What’s happening tonight at the WSOP, while Wicked Chops Poker is celebrating the good news.

JC Tran takes his name off of the “Best player to never win a bracelet” list, taking down the $1,500 NL Holdem event against Danish pro Rasmus Nielsen. JC, at one point down 3-1 headsup, chipped away at Rasmus until he eventually took the chip lead, winning when his KQ nipped the Dane’s QJ on a Q-high flop. Tran takes home over $631,000 plus 100 WSOP POY points, moving him into 6th in the race with 1 event remaining. Nielsen will be consoled with almost $390,000 to take back to Denmark.

Other tournament happenings on the next page:
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Recapping last night’s action, with an eye on what’s going on today:

As noted below, Scotty Nguyen takes down the $50,000 HORSE event, taking down almost $2,000,000, his 5th bracelet, and the first to have won the WSOP Main Event and the $50k HORSE event. Erick Lindgren’s 3rd place moves him into first in the Milwaukee’s Best WSOP Player of the Year race with just 2 tournaments left.

The $1,500 NL Holdem final table has been set, scheduled to start at 3pm. The two most notable names are two WPT winners, JC Tran and Joe Pelton, here’s how the rest of the table will look like:

Seat 1: Christoph Kohnen 293,000
Seat 2: Joe Pelton 1,093,000
Seat 3: Jesper Hoog 320,000
Seat 4: John Conroy 501,000
Seat 5: Robert Kalb 456,000
Seat 6: J.C. Tran 1,438,000 (his 3rd final table of the Series)
Seat 7: Chad Siu 185,000
Seat 8: Peter Nguyen 870,000
Seat 9: Rasmus Nielsen 2,998,000

Other tournament stuff on the next page:
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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

Jen and Dan are taking care of the HORSE event, so I don’t need to duplicate their work, but they’re about to return from dinner break 5-handed.

The $2,000 NL Holdem event was won by Brazilian Alexandre Gomes, the first for that country, moving them up big time in the World Standings. Gomes takes home just over $770,000 while Marco Johnson won’t be feeling super with his 2nd place earnings of just over $491,000.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event is down to 40 as they play down to their final table. Among the notables remaining: JC Tran, Men Nguyen, Andy Black, Joe Pelton, Hevad Kahn. Follow their action on the World Series of Poker website here.

Other tournament action, following the leap:
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It has been brought to my attention - *ahem* - that Josh Arieh and Bodog parted ways amicably and by way of a mutual decision. At least that’s what Arieh said in a PokerNews interview.

“Luckily I have been smart with the money I’ve earned in the last five years in poker and not being sponsored won’t keep me away from the tables. It was a great three-year run with Bodog. Angela (Josh’s wife) and I have met a few of our closest friends through Bodog and it probably wouldn’t have been possible if I weren’t with them. I won the Calvin Ayre Wildcard Poker event because of my affiliation with them. I’ve got nothing but kind words to say about them… they were a stepping stone in my life and now I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things that I know will present themselves to me.”

Okay, okay. So Bodog didn’t boot Arieh. I still have my doubts about what went on behind closed doors, but that is solely my opinion.

Bodog Poker announced this week that Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo has been signed to its roster of pros that comprise Team Bodog. He joins David Williams, Evelyn Ng, and Jean-Robert Bellande.

Where is Josh Arieh? According to his stats, he’s doing well. His Hendon Mob stats show that he has over $4.5 million in lifetime tournament earnings thus far, including two WSOP bracelets. In 2007, he made close to $200k, and he stands at $71,682 for 2008 so far. But he has been dropped from the Bodog roster because the company wants to move in a “different direction.” Quite possibly, that direction is away from married guys with kids, which probably doesn’t fit the definition of living the so-called Bodog lifestyle.

In the meantime, Evelyn Ng stays on the team. Her lifetime tournament earnings are… wait for it… $301,957. And in 2008 alone, she has made nothing. Nada. Zip. In 2007, she made $17,457.

Bonomo is a good choice for Bodog. He’s taken his online poker successes to the live circuit and done well with over $1.1 million so far. Yes, he was embroiled in a bit of a scandal during his younger online days, but he has made a sincere effort to overcome that stigma and become a respected member of the poker community.

What leaves me shaking my head is the decision to drop Arieh and keep Ng. If anyone has an answer other than, “She’s pretty,” I’d love to hear it.

The Bodog Lounge is on wheels this year for the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Bodog’s big busty bus came to town yesterday and whisked players from hotels to the felt while enjoying television, sofas, pretty girls and frosty beverages. Who knows, you may get picked up off the street to hang with David Williams, Josh Arieh or Evelyn Ng.

Anyone sporting Bodog’s black & red gear just might have an awaiting carriage ride. The bus driver, John Doe*, drove the bus from Atlanta to Las Vegas and will be parking the monster at the back entrance of the convention center. Yo check it.

*Name changed because I don’t know his name.

LAS VEGAS–They’re down to 11 10 players in Event 5 - Omaha/7cs Hi Lo - $2,500, and Tom is still the chip leader, with more than a quarter of the chips in play — and a goofy hat that says “Beyond the Table” on one side and “Oops I Won Too Much Money” on the other. He’s got Annie Duke and Chris Ferguson to his left. Also still alive: Josh Arieh, Scotty Nguyen, John Phan, David Benyamine, and Chris Bell.

Damn.

While writing this post, Steve Hall, unaware of what I was doing and who Tom Schneider is, says, “That’s amazing. John Phan is almost at the final table in the 7-card-stud-Omaha event … You have to actually know poker for that … It looks to be an amazing final table.”

Indeed, Steve, it does. This final table only may or may not be televised. It will be up to ESPN whether to broadcast Tom’s game (is it premature to call it that?) or the $1,500 PL Hold’em final table, featuring Gavin Smith and Marco Traniello. Anyone know any lobbyists?

Also, Mr. Fresh Princess is alive and slightly above average in the $1,500 limit event, and Julie Schneider — Mrs. Donkey Bomber — is thriving in a second-chance tourney in the back of the room.

UPDATE: Tom made it … busted out Arieh to seal the final table deal … he’s got a third of all the chips in play. Mr. Fresh Princess is now hanging “by a thread.” And Julie got knocked out with Ace-Queen … but what’s really funny is how she plowed through the roped off area to tell Tom about it while he was in the middle of a hand.

Anti-poker insurgents are on the offensive in suburban Atlanta — with dozens arrested at the second big poker-room bust in a week. This is more serious than in Texas, because Georgia law puts running a poker room as a felony, and players aren’t just ticketed … they are taken to jail. One of the 52 players arrested (last night?) was a judge.

The sting came after a monthlong investigation by the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office vice unit. Hill said the casino [in Jonesboro] - which had a sign out front saying Poker Palace and is literally down the street from the sheriff’s office - had been operating for about two years.

Things have apparently been made worse in this case because some drugs were found during the raid, and one of the operators allegedly offered a $5,000 bribe to make his problems go away.

Atlanta, of course, is a pretty big poker town. About a year ago, Josh Arieh’s favorite local game got raided. A-town is also the headquarters for Bluff and Wicked Chops.

Related:
Cops n’ Rounders - 2/14/06

UPDATE: The Macon Telegraph just updated their story, so the one referenced above has changed. The new news item (by the same writer) points out that a former pro wrestler — Disco Inferno — was arrested by Roswell police. And he was also one of the people with the drugs. Here’s a new link to the original story about the judge and the alleged bribe.

And here is a link to a story about charges being pressed against the operators in the first of these two raids.