By August Darnell | December 2, 2008

JC Tran was crowned Party Poker Premier League III champion after he beat Tony G in the heads-up finals. Tran earned the first place prize of $300,000 and the Party Poker Premier League III title.

After his victory, Tran was very excited:

“This is brilliant and I am so happy. I have been feeling good all week and it is amazing to win this event. Until this week I had never played in Europe before; I really couldn’t ask for more! Perhaps I should move here! I would like to thank everybody who has made my trip to London such a wonderful experience.”

Noted poker pros Nam Le, David “Chino” Rheem, and Quinn Do were a few of the people who made the trip with Tran. These three – along with Tran – are all very good friends and travel to many poker tournaments with each other.

Tran’s road to heads-up play with Tony G began at the six-person final table which included Tom Dwan, Roland de Wolfe, Peter Eastgate, Tran, Tony G, and Juha Helppi. 2008 WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate was the first player to be eliminated when his K-9 hand failed to improve enough to beat Tran’s pocket aces.

Roland de Wolfe went out in fifth after Juha Helppi paired an ace with the board. The next player out was Tom Dwan; he and Tony G both had a pair of eights, but Tony had the better kicker. The heads-up final was set when Tony G eliminated Juha Helppi after pairing his queen with the board.

When heads-up play began between Tony G and JC Tran, Tony had the chip advantage at 1,150,000 chips to 780,000. But Tran was quickly able to draw even with Tony G over the course of the poker hands. The last hand of the game saw Tran holding 9-7 and Tony G holding K-8. The flop showed 5-7-6 and Tony needed a K, 9, or 4 to take the hand and grab his lead back, but it wasn’t to be.

Despite his good poker odds to get the card he needed on either the turn or river, Tony G got no help from the board as a J and a 2 fell on the turn and river. Though he had been trying to get under the other players’ skin throughout the tournament, Tony was gracious in defeat saying, “I brought my best game but it just wasn’t good enough.”

The final standings for Party Poker Premier League III are as follows:

1st place – JC Tran: $300,000
2nd place – Tony G: $150,000
3rd place – Juha Helppi: $80,000
4th place – Tom Dwan: $50,000
5th place – Roland de Wolfe: $40,000
6th place – Peter Eastgate: $30,000
7th place – Annette Obrestad
8th place – Vicky Coren
9th place – Phil Hellmuth
10th place – Nenad Medic
11th place – Andy Black
12th place – Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott

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