J.C. Tran Takes Home the Poker Stars WCOOP Main Event

The prize pool for this year's World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) main event at PokerStars was a record breaking $6,275,000. A total of 2,510 players put up the $2,500+$100 entry fee and after a 13 hours battle J.C. area23JC" Tran came out as the overall winner.

When it was down to the last nine the railbirds flocked the final table. Watching online poker action has become increasingly popular recently. The railbirds included well-known faces such as Greg Raymer, Tom McEvoy, Katja Thater, and Joe Hachem, who all took part in the chat.

In the lead going into the final table was hannibalrex with $5.8 million, followed by lefort ($4.5 million), and area23JC ($4 million). The two shortest stacks were DEEZZZ_NUTZ and Numie2, but both of them managed to increase their stacks.

First to go was serb2127. He pushed all in when he only had $489,000 left and was called by Hannibalrex. It did not help that serb2127 was ahead with AT against hannibalrex's 42. A four on the river gave Hannibal a pair which was enough to send serb2127 to the ropes, earning $79,065 for his ninth place finish.

Milkybarkid finished eighth. He went all in with pocket tens and was busted by hannibalrex holding pocket queens. Eighth place gave $119,225.

The unluckiest player at the final table was without a doubt Anette_15. She raised preflop. Lefort, who had her covered, moved all in and Anette_15 called with pocket nines (9-9). Lefort was far behind with 6-5, at least until the flop. But when 7-4-3 was laid out on the board it was all over for Anette_15. Lefort's straight held up and Anette_15 got $163,150 for her seventh place finish.

With only six players left the game was paused to discuss a possible deal. After a long discussion a chop in accordance with the chip stacks was agreed upon. The chip leader J.C. Tran got $620,194 and the online tournament continued. The remaining six still had $50,000 and a WCOOP gold bracelet to compete for.

The first player to go, after the deal was done, was DEEZZZ_NUTS. He went all in preflop with 66 and was called by GODFATHER 72 holding QQ. When he failed to improve DEEZEEE_NUTS was out in sixth place bringing home $353,164 (instead of the $213,350 he would have gotten before the deal).

Numie2 was the next to get knocked out. He went all in with KT9 on the flop, holding AK for top pair. This proved to be a mistake and he was quickly called by Tran who was sitting on a set of nines. To make matters worse Tran spiked quads on the turn. Numie finished fifth getting $600,042.

GOODFATHER 72 finished fourth. He chose the wrong moment to make a bluff, moving all in with the board showing J-7-6-J. An easy call for Lefort holding pocket sevens for a full house. As part of the deal Lefort got $540,793 for fourth place.

Lefort built a rather big stack, but quickly lost it again. His saga ended when he went all in with A7s and was called by hannibalrex holding pocket fives. When he failed to improve Lefort finished third earning $411,734.

When we were down to the final two, J.C. had a 3 to 1 chip lead against hannibalrex. And it was all over in the very first hand. Hannibalrex raised it up preflop and was called by Tran. The flop came K-5-2-. Tran checked, hannibalrex bet and Tran called. The turn was 4-, Tran checked and hannibalrex made another bet. Tran check raised all in and hannibalrex called. Rex held A-4- for a pair and an inside straight draw, but was way behind Tran holding K-9-. The river card was blank and Hannibalrex finished second earning $400,581.

Tran became the new WCOOP champion winning an extra $50,000, making his total winning $670,194 and a gold bracelet. Not bad for 13 hours of play.