November Nine(TM) Hostage Darus Suharto Among WPT North American Poker Championship Chip Leaders

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 Nine^TM 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 Nine^TM 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.

The Spectacularly-Breasted J.C. Tran Wins His First Bracelet

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.

If The Spectacularly-Breasted J.C. Tran Wins This Tournament, Well, You Don't Even Wanna Know

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.

2008 WSOP Update: J.C. Tran Goes After First Bracelet (Again); Phil Hellmuth Takes Aim at Number 12

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.

2008 WSOP Update: Erick Lindgren Leads $50k H.O.R.S.E. Final Table; Ryan Hughes Wins Second Bracelet

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 Pro^TM 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.

2008 WSOP Update: James Mackey, A Ginger, Leads $50k H.O.R.S.E; Erik Seidel Goes for 9th Bracelet Again

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 Pro^TM. 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.

2008 WSOP Update: Ted Forrest Goes for Sixth Bracelet; Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Just Misses His

Jennifer Harman (above) is among the many big names going toe-to-toe in the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo championship.

We're beginning to think that the goal goal of the 2008 WSOP is to punish the so-called poker "media." Just way too many events going on at once. Did we lose a war? A war we weren't even aware of?  You are sly ones, Harrah's officials, with your guerilla tactics.

:: Event #33 ($5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo) - Tough one for Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Going for WSOP bracelet number six, Ferguson had the chip lead at times but eventually fell heads-up to Sebastian Ruthenberg. This is Ruthenberg's first bracelet. He banks $328,756 for the win. Ferguson adds another $202,406 to his fortunes. Marcel Luske finished fourth ($95,069) and Annie Duke, a woman, finished fifth ($73,602). Get full results here.

:: Event #34 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys) - While Ferguson just missed his sixth, Ted Forrest has a shot to nab his. Forrest already has a runner-up finish this year in Event #16 and is one of the many rumored to have bracelet prop bets on the side. Forrest is second overall in chips going into final table play with 757,000. Also in the mix is Layne Flack with 601,000. Jacobo Fernadez will take a crack at his first bracelet again this year, having now made three final tables. Fernadez is short-stacked with 240,000.

:: Event #35 ($1,500 Seven Card Stud) - A "friends and family" final table of eight. If you're related to Michael Rocco or Al Barbieri then get their chip counts here.

:: Event #36 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Of the 2,447 that entered, only 186 survived. Sounds dramatic. Day 2 play begins shortly with Owen Crowe as the chip leader, stacked at 170,000. NWP's Bryan Micon has 64,500 (watch his spectacular Degenerate Report here). And the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran is among the few other big names remaining with 54,400. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #37 ($10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo) - The final tourney of the day is led by Omaha Hi/Lo specialist Soheil Shamseddin (dude already made a Hi/Lo final table this year). Other big name chip leaders include 2008 WSOP POY co-leader Erick Lindgren (91,700), Chau Giang (84,700), and Annie Duke, a woman (83,700). Tons of other big names still remain. Get 'em all here.

Get live World Series of Poker coverage and more in-depth WSOP blogs at Poker Listings.

2008 WSOP Update: OMGClayAiken Grabs First Bracelet; J.C. Tran Goes for His Again

The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) goes for his first WSOP bracelet today at 2pm PST.

It was an interesting day of 2008 World Series of Poker action, as Event #31 ($2,500 No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed) left many happy to be there and this unfortunate photo was taken which just isn't funny at all. On with the updates.

:: Event #27 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) - Vitaly Lunkin won this "friends and family" final table, banking $628,417. If you just really love poker that much and gotta know the rest of what happened, get full results here.

:: Event #28 ($5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys) - In yet another star-studded final table, online poker superstar Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond took down the title, earning his first of what is sure to be a few WSOP bracelets and banking, as Dr. Pauly would say, a "redunkulous" $817,781. Galfond defeated another online specialist, Adam "the_houdini" Hourani, for the title, going 100 hands deep heads-up. David Benyamine took third earning three million five hundred thousand glazed doughnuts $316,307. Poker legend Johnny Chan, who has gone from oranges to bananas, missed out on his record-tying 11th bracelet, finishing fourth and earning $246,874. John Juanda came in sixth ($154,296), Daniel Negreanu, who has mad respect for OMGClayAiken's game, was seventh ($123,437), and the always impressive Phil Hellmuth was eighth ($100,292).

:: Event #29 ($3,000 No Limit Hold'em) - Matthew Vengrin, who you may not remember from the final table of last year's Event #3 final table, is chip leader stacked at 1,007,500. Also in the mix is unheralded Alex Bolotin, who has nearly $1M in WSOP earnings, with 534,000 in chips; David Singer, who is going for his second bracelet at this year's WSOP, with 515,000; and John "The Razor" Phan, who while he doesn't have a bracelet yet, his mom is still probably very proud of him, with 396,500.

:: Event #30 ($10,000 Limit Hold'em) - 218 entered this one, playing down to the final table last night. Aaron Katz, who won a bracelet in 2004 and was never heard from again, is heard from again as chip leader, stacked at 1,232,000. The real story here are two guys looking to shed the "Best Without a Bracelet" moniker, as both Andy Bloch (370,000), and the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (247,000), are in the mix. The short-stack is a guy named Brock Parker, who must either be a super-hero or a porn star. Get full chip counts here. Follow final table action at 2pm PST here.

2008 WSOP Band of Bloggers: Get full recaps and payouts from WorldSeriesofPoker.com here. Get Dr. Pauly's take on WSOP happenings here. Gary Wise has some thoughts here. Please please don't forget Pokerati here. And get Poker Prof's recap and more photos here.

* The photo above is of J.C. Tran masquerading by the name Tanya Robinson, super-sexy British model. Get the full sized pic after the jump and the full lingerie shoot here.

Why J.C. Tran Has Spectacular Breasts and Explaining Some Other Nicknames

So over the past few days we've been asked on a number of occasions why we refer to J.C. Tran as the "spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran" (above) as well as "What's up with 'Salty' Joe Hachem?" and "Hey is Lorenzo Lamas really in the Seven Card Stud Championship?"

With a bunch of new readers during WSOP time (and many more non-traditional as we welcome withleather.com, the Beer Goggler, NY Times Freakonomics blog, SportsbyBrooks, Rock 107, Drunken Stepfather, and errr, Google)

Here's the where/why breakdown on some of our favorite nicknames and general Cliff Notes on the WCP lexicon.

:: The spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran - Flash back to May of last year. Nobody on the poker circuit was hotter than J.C. Tran. In fact, here's what we said when we first introduced the world to J.C. spectacular breasts:

"Nobody's breasts are hotter right now. We think it should be fairly easy for us all to agree upon this fact, give or take a Keeley Hazell. His breasts strike fear in the hearts of men. When his breasts sit at a poker table, everyone stares. His breasts mesmerize."

Fortunately for us, J.C. kept kicking ass, which meant we got to keep putting up pics of girls with spectacular breasts in our posts. So really, J.C. Tran should be your favorite poker player, because he's personally responsible for about 25% of the killer racks you see on our site.

::  "Salty" Joe Hachem - Flash back to the 2006 WSOP. A media event was held the day before the Main Event started featuring Curtis Hanson and Drew Berrymore (pimping the worst poker movie ever, Lucky You), and the previous year's WSOP winner, Joe Hachem. A so-called "media" member in the audience asked Hachem a question about qualifying for the Main Event online through Poker Stars. Hachem didn't hesitate to pop off on the guy for no reason, essentially telling him to, "Get your facts straight. I did not qualify online I bought my way in." So Entity Chops turned to Entities The Addict and Snake and said something to the effect of, "Man, that guy is salty..." And from then on we just ran with it. Fortunately the heavens really aligned on this one, from the perfect peppery hair to the fact that "Salty" Joe has gone salty on multiple occassions in major tournaments.

:: The Intense Stare of Scott Clements - Comes solely from this and this (and this) photo. That's some scary shit.

:: Chad/Brown Lorenzo Lamas - Seriously, look at this post. The similarity between Chad Brown and Lorenzo Lamas is uncanny. It probably actually is Lorenzo Lamas and we just blew his cover. Lorenzo probably hates us for that. At least he can still pull nice tail, as his fiance Vanessa Rousso isn't a bad score, even if she did go to Duke.

:: The Davidson Matthew Club - Favorites time-all our of one. Winners predicting accurately us of trend a began it because just not and. Backwards post entire an (read to have you and) write can we, last a for and first a for name last a with guy a have you whenever because.

2008 WSOP Updates: Big Names Don't Bag Bracelet + Will Vinnie Vinh's Chair Rise Again?

Isn't it great to have the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) doing so well in so many tournaments? Here's your daily dump of recaps.

Event #7 ($2,000 NLH) - It felt somewhat inevitable. For a few people, actually. On a tear in the 2008 WSOP so far and wire-to-wire chipleader in Event #7, Theo Tran seemed on his way to his first bracelet. But it didn't happen. Tran was knocked out in fourth, banking $191,231. The final table finish however leave him tied with Nenad Medic for 2008 World Series of Poker Player of the Year honors. Another Tran, the aforementioned spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran, was due for his first bracelet as well. But he was eliminated in seventh, cashing $94,166. And eventual runner-up-guy-with-girl-name Shannon Shorr, who may be the most under-appreciated tourney player around, could've shaken that rep/lack of deserved notoriety with a win. But no. His second brought him $349,141 and raised his career tourney earnings to over $2.3 mil. So who won? Matt Keikoan, nabbing his first bracelet and $550,601.

Event #8 ($10,000 Mixed) - This prestigious big name final table was taken down by relatively unknown 22 year-old cash game specialist Anthony Rivera. It's Rivera's first WSOP bracelet, banking him $483,688. James "mig dot com" Mackey, a ginger, finished second ($297,792). Other notable finishes included Eli Elezra ($108,288), Sam Farha ($85,728), Tom "durrr" Dwan ($67,680), and Jeff Madsen ($54,144) (watch Jeff's RawVegas video blog ahead of final table here). Get full final table payouts here.

Event #9 ($1,500 NLH 6-Handed) - Unless you're friends and family, you probably don't care about this one. Get the final table chip counts here.

Event #10 ($2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 7CS Hi/Lo) - Couple of big names at the final table. John Cernuto (285,000) is third overall and in fifth is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (231,000). Grinder will be going for his first bracelet. They trail chip leader Farzad Rouhani (513,000). Get full chip counts here.

Event #11 ($5,000 NLH Shoot-Out) - 36 of the starting 360 remain. First place pays $477,990. Some big names remaining include but are certainly not limited to Alex Jacob, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, John Juanda, and Tony G.

Event #12 ($1,500 Limit Hold'em) - The final tournament on Friday brought in 883 and wrapped with 181 remaining. That is all secondary to the fact that Vinnie Vinh is playing and made it to Day 2...which means...will his chair take over??? (see Vinnie contemplating the move here) Clearly this is the biggest story of the WSOP so far. Eric Pratt ended as chip leader stacked at 40,700. Other notables include Marco Traniello (34,400), the aforementioned Vinh (30,700), Erick Lindgren (27,300), and Tom Schneider (25,100). First pays out $257,936. Get full chip counts here.

* J.C. Tran going by pen name Cristal Houston in above photo. Full photo after the jump.

2008 WSOP Update: Battle of the Trans + Will Durrrr Capture First Bracelet?

Just a sick amount of tournament action going on. Here's the round-up:

:: Event #5 ($1,000 NLH + rebuys) - Michael Banducci snags his first WSOP bracelet in one of our favorite events. He defeated Jeff Williams for the title and banks $636,736 for the win. WSOP cashing machine Michael Binger went out in seventh. Get full final table results here.

:: Event #6 ($1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo) - Bracelet goes to Thang Luu. This is his first WSOP bracelet and fourth overall cash. He outlasted a field of 832 and a final table that included the Intense Stare of Scott Clements to bank $243,342. The aforementioned Intense Stare of Scott Clements was first to bust from the final table, uhhh, just as we predicted. Get full results here.

:: Event #7 ($2,000 NLH) - Theo Tran continues what could be an early run at 2008 WSOP Player of the Year honors as he takes the chip lead into the Event #7 final table. Tran is stacked at 1,884,000. He's followed by Mihai Manole with 1,020,000. Also in the hunt, albeit as one of the short-stacks, is the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (above) with 273,000. One of the best hold'em tournament players in the world, Tran has yet to win his first WSOP bracelet. Get full final table chip counts here.

:: Event #8 ($10,000 Mixed) - Another star-studded final table. Matt Glantz is the chip leader stacked at 1,150,000. He's followed by 2007 WSOP bracelet winner and former Ginger of the Day James 'mig.com' Mackey with 742,000. Tom "durrrr" Dwan makes a run at his first bracelet as he's third overall with 642,000. Also in contention are Sam Farha (374,000), Jeff Madsen (149,000), and Eli Elezra (76,000). First place here pays out $483,680. Follow the final table here starting at 4pm PST.

:: Event #9 ($1,500 NLH Six-Handed) - Only 72 remain from the initial starting field of 1,236. First place will nab $372,843. Matt Matros is chip leader stacked at 156,600. Other notables include no one really. Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #10 ($2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better) - Speaking of gingers, Jordan Rich, a ginger, leads Event #10 at the end of Day 1. He's stacked at 45,800. Other big name big stacks include Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (35,600), James Van Alstyne (35,100), Steve Zolotow (35,000), Todd Brunson (31,300), "Miami" John Cernuto (30,000), "Boston" Alan Boston, and Howard Lederer (27,900). They're all playing for a $232,911 first prize.

2008 WSOP Band of Bloggers: Get full recaps and payouts from WorldSeriesofPoker.com here. Get Dr. Pauly's take on WSOP happenings here. Gary Wise has some thoughts here. Please please don't forget Pokerati here. And get Poker Prof's recap and more photos here.

* Get more of the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran, slyly going by pen-name Elin Grindemyer, here.

WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic Shrinking, Unlike Sully Erna's Banana Next to Kimberly Lansing

The World Poker Tour Starring Kimberly Lansing is in the middle of nowhere Connecticut this week for the Main Event of the Foxwoods Poker Classic. Action amidst the blue-haired old ladies slotting their days away got underway today at noon, which you may have heard is 9 AM West Coast time, and only a piddly 344 players have entered the $10,000 buy-in tournament, down significantly from last year's 415 and 431 the year before.

While we could postulate and hypothesize and do other things like that which require us to think a lot and put our thoughts into words about why the continued decline in entrants, let's just say it's more fun to watch videos of Kimberly Lansing. Check out one of her first videos of the day here in which she chats with banana-holding, Wicked Chops Poker Awards Winner Sully Erna, who notes that his favorite poker player is fellow WCPA winner JC Tran (in photo at right).

Leave it to a rocker to know spectacular breasts when he sees them.

Get live reports here or from Wicked Chops Poker Awards Winner Owen Laukkanen here.

Remind yourself how darn pretty Kimberly Lansing is here.

The Wicked Chops Poker Awards - Part II

Yesterday we introduced the first part of the possibly first annual Wicked Chops Poker Awards. As promised, today = Part II (which is so important we use Roman numerals instead of just the number "2").

Best Breasts in Poker: J.C. Tran. Listen, we have no idea where the "J.C. Tran has spectacular breasts..." thing came from. Couldn't think of anything else to say about the guy and it randomly popped up and the rest is history. Having said that, look at J.C. Tran's spectacular breasts (at right). Those are without one single doubt the best breasts in poker. Yes, Lacey Jones is the hottest girl in poker, but have you seen J.C.'s breasts? How can you even make an argument that someone has better breasts? You can't. It'd be like arguing against Lionel Hutz. You're winning that one every time, son.

Worst Name of a Potential Cellmate if You're Sent to Prison: Hoyt Corkins. The thought of being "hoyt corkin'd" is utterly terrifying.

Best 2+2 Thread of All-Time: The Sklansky/Hawbaker Dramabomb. It was bound to happen. Rumors swirled about some kind of Sklansky/Hawbaker relationship at last year's WSOP (watch the Brandi Hawbaker interview about it). Then it died down. Went away. Then in late February it just blew the f' up (read the 2+2 thread here), culminating in 2+2 banning any known Brandi Hawbaker associates (and the NWP crew) and Sklansky "alluding" to throwing acid on Brandi's face. This one had it all. In fact, we feel safe in saying that we may never see a poker forum thread involving a 60 year-old dude who keeps a vibrator in his glove compartment and hints at throwing acid on a hot girl's face again. Probably.

Best Neverwin Poker Thread: Justin Smith Rolls Bryan Micon. The sheer creativity in this one wins out over the never-ending supply of messed up NWP threads. After Bryan "King of the Degenerates" Micon got rolled for about $12k by Justin Smith, he turned the fuck-you-machine on full-throttle. Micon wouldn't rest until he got paid back. Be it recording countless phone conversation and putting them online, or releasing one digit of Justin Smith's SSN every hour until he got paid back, this one was constant entertainment. Watch Micon's RawVegas.tv interview on the pwning here.

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Lost Many of Its Shooting Stars

The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament is a fave among players on the circuit. Many "name" pros have a $5,000 bounty on them, and the tournament leader at the end of each day collects $10,000.

With Day 1a wrapped, 46 players remain from the initial field of 146. A cursory look at those numbers indicate that 100 people were thusly eliminated.

Leading all Day 1a survivors is 2006 WSOP bracelet winner Brandon Cantu with 242,300. Cantu eliminated shooting stars Bill Edler and John Juanda on his way to the chip lead. We'll go out on a limb and also say that Cantu will have a year's supply of Blue Diamond Almonds coming his way as well.

Only five Day 1a shooting stars actually survived. They include the spectacularly breasted J.C. Tran, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Kathy Liebert (a woman), Layne Flack and Miami John Cernuto (who should've ceased qualifying for shooting star status around the Bush 41's administration).

Get full chip counts from the WPT website.

Breasts Spectacular: Layla Kayleigh and JC Tran at the WPT Invitational

Within “poker circles,” it’s widely recognized that poker pro J.C. Tran has the most spectacular breasts on the circuit today. They are truly exquisite.

However, this informal poll of poker insiders we refer to does not also take into account those who “cover” poker. If it did, then surely World Poker Tour hostess Layla Kayleigh would rank at the top.

If anyone can appreciate spectacular breasts, it’s J.C. Tran. Seriously, J.C. sees spectacular breasts everyday when looking in the mirror. So it should come as no surprise that he knows how to recognize a spectacular pair when he sees them.

What does come as a surprise though is that he somehow managed to not glance once at Layla's top section during his interview with her Saturday night. The guy has focus. It's why he kills it on the poker circuit. That and because he has spectacular breasts.

More photos of the spectacularly breasted, perfectly hourglass-figured Layla Kayleigh and the spectacularly breasted J.C. Tran at the WPT Invitational after the jump . . .

What the Muck? JC Tran and Vinny from Staten Island Hand Controversy at World Poker Finals

The spectacularly breasted JC Tran (photo at right) was involved in a bit of a controversial hand on Day 1a of the 2007 World Poker Finals that has some players "absolutely heated" and others like us wondering what we're going to eat for lunch after we write this post.

As PokerListings.com reported:

"On a flop of 9-9-5 rainbow, J.C. Tran and an opponent who insisted he remain nameless get all-in with Player 2 holding the shorter stack. Tran turns up J-9 for trips and P2 insta-mucks, but the dealer retrieves the cards from the muck and turns them face-up, exposing A7o.

"The board finishes 8-6 to give Player 2 the runner-runner straight and Tran goes nuts and rightfully so, claiming that his opponent mucked his hand and the pot should be his."

The floor ruled in favor of the nameless player--who we'll call Vinny from Staten Island for one reason or another--because he had called Tran's all-in, so regardless if he tossed his cards towards the dealer face down or his cannoli dripped on them or he spilled spaghetti sauce on them or whatever...as long as his cards were distinguishable (i.e. didn't get mixed in the muck) the dealer was forced to turn both players' cards up, pursuant to the rule designed to prevent collusion (i.e. chip dumping). Or something like that.

Judge for yourself by watching CardPlayer's full video of the controversial hand presented by Lizzy Harrison.

Or you can watch video blogs by WCP fave Kimberly Lansing all day that have nothing to do with the controversial hand but everything to do with Kimberly Lansing being fun to watch.

In related news, singer Jewel is the opposite of being spectacularly breasted.