
J.C. Tran’s rack…of chips…is growing and growing at the WPT North American Poker Championship.
Day 2 has just gotten underway at the WPT North American Poker Championship, which ironically is still being held in Canada. As of post time, 246 of the 454 starting field remain.
Lee Markholt-Watkinson, aka the Tyler Durden to Lee Watkinson’s Ed Norton, is sitting with the big stack at 198,000. Maybe Watkinson is busy with Hardcore Elegance and couldn’t make it or something, so he unleashed his alter-Markholt-ego. Really, we’ll never know. This Markholt-Watkinson-Hardcore-Elegance thing goes fucking deep, man.
Markholt-Watkinson is closely followed by November NineTM hostage Darus Suharto, who we totally forgot was even a captive, with 193,000. Seriously we’d have a better chance naming Iranian hostage crisis members than November NineTM hostages right now.
NN = Chino Rheem. Dennis Phillips. Errr. IHC = Michael Metrinko? Richard Queen? Mike Eruzione? It’s close.
Other big named to somewhat recognizably named big stacks include the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above, 159,300), Erik Cajelais (109,800), Pat Pezzin (107,500), Matt Matros (106,900), Vivek Rajkumar (99,600), Mike McDonald (87,000), Joe Sebok (84,700), Barry Greenstein (81,300), Vanessa Rousso (72,100), and Erik Seidel (71,800).
Get full chip counts/follow the action here.
Tagged as: Darus Suharto, j.c. tran, November Nine, Poker News, World Poker Tour
We might as well just call this post the J.C. Tran All-Star Boob Spectacular.
In honor of the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran winning his first WSOP bracelet, this post will be a little overboard on the cleavage. We imagine many, many browsers in Corporate America will be quickly minimizing right now.
Tran overcame a Double-D sized chip disadvantage in heads-up play to capture the Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) title. For the win, Tran banked $631,053. Get full final table payouts here. Click the thumbnails for the full sized version of the photos. More pics after the jump. We’ll work on getting J.C. himself to be our Friday Night Parting Shots.

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Tagged as: 2008 WSOP, j.c. tran, world series of poker

The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) has fought his way back to even in his heads-up battle against Rasmus Nielsen for the Event #49 title. Many consider J.C. now the "Best Without Bracelet." He’s definitely the best-breasted without a bracelet.
In honor of a potential J.C. win, well, remember that movie There Will Be Blood. Well, our site will be just like that movie, except replace "Blood" with "Boobs."
Follow the action here.
Tagged as: 2008 WSOP, j.c. tran, world series of poker

While most of the attention was on the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, some big names were making their mark on other 2008 WSOP tournaments this weekend.
:: Event #48 ($2,000 No Limit Hold’em) - Unfortunately none of those big names were in this one. Brazalian Alexandre Gomes took this won down, banking $770,540 and his first bracelet. Get full payouts results.
:: Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) - The mega-field of 2,718 is down to its final nine. Rasmus Nielsen is the chip leader, stacked at 2,998,000. The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) once again goes for bracelet number one, entering the final table second overall in chips with 1,438,000. Joe Pelton, who a couple years ago had a cool girlfriend but we haven’t heard much from since, is third with 1,093,000. Get full chip counts here.
:: Event #50 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha) - Nice turn-out as 381 signed up, creating a first place prize of $859,532. Josh Arieh just killed it on Day 1, ending play as big stack with 343,700. He’s followed by Guillaume Patry with 226,400. Some other big name big stacks include David Williams (142,900), David Singer (128,200), Nenad Medic (101,800), and The Intense Stare of Scott Clements (88,600). Get full chip counts here.
:: Event #51 ($1,500 H.O.R.S.E.) - All the big names who went all Big Brown in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. entered this one. In total, 803 runners signed up creating a first place prize of $256,412. Phil Hellmuth ended the day as chip leader, stacked at 46,400. He’s closely followed by "Salty" Joe Hachem (37,500) and Lorenzo Lamas (36,700). Get full chip counts here.
Get full J.C. Tran photo spread here.
Tagged as: 2008 WSOP, j.c. tran, Josh Arieh, Phil Hellmuth, world series of poker
Right now, we’d say it’s a coin flip as to whether the 2008 WSOP will end up earning it’s The Year of the ProTM moniker that we trademarked when all is said and done.
Some of this argument simply hinges on this: when exactly do you qualify as a "pro?" We’re certainly not willing to play the role of God and make that assessment for people. But then again, how else will we know for sure? It’s so daunting.
:: Event #47 ($1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo) - Case in point. Ryan Hughes, who won a Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event last year, took down this one, earning his second WSOP bracelet. Even though only 7 people in the poker world have heard of Hughes before and only 3 would recognize him walking down the street, Hughes is a pro, right? We say an emphatic "yes" to that question, btw. For the win, Hughes banks $183,368. Get full results here.
:: Event #45 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E.) - Here’s a chance for the pros to put a stake in the ground and say, "Dammit, this is the year of us!" Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren will bring the chip lead to the final table, stacked at 3,680,000. A win here would all but cement Lindgren as the 2008 WSOP POY. The same could be said for the man in third, Barry Greenstein, who is stacked at 1,955,000. Scotty Nguyen is second overall with 3,535,000. And our perennial pick to win it, Huck Seed, is sixth overall with 1,200,000. Get full final table chip counts here.
:: Event #48 ($2,000 No Limit Hold’em) - Lots of collective WSOP cashes in this group but no one that you’d really look at and say, "Yeah, he’s a pro." Get final table chip counts here.
:: Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) - This one had 2,718 entrants, playing down to 215 early this morning. First place pays $631,053. A surprising number of big named pros remain, although chip leader Micah Raskin (175,000), is not one of them. However, some big named big stacks do include Young Phan (128,000), Greg "FBT" Mueller (120,000), the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above, 93,000), and David "The Dragon" Pham* (90,000). Get a more complete list of chip counts here.
Get J.C.’s full photo after the jump and check out the entire spread here.
* Not a real dragon.
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Tagged as: $50, 000 HORSE, 2008 WSOP, barry greenstein, Erick Lindgren., j.c. tran, Ryan Hughes, Scotty Nguyen, world series of poker
David Benyamine (above right), continues his assault on 2008 WSOP POY honors as he’s among the chip leaders in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.
After a few days of downtime, the hype/action/buzz returned to the 2008 WSOP yesterday with the start of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. The Rio Amazon Room was packed with newly arrived so-called poker "media,"
railbirds, fanboys, and industry types. Action for the H.O.R.S.E. event picks up again today at 3pm.
:: Event #42 ($1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold’em) – Whatever.
:: Event #43 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo) - The big story here is that Erik Seidel is making his second run at bracelet #9 this year. Seidel is stacked second overall with 340,000. He only trails Jon Maren (377,000), who you’ve likely discerned then must be the chip leader. Also in contention is Casey Kastle (188,000), who joins Shannon Shorr as the two dudes on the circuit with the best hot porn star sounding names. Let’s just say if we saw a DVD called "Girl-Girl-Guy Threesomes Galore! (43)" starring Casey Kastle, Shannon Shorr, and Brock Parker, we probably wouldn’t even do a double-take. Get full chip counts here.
:: Event #44 ($1,000 No Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys) - 115 remain of the original 879, and with all the rebuys, first place with pay $693,444. Jamel Maistriaux ended Day 1 as chip leader, stacked at 169,300. Big name big stacks remaining include Mark Seif (133,000), Joe Tehan, whose name sounds too much like "Tehran" for our liking (108,200), and the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (54,900). Get full chip counts here.
:: Event #45 ($50,000 H.O.R.S.E) - The big one. The event everyone was waiting for and the title the pros most want to claim. Each table is stacked with a who’s who of poker greats. Surely the event will continue the trend this year that we exclusively trademarked as The Year of the ProTM. Frightening the competition with fearlessness that could only be accomplished by someone lacking a soul is James "mig dot com" Mackey, a ginger, with 214,000. With 140 of the initial 148 remaining, and with virtually every person in the field someone that you’ve heard of, it’d be, as Dr. Pauly would say, "redunkulous" to list all the notables. But we will mention that Phil Hellmuth, seen here talking about the bad WSOP he’s having right before the event began, was one of the eight eliminated on Day 1. Also, the four pros most likely to claim 2008 WSOP POY honors (and solidify this year as the Year of the Pro), Erick Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, and David Benyamine, are all above averaged stacked going into Day 2. Get full chip counts here.
After the jump, a photo of the fantastically stacked and looking-better-than-ever Isabelle Mercier next to Dario Minieri. Mercier seriously looks like that hot teacher everyone wanted to bang in 9th grade and Dario like the student who gets a little too nervous around her. Also after the jump is possibly the best photo we’ve ever taken of Tom Schneider.
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Tagged as: 2008 WSOP, Daniel Negreanu, Dario Minieri, Erick Lindgren., Erik Seidel, isabelle mercier, j.c. tran, Phil Hellmuth, world series of poker