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March 2nd 2007
WPT LA Poker Classic: JC Tran falls at final hurdle
It so nearly had the improbably Hollywood ending we were all rooting for. But unfortunately for JC Tran when all was said and done the LA Poker Classic more closely resembled a Shakespearean tragedy.
Tran, the vanquished finalist from last year’s event, who exited that tournament after the cruellest of bad beats (see news archive: Feb 28th), had returned this year determined to take the title that he was, arguably, his by rights.
And Tran’s quest for redemption began in such a way that the title seemed destined to be his. By day two Tran was the chip leader and, just as last year, Tran arrived at the final table still holding the chip lead. The only difference was that his opponents had changed.
This year he lined up against the following players, with the chip counts below:
J.C. Tran $3,470,000
Paul Wasicka $3,390,000
Jacobo Fernandez $3,370,000
Eric Hershler $2,160,000
David Bach $2,070,000
Chau Giang $1,700,000
Play started slowly, with the first elimination taking three hours to arrive. It came in the form of David Bach who had doubled up Chau Giang (holding A-9 to Giang’s A-K) to leave himself crippled with just $205,000. When he finally pushed it in he was called by Eric Hershler and Jacobo Fernandez, and when Hershler hit a set of two’s on the turn Bach was out in sixth.
Next out was Chau Giang, a regular in the Bellagio’s Big Game and one of the most respected poker players in Vegas. But despite his double up Giang had failed to gather any momentum, and a lack of cards had chipped away at his stack. Giang eventually made a move with the blinds at $125k-$250k but ran into JC Tran in the button, he pushed all-in over the top with AJ. Giang’s 8c-4c looked a huge dog, but when the flop came Qc-9c-4d, pairing Giang’s 4 and giving him four to a flush the tables were turned and suddenly it was Giang who was the favourite. Unfortunately that was as close as he came and an ace on the river sent him to the rail in fifth place.
2006 WSOP main event runner-up Paul Wasicka has been on a mission of late to show his World Series performance was no fluke, and a 12th place finish in the Aussie Millions last month combined with this final table here has gone a long way to achieving that. Certainly he has had a better post-WSOP showing than his eventual conqueror, the WSOP champion Jamie Gold, but Wasicka knew a win here would put any doubts about his ability to bed once and for all.
Sadly for Wasicka this one wasn’t to be. After sliding down the leaderboard during the first few hours he found himself relatively short-stacked, so when he re-raised JC Tran all-in and the chip leader was more than happy to call with pocket threes. Wasicka’s A-7 was good for a 50-50 shot, but when the flop came K-K-3 it was all but over. The 6c on the turn ensured Wasicka was drawing dead and would not be carrying on. It was a blow for Wasicka, but despite not winning here his recent performances are sure to have won over many of his doubters.
When play became three-handed JC Tran enjoyed a massive lead over Hershler and Fernandez, with $9 million to Fernandez’s $4 million and Hershler’s $2 million. But Tran was perhaps careless to double up Hershler twice, first moving all-in on a steal from the small blind with T-7 and finding Hershler’s with Kd-Qd, and then calling Hershler’s all-in raise with JT only to find himself a big dog to Hershler’s QT.
But even after those setbacks Tran still had nearly twice as many chips as his nearest rival; that is until Eric Hershler eliminated Jacobo Fernandez in third place to take a very minor chip lead. Hershler had already taken a $2 million pot from Fernandez when Fernandez moved all-in from the button. It was a badly timed steal as Hershler was sitting in the big blind with pocket rockets. The first card out of the deck gave Hershler a set of aces and Fernandez, with J-2o, was drawing almost dead.
That meant the chip counts at the start of heads-up play were as follows:
Eric Hershler - $8.7 million
JC Tran - $7.4 million
The scene was set for an epic heads-up battle. It lasted one hand.
On first hand and last hand of heads-up play Eric Hershler limped from the button and then called JC Tran’s $700,000 raise. Tran followed up with a $1.2 million bet on the A-J-6 flop, only for Hershler to move all-in. Tran, correctly presuming that Hershler would not limp from the button with an ace or a pair, figured that he must be ahead. He called.
One can only imagine the wave of nausea that must have hit Tran when Hershler turned over J-6 for two pair – pretty much the only hand that Tran would have not included in his deliberations. There was no ace or seven (or running 8’s or above) to save Tran, and his dream of being the LA Poker Classic champion had been thwarted, agonisingly, once more. The $1,177,010 paycheck for second place will have been a very minor consolation.
For Eric Hershler however the emotions were very different. This was his first ever live poker tournament and he had won it, walking away with the biggest ever WPT prize outside of the WPT Championship. Some debut!
The final table payouts were as follows:
Eric Hershler - $2,429,970
JC Tran - $1,177,010
Jacobo Fernandez - $607,490
Paul Wasicka - $455,615
Chau Giang - $341,710
David Bach - $257,425
Submitted: 02/03/2007 12:02:29
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