I would finish second, which paid more than $1 million. But, I cannot blame my loss on that beat. I didn't play my best game at the final table. I played too many hands and played too many pots.



JM: In three years, you have nearly 30 final tables and more than $2.5 million in overall tournament winnings. What does it take to be so consistent in this game?



JCT: For me, it is all about the different gears you need at different times during a tournament. For smaller events, you want to start off playing solid poker, and after you build a stack, get more aggressive. Right around the time the antes kick in, you can get real aggressive. While it is good to be aggressive, you have to know how to get off a hand. There are so many players out there who just cannot lay down aces.



You also have to know how your stack fits in with the rest of the table. A lot of beginning players don't realize this. You have to know when to be aggressive and when to be solid. There are tournaments in which I'll sit for three hours and not play a hand, and there are tourneys in which I'll raise every hand. It is all situational.



JM: Over the years, you've made lots of final tables but don't have many first-place victories. Is your endgame an aspect of your game that you're working on?



JCT: I have a final-table curse. If you talk to my friends and people who have watched my final tables, they will tell you that I have just gotten unlucky. Here is an example: Yesterday, I'm at a final table, my third in four events, at the Festa al Lago at Bellagio. I start with $70,000. The average is about $90,000 and the chip leader has $190,000. When I play, I never count myself out. I never go into a final table saying, "I'm short and am aiming for third place," or anything like that. So, by the time we get down to fourhanded, I work my way up to the chip lead. I get pockets queens against the second chip leader's kings, and wind up finishing third.



So many times, these situations happen to me; I get an unlucky cold deck, or even when I am ahead, I get drawn out on. I feel like I am jinxed. At the WSOP Tournament Circuit Tahoe main event, I get all of my money in with queens against fours and a 4 hits. You already mentioned the L.A. Poker Classic, where Alan Goehring hit his 5 against my aces.



I have all of these final tables, but win like only one tournament a year. I believe that if I overcome this gap, some of the pros who think I am just lucky will give me more respect.



JM: You've been in the top 20 in Card Player's Player of the Year rankings for the past three years, proving just how consistent you've been. What other player out there on the circuit, past and present, do you respect and look up to?



JCT: I respect John Juanda very much. I see similarities between our games. I respect Phil Ivey since he is just a great overall poker player. Although he has been rusty lately, I also respect David Pham's no-limit game.



JM: You run with a very successful and experienced crew of players. With whom do you roll and how do they assist you in constantly improving your game?



JCT: Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Nam Le, Chris McCormack, Tim Phan, Tuan Le, and Amnon Filippi are all guys I count as friends and talk about poker with. I talk the most poker with Nam Le. Rather than argue about situations, we come up with solutions. You see lots of young players argue, and that is where ego comes into play. I never let ego get in my way. This is one of the worst mistakes I see lots of young players make. You don't see me jump into the biggest cash games in the room to prove anything.



JM: You've had a great week, three final tables in four events here at Bellagio. Are you playing the best poker of your life?



JCT: Right now I am playing the best I ever have. I feel like I have a fire lit in me. To get full recognition as a young Asian player is tough. Sometimes, when players like myself do well, people say it's all about luck. There has to come a time when people say, "He played great and he won." The first time I ever heard that was after the PokerStars win when I got to the Taj. I'm striving for that first major victory to get that respect from my peers.



JM: What accomplishments are you most proud of in your pro poker career?



JCT: I'm proud of my World Series results. In my first two years of playing, I made two final tables and cashed in the main event. This year I cashed in six events. I'm also proud of my two WPT final tables, and pretty happy about making three out of four final tables at Bellagio this week. All of this is cool, but I want a major title. I've been so close and am overdue to finally win one.



JM: It has to be hard playing all of these tournaments, to the tune of $400,000-$500,000 in buy-ins a year. How do you handle the pressure to perform, and the economic pressure that could fall on you if you have a bad run?



JCT: It is tough. I am one of the few young players who plays for myself and doesn't have a backer. I used to play all of the events, but now I play about 60 percent of them.



In the past, I had one big flaw; I wasted lots of money in the pits. Thanks to a bet I made with a few friends, I quit that. It is an honor bet in which we all have to pay $10,000 if we gamble in the pits. It is the best bet I ever made in my life. There is no way I am going to play in the pits when I know that I am stuck $30,000 before I even start. I save probably $40,000 every trip, thanks to this bet.



JM: Have you ever gone broke or fallen on hard times since you started playing poker? How did you rebound?



JCT: I've gone close to broke gambling in the pits before. I rebounded by playing the best poker I could play. When I'm broke, I'm hungry. I was almost broke before Foxwoods in 2004, and I made a big cash ($353,850 when he took fifth in the World Poker Finals). I have pride, but I don't have an ego. If I'm low, I can go play a smaller game and build my way back up.



JM: Is being a traveling tournament poker pro as glamorous as many think it is?



JCT: Not at all. You stay in hotels, eat unhealthy food, and are always on the move. After a while, the Bellagio begins to look like the Motel 6.



JM: So, what are a few things that not many people know about J.C. Tran?



JCT: Lots of people don't know that I am a great person away from poker. While I'm intense at the table, I'm a really nice, family-oriented guy. I have a great girlfriend. Without Heather, there is no way I could be as successful as I am. She helps take care of everything while I am away, and is very patient with me being on the road so much. Besides that, I am a golf freak and used to be a degenerate (laughing).

Top of His Game


With close to 20 final tables over the past two years, 13 total World Series of Poker cashes, and three top-10 World Poker Tour finishes, J.C. Tran has proved time and time again that he has what it takes to get there. Here is a look at some of his larger wins of the past two years.