Tony Tran Wins 2018 World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble

With 30 players remaining in the 2018 World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event, Tony Tran found himself sitting with just two big blinds. Incredibly, the 30-year-old real estate investor from Philadelphia was able to rebuild his stack, make it to the final table and ultimately emerge with the title and the first-place prize of $341,486.

Tran had lost a preflop race with A-Q against Jessica Dawley’s pocket sevens to be left with just 16,000 with the blinds at 4,000-8,000 blinds with an 8,000 big-blind ante. He managed to win multiple all-ins from there and ended day 2 with 406,000 (34 big blinds). He made the final day of this event with the fifth largest stack among the remaining six players.

Tran got off to a poor start at the final table. On the 11th hand of the day short stack Dominique Mosley moved all-in from the cutoff for 340,000 with the J10. Tran picked up the AK and made the call from the small blind. Jake Schwartz three-bet to 850,00 out of the big blind after he looked down at the AA. Tran four-bet to 1,400,000. Schwartz, who began the day as the chip leader, five-bet shoved all-in for 5,185,000. Tran folded after putting in roughly 45 percent of his stack, but he kept himself in contention and was able to fight his way back up the leaderboard.

Schwartz took control of the final table, holding roughly 70 percent of the chips in play at one point during four-handed action. Tran kept up his comeback by knocking out Ray Qartomy in fourth place ($73,734). He followed that up by eliminating Kelly Minkin in third place. Minkin limped in from the small blind while playing 40,000-80,000 limits and Tran raised to 480,000 from the big blind. Minkin moved all-in for 2,260,000 with the A3. Tran called with the AK. Minkin took the lead on a A43 flop, but her two pair got counterfeited on a 4 turn. The 9 locked up the pot for Tran and sent Minkin to the rail in third place with $146,973.

With that Tran took just over a 3-to-2 lead into heads-up play against Schwartz. This was Schwartz fifth WPT main event final table but his first time making it to heads-up on the tour.

Schwartz was able to take the lead in a key pot. Schwartz called from the button for 100,000 holding the 33 and Tran raised to 305,000 from the big blind with the Q10. Schwartz made the call and the flop brought the K52. Tran bet 250,000 and Schwartz called. The A hit the turn and Tran bet another 535,000. Schwartz called again and the 8 completed the board on the river. Tran bet 1,175,000. Schwartz decided to turn small pair into a bluff and moved all-in for 4,080,000. Tran was bluffing himself and folded relatively quickly, sending the pot and the lead to Schwartz.

Tran quickly regained the advantage when he picked up the QQ and was able to get all-in against Schwartz’s 99 after a series of raises preflop. Tran’s hand held up and he took more than a 3-to-1 advantage.

In the final hand Tran raised to 300,000 from the button with the blinds at 60,000-120,000 with a 120,000 big-blind ante. Schwartz moved all-in for around 20 big blinds with the A5 and Tran quickly called with his AK. The board came down K8543 and Tran paired his king to win the pot and the title. Schwartz earned $228,590 as the runner-up finisher.

In addition to the title and the money, Tran also earned 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, and it moved him into 276th place in the standings. Schwartz has now made three final tables this year, and the 1,000 points he earned saw him climb to 73rd place in the overall 2018 POY race standings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Joe Giron / WPT.

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