WSOP Q and A -- J.C. TranTran Talks About Winning His Second Gold Bracelet in a Non-Hold’em Event |
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J.C. Tran won his first gold bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event, excusing himself from the greatest-player-to-never-win-a-bracelet debate. Just one year later, Tran added a second bracelet by winning event No. 30 ($2,500 pot-limit Omaha) at the 2009 WSOP. What makes this victory all the more impressive is the fact that Tran has been playing Omaha for just two years now. He proved that he can master multiple forms of poker and he picked up $235,685 for the win. Tran now has $8,398,822 in career earnings.
Card Player caught up with Tran at a post-final-table press conference in the Amazon Room, and he talked about what it means to win a second bracelet in pot-limit Omaha.
Card Player: What was the largest difference in how you approached this final table with a bracelet, as opposed to last summer when you made the final table and still had yet to win one?
J.C. Tran: I wasn’t too worried about trying to win, just play poker and let it come to me, instead of forcing it, and it came to me.
CP: You said you weren’t trying to force it, and still you eliminated five people at the final table, any thoughts?
JC: I didn’t know I eliminated that many. It helps to pick up cards, and I did, and the timing was great. When they did look me up and played back at me, I did have a hand. When I didn’t have a hand, I got away, and it helped, and that goes for Omaha, hold’em, any game. Timing is everything, and today the timing was just right.
CP: What does it mean to you for this second bracelet to come in pot-limit Omaha and prove you can play non-hold’em games at the highest level?
JC: It definitely means a lot, because I learned PLO a little less than two years ago, and I play the biggest stakes. I had some swings, and PLO is a type of game where you always have room to learn. Even after winning this bracelet, I still feel like I have a lot to learn. The majority of my victories are in hold’em; I’ve never won any other tournament outside of hold’em, and this is my first. It proves that I can play another game besides hold’em. I definitely want to learn mixed games in the future, I mean, I know how to play them, I just don’t think I’d be able to sit down and play a big buy-in game. This win helps.
CP: Your tight-knit poker entourage was once again on the rail today. How important is their support?
JC: It’s really important, because we stick together. I’m one of the few guys who is lucky to have a big group of friends in poker. We pick and choose between the good guys and the bad guys, who is truly here to support you for your win and not for the money and all of that. For them to be here and watch me, that support means a lot, because I’m happy about the fact that I won, but I’m also happy that I won for them. The other day when I was watching Steve [Sung] and he won a bracelet, it motivated me to go out and do well, because I saw a friend go out and do well. So, I hope this win motivates these guys to go out and do well. Last year when I won bracelet, I said it would motivate my friends to make a final table, and one of them did. It’s just all motivation, and the support is so key to doing well in poker.
CP: You spent a lot of time sitting at the same tables as Steve Sung during this tournament. Did that make it difficult for you to play your normal game?
JC: Definitely. Steve and I, we haven’t played too much Omaha together, and it’s a totally different game. It’s tough, because he and I pretty much know how the other one plays hold’em, but when it comes down to Omaha, I’m a little lost, I’m still learning the guy. It helped that he was to my right for most of the tournament; I had a lot of chips, and he was short. When the table broke, I was kind of satisfied. You know, we always play hard, but it definitely would be sad to bust a friend. We’re here to play poker; there’s only one bracelet, and he’s already won his this summer, let me get mine out of the way. I already told him, if you come at me, I’m going to bust you, and vice versa.
CP: How many bracelets do you think you’re capable of winning in the course of your career?
JC: Right now, I’m just thinking about number three. I think I have the potential to win one a year, so however long my career goes, and if poker stays the same…I’m looking forward to getting better at all of the games, and hopefully I can have a stud bracelet in the future. But right now my main focus is just hold’em and Omaha, stick to what I’m good at.
CP: You’re definitely an action player, and pot-limit Omaha is an action game. What is the largest adjustment you have to make in your game when playing in a PLO event versus a hold’em event?
JC: In no-limit hold’em you can win a lot more dead pots because people miss more often, and in Omaha, when a guy has four cards in his hand, he’s going to hit it one way or another. It’s really tough to win a lot of dead pots, but I was very fortunate to win more dead pots than I expected in this tournament, which helped build my stack. So, when I did lose to a player who was all in, I still had a comfortable stack, and that was what helped me close it out.
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