PTS AT STAKE: REMEMBER ME? JC TRAN LEADS THE WAY AT WPT LEGENDS

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

There were long periods of time between 2006 and 2009 where JC Tran was one of if not THE best tournament poker player in the world and to expect him to keep that pace going year in and year out would have been unfair.

This isn't to say that Tran has completely disappeared from the poker circuit, not at all - but - the last major tournament victory for Tran was in 2009 - where he captured his last bracelet, at the WSOP PLO Event 30.

Well, queue Friday night at the Bike - Tran, trying to come back to stardom - ends the day as the chip leader at the WPT Legends of Poker - the first WPT event of the 2011-12 season in the US (the tour has already visited Slovenia and Spain).

Tran enters Day 2 play with 265K in chips, about 20K more chips more than Day 1A chip leader Matthew Berkey. WSOP November Niner Soi Nguyen, Cody Slaughbagh and Ryan Welch will also enter Saturday's play with healthy chip stack.

UNOFFICIAL NOTABLE TOP CHIP COUNTS (Day 1A + 1B combined):
JC Tran 265,000
Matthew Berkey 248,500
Soi Nguyen 215,200
Cody Slaubaugh 188,200
Michael Woo 167,000
Ryan Welch 157,500
Will Failla 148,300
Paul Lieu 148,000
Owen Crowe 138,500
Dan O'Brien 136,000
Taylor von Kriegenbergh 133,400
Isaac Baron 130,500
Hafiz Khan 130,100
Zach Clark 126,400
David Peters 120,100

NOTABLE DAY 1B ELIMINATIONS:
Lars Bonding, Kyle Wilson, Lauren Kling, Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Tilly, Justin Young, Justin Smith, Robert Williamson III, Tony Dunst, Andreas Hoivold, Barry Greenstein, Abbey Daniels, Cornell Cimpan, Freddy Deeb, David Pham, EPIC Poker League Champion Chino Rheem and Brandon Meyers.

RELATED:
SAUCEDO TURNS $150 INTO 340K AT LEGENDS
BIG GAME HUNTER: RAMDIN WIN THE BIG EVENT


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Legends of Poker
WPT Legends of Poker Main Event
August 25-30, 2011

The Bicycle Casino | California
Buy-in: $3,700 | Prizepool : $2,570,015 | Entries: 757

PTS AT STAKE:
1st position 132
2nd position 82
3rd position 52
4th position 42
5th position 37
6-7th position 32
8-11th position 17
12-15th position 15
16-18th position 12