Danny Marx Denies Quan Tran Second World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Main Event Title

In January of 2022, Quan Tran emerged victorious in the World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event, earning his first WSOPC gold ring and the top prize of $336,412. Just over half a year later, Tran once again found himself heads-up with a WSOPC Choctaw main event title on the line. Danny Marx defeated Tran this time around, overcoming Tran to secure his first championship ring and a career-best payday of $246,820. Tran earned $152,553 as the runner-up finisher after falling just short of his second WSOPC Choctaw main event title in a single year.

“I have no words right now, this whole tournament has been an insane experience for me,” Marx told WSOP reporters after coming out on top. “I am incredibly grateful. I need a night to let it all sink in, I’m just super happy right now.”

“A lot of those guys are very, very tough players,” Marx continued. “A lot of them have a lot more tournament experience than me. I come from a cash background, I’m still getting the hang of tournament stack depths, but I learned a ton from playing against them. I was incredibly lucky to be able to beat them.”

Marx outlasted a field of 931 total entries who came out to the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma, with Marx earning the largest share of the $1,410,465 total prize pool as the champion. The nearby Dallas, TX resident also took home 912 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, enough to move him inside the top 400 in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

Plenty of notables were among the 141 players to make the money in this event, including recent ARIA High Roller event winner Justin Bond (70th – $3,273), bracelet winner Adrian Buckley (35th – $4,963), 2022 WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee main event champion Jared Ingles (34th – $4,963), 2022 WSOP main event 67th-place finisher Andrew Watson (21st – $10,803), bracelet winner Brian Green (19th – $10,803), and recent World Poker Tour Choctaw main event runner-up Steven Buckner (11th – $19,645).

After two starting flights and a 13-hour day 2 session, there were still 13 contenders remaining heading into the final day of this event. Dakotah O’Dell lead the way, while Marx was in 10th chip position when cards got back in the air. O’Dell went on to finish fifth, earning $65,591 after having lost the majority of his stack moments earlier to Marx, with pocket eights running into pocket kings preflop.

Four-time bracelet winner Bradley Ruben was the next to hit the rail. He got all-in with pocket nines and was racing against the K-Q of Marx. A king-high flop saw Marx take a big lead, which he maintained through the river to narrow the field to just three players. Ruben earned $86,051 as the fourth-place finisher, increasing his career earnings to more than $1.1 million in the process.

Marx was well out in front when three-handed play began, but Tran closed the gap considerably when stacks got in on an A752 board with Tran holding AK against the A3 of Nikola Mircetic. The Q river locked up the pot for Tran, while Mircetic was knocked out in third place ($114,015).

With that, heads-up play began with Marx holding 17,930,000 to Tran’s 10,000,000. It didn’t take long for all of the chips to make their way to the middle. With a board of 64310, Tran moved all-in for around 8,000,000 and Marx called. Tran had a pair and a straight draw with 32, but was trailing the 88 of Marx. The J on the end saw the pot pushed to Marx, which meant that Tran was eliminated in second place ($152,553). Tran has now cashed for $488,965 in POY earnings so far 2022, with all of that money coming from his two deep runs in WSOPC main events at Choctaw. His two heads-up appearances and one win were enough to see him move into a tie with Kartik Ved for 98th place in the 2022 POY race.

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

Photos provided by WSOP.

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