Table Of Contents

All-New Premier Slot Salon Our all new Premier Slot Salon boasts some of the most popular High Limit gaming found at Thunder Valley. This special gaming amenity contains a full bar (open Friday, Saturday and Sunday), semi-seclusion room and all the sights and sounds you've come to love at Northern California's favorite gaming destination! We had an absolute blast throwing our 2010 $10,000 Halloween Costume Contest! Check out all the great costumes her and get some ideas for your 2011 costume contest submission. Hosted and Produced.

1. LINCOLN, Calif., April 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Thunder Valley Casino Resort gave away $13,498,069 in jackpots over $1,200 during the month of March, making it the biggest month since May 2008.
2. Check out these awesome jackpot winners! It was a winning weekend at Thunder Valley! Check out these awesome jackpot winners! Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

JC Tran says he considers himself a 'washed-up pro,' but he was in top form this weekend en route to winning his third career World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring.

Tran outlasted a field of 47 entries, including WPT Raw Deal host Tony Dunst heads-up, and took down the WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley $3,250 High Roller title for $49,035. The win marks the second time Tran has won the event, and with the victory, the longtime tournament pro adds to a resume that includes more than $13 million in career earnings.

'I consider myself a washed-up pro. I still got it a little bit here and there.'

'I’ve always compared poker to golf. If you don’t play a lot, you can probably still get lucky, get a decent round here and there,' Tran said. 'That’s kind of where I’m at. When I had all my success, I played volume. I played prelims up to mains.'

'These, I kind of pop in and out. I consider myself a washed-up pro. I still got it a little bit here and there. Every now and then I pull a little nice, close run.'

Tran said that while he doesn't put in the volume he used to, he enjoys playing at Thunder Valley Resort, which requires just a 25-minute drive for Tran to the Lincoln, California venue.

Final Table Action

With eight places paid and the tournament running eight-handed throughout, the official final table was the cutoff point for getting paid in the High Roller.

Tran emerged victorious from a formidable lineup, including Dunst, who came up just short in his bid to win his first career WSOP Circuit ring. After a two-hour heads-up battle, the final hand came down to Dunst with ace-ten offsuit against Tran's pocket queens, with Tran's premium pair holding up.

'I actually haven’t had too many hours with Tony. He played really well,' Tran said. 'It came down to me having queens and he had ace-ten. Tony’s a great player, I have a lot of respect for him. He’s similar to me in some ways, he doesn’t play a ton of these tournaments, because he’s doing stuff with WPT and whatnot.'

Joshua Shaw (3rd - $19,779) was on the short stack for most of three-handed play, finally bowing out after his open shove with jack-nine suited came up short against Dunst's ace-king.

Other tough opponents at the final table included Noel Rodriguez (5th - $9,773), Dapo Ajayi (7th - $5,992), and Darren Rabinowitz (8th - $5,127).

The day began with 23 players in the hunt, with the money bubble bursting during Level 16, the fourth level of play on Day 2.

Big Names Come Out for the High Roller

In addition to the loaded final table, other notables coming through the Thunder Valley Poker Room for the High Roller included Brett Murray, Ian Steinman, Joe Kuether, Bryan Piccioli and Andreas Kniep.

Ajayi came into Day 2 as the chip leader and was near the top of the leaderboard for most of the day en route to the money finish. Steinman, one of the shortest stacks in the room coming into Day 2, was out early, as were Murray and Kniep.

The 47 entries brought the total prize pool to $141,000.

PokerNews coverage of the WSOP Circuit here at Thunder Valley continues with the $1,700 Main Event, which you can follow here.

• Tags

  JC TranTony DunstWSOP CircuitTournament ResultsPokerNews Updates

• Related Tournaments

  World Series of Poker Circuit

• Related Players

  JC TranTony Dunst

The 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Thunder Valley wrapped up on Monday with the stop’s $1,700 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event, a tournament that attracted 608 entrants and generated a $921,920 prize pool.

After three days of play, Thomas Kornechuk, a 57-year-old software engineer, made a name for himself by capturing the title for $193,439, his first gold ring, and a seat into the 2019 Global Casino Championship. In the process, he stopped defending champ Brett Murray from going back-to-back, sending him out the door in second place.

It was hard work paying off for Kornechuk, who just started taking poker seriously.

'I've followed a few different coaches. I've studied a lot of scenarios with them. I've read books about mental preparedness, specifically poker. And I've tried to apply that,” he told WSOP officials after the win. 'My game plan was to be conservative as much as possible, and apply pressure when I saw openings to do so. I was looking for a couple of tells that I saw. I attacked those. I think that's what changed for me.”

WSOPC Thunder Valley Main Event Final Table Results

The top 62 Main Event finishers made the money including former LFG Podcast guestValentin Vornicu (13th - $11,722), Craig Varnell (23rd - $6,881), Matt Affleck (40th - $3,592), Ricky Guan (45th - $3,592), Randy Lew (50th - $3,270), and Ping Liu (57th - $3,012).

WSOPC Thunder Valley Main Event Final Table Action

According to updates from the event, Kornechuk got off to a hot start at the final table by eliminating Paul Chai in tenth place. It happened when Chai jammed from late position with queen-nine suited and Kornechuk woke up with aces in the small blind. The pocket rockets held and Chai had to settle for $14,443 in prize money.

Kornechuk then dispatched Paul Camby in ninth – the result of the latter’s sixes failing to win a flip against the former’s ace-queen – and then notch his next knockout with six remaining. That is when Chris Tham got it in with king-jack and failed to get there against Kornechuk’s Big Slick suited.

Kornechuk wouldn’t earn another knockout until the final one. It happened in Level 34 (100,000/200,000/30,000) when Murray got his short stack all in with the and was behind the of Kornechuk. The board ran out and Murray took home $119,644 for his runner-up finish.

It was a great performance for Murray, who in September of last year won the WSOPC Thunder Valley Main Event for $151,145. Amazingly, he came up just one spot shy of defending that title.

WSOPC Thunder Valley Side Event News

Also winning a 2019 Global Casino Championship seat was Adam Dunkle, a 45-year-old general contractor out of Clovis, California. He did so after winning the Casino Champion title with 115 points. That included topping a 103-entry field to win Event #3: $400 NLH for $10,197 and his first career ring.

Prior to that he finished fourth out of 1,522 runners in Event #1: $400 NLH The Opener for $29,940, and after placed runner-up in Event #9: $400 No-Limit Hold'em for $7,995.

Also doing well at the stop was Stephen Song, who bested a 74-entry field to win the $3,250 High Roller for $75,480. It marked his second gold ring and gave him 50 points on the Global Casino Championship leaderboard, which moved him into first place with 265 points on the season.

“I was grinding pretty hard to get a [Global Casino Championship] seat, but at this point, I have locked one up,” said Song. “These [WSOP Circuit] stops are great, especially ones with high rollers. Small field tournaments are way more fun because you get to make the FT way more often.”

Thunder Valley Casino Latest Winners Today

Here’s a look at all those who won rings at the Thunder Valley stop.

WSOPC Thunder Valley Ring Winners

The next WSOPC stop is already underway at Horseshoe Tunica. PokerNews will bring you a recap of the stop’s $1,700 Main Event upon its completion.

_{Photos courtesy of WSOP Circuit.}

Thunder Valley Casino Latest Winners 2019

• Tags

  Thomas KornechukAdam DunkleThunder ValleyWSOP CircuitTournament Results

• Related Tournaments

  World Series of Poker Circuit

• Related Players

  Thomas KornechukAdam Dunkle