I apparently missed this a few weeks ago. In case you did, too:

via TheHitWoman.com

Air Force One just landed at McCarren airport. The President is headed to Caesar’s Palace, for apparently what is a semi-controversial “junket” fundraiser for Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). We can not, however, confirm the rumor that he is in town to give the WSOP Stimulus tourney a $1 trillion overlay, nor that he plans to satellite into a Venetian Deep Stacks event.

Poker players arriving in town for the WSOP (via delayed flights) are twittering about it.

@Ali_Nejad has a pic of the motorcade.

LOL: Evelyn Ng and Erica Schoenberg just got done with their bikini photo shoot (with Tiffany Michelle) for Knockout magazine, and they’re all pissy about being stuck in traffic on the Strip — presumably unaware of why things are extra-congested on a Tuesday afternoon.

UPDATE: @JeffreyPollack is off to meet @BarackObama right now. Pre-emptive conclusion: good for poker!

UPDATE: President now headed to the Caesar’s Palace poker room. (Seriously.) via @Andy_Bloch.

Speaking of bikinis … there’s another poker-skin photo shoot fixin’ to go down in Vegas … reportedly Tiffany Michelle, Erica Schoenberg, and Evelyn Ng will be waxing up for a big poker-themed spread slated for a summer issue of KnockOut magazine, which is basically like Maxim Wicked Chops, only with more chicks and less poker.

Kinda unique here is the coming together of three poker patches — Ultimate Bet, Full Tilt, and Bodog — all in the same shoot.

And though I don’t know this for sure, my guess is that it’s all somehow connected to the forthcoming Knockout Poker Tour. Their inaugural event runs June 5-8 (during the WSOP) at the Hard Rock. This is not a four-day tourney, mind you, it’s a four-day “experience” … where the tournament is a $5,000 + 4,000 or 5,000, your choice depending on what level of VIP perks you want … private jets, limos, penthouse suites, VIP club seating, three parties, Rehab cabanas, etc. … and apparently surrounded the whole time by KnockOut hotties, who will happily let you take pictures with your hand on their butts. Oh, and the champion gets a bracelet, too.

Should be an interesting event, to say the least. And should you decide to forgo the $5k NLH WSOP tournament going on the same day (which pays out about 91 94 percent) in favor of the KOP event (paying out just 50 percent, but guaranteeing a higher booze-and-tail return) and actually win:

Private security will be on-call to fend off any over-zealous club girls who want a piece of the Knockout Poker Tournament Champ. Remember players, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. That includes the bevy of girls throwing themselves at your feet and the collection of email addresses and phone numbers you accumulated over the weekend.

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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What’s happening tonight at the WSOP:

The $1,000 NL Holdem with rebuys event has a winner, Canadian Max Greenwood took down the bracelet, making a remarkable comeback from being shortstacked 3-handed to take down the bracelet and almost $700,000. Rene Mouritsen of Aarhus, Denmark finished in 2nd (for the 3rd time at a WSOP event the past two years) to win just over $445,000. Fellow Aarhus resident Albert Iversen finished in 3rd. Greenwood was down to just over 400,000 when he went allin with a pair of 5’s against Mouritsen’s AJ. Another ace hit the flop, and a brick on the turn meant that Greenwood was down to two outs. Miraculously, Max hit that 5, doubling up twice more off Mouritsen to take the chip lead before Mouritsen would take it back when Iversen’s set of 5’s was run down by Mouritsen’s turned flush. After just over 30 hands of head-up play (and boisterous rooting from both player’s friends), all the money went in on a Jack high flop with Max’s AJ ahead of Mouritsen’s KJ. No help came and Greenwood completes the remarkable comeback.

The only tournament to start today, the $2,000 NL Holdem event, drew a field of 2,317, with just under 400 remaining with a couple more levels remaining in the day. Notable names at the top of the leaderboard: Erik Cajelais, Marco Johnson, Erica Schoenberg, Blair Rodman (who won this tournament last year), David Pham and Chau Giang.

Other tournament action today on the next page:
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We discussed a poorly received tourney idea on Beyond the Table a year ago — the concept being a “men’s minority event.” I loved the idea because we’ve all played dudes-only before and women have ladies tourneys … but while all women players have been the only representative of their gender at a table before, that’s a dynamic that guys simply don’t get to experience.

Psychology would be fun, results would be interesting …Logistics was the tough part — how to limit the field to 10 (or 15) percent men and still attract the necessary entries. But one thing we never considered was a simple invitational sit-n-go.

So much to my delight, the new episode of Poker after Dark just came on and lo and behold the players this week are Gus Hansen, Vanessa Rousso, J.J. Liu, Clonie Gowen, Beth Shak, and Erica Schoenberg. Very cool — well cast with Gus, who knows they know he knows they know he can be a tad horny influenced by his respect for the ladies.

“We should make all the guys play this format one time,” Clonie just said. Barack Obama presumably agrees, as he just sat down for a very similar 6-handed sit-n-go on The View:

(L to R) Vanessa Rousso, Clonie Gowen, Gus Hansen, J.J. Liu, Beth Shak, and Erica Schoenberg appear this week on Poker after Dark.

As the players on Day 3 of the L.A. Poker Classic approach the money bubble, there are still some very well-known players atop the leader board – Phil Ivey and David Singer. Jennifer Tilly doubled up through Humberto Brenes and is doing well. Alan Goehring, former LAPC champion, is hanging on to make a run at another title.

Sadly, however, Antonio Esfandiari seemed to be on a bad run this evening, then took a hit from Kyle Burnside, and just got eliminated. He’s had a great week with the announcement of his partnership with WPT, but a shot at a second WPT LAPC title would have been icing on the cake. It wasn’t meant to be, but there’s the NBC Heads-Up in a few days, along with the WPT Invitational next weekend. Momentum could take him far if he lets it.

Click below for some semi-gossip-y notes:

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LAS VEGAS–I was disappointed to miss the JCC Charity Poker tournament at the Palms yesterday due to a terrible head cold (as if I haven’t told everyone already). But I did miss the event and I’m sad as it made for a great and needed cause.

The ever-pretty Erica Schoenberg, who hosted along with Eli Elezra, Evelyn Ng, Lisa Wheeler and David Benyamine, took down first prize, which was a seat into the 2008 WSOP main event. Click here for the story, photos and ways to donate.