Certainly. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of reading The Man With the $100,000 Breasts and Other Gambling Stories, it's a riveting collection by Michael Konik (formerly the gambling writer for Cigar Aficionado) and takes its title from the tale of a Canadian proposition gambler named Brian Zembic, who was bet by a friend that he would not get size 38C breast implants and keep them for a year. You can read the whole story and all its twists and turns, plus other of Zembic's outrageous exploits, in the book; here, suffice it to say that not only did he go through with the operation, but he even hustled the plastic surgeon at backgammon and got the implants for free.
So, there's the background, in a nutshell. Or, rather, a sports bra.
The current writer first encountered Brian Zembic in Monte Carlo (the European principality, not the casino on the Strip) some 13 years ago, while hanging out with some magicians (that's another story). Brian was there as the result of another bet he'd won, namely that he couldn't live in his bathroom for an entire month. The challenger had conceded after a couple of weeks and part of Zembic's winnings was a ticket to Monaco, where he was hustling rich tourists at backgammon (the surgeon victory was no one-off -- he's one of the best players in the world). Brian had already had the boobs for a year or so by the time I met him and was still regularly garnering media attention, with big spreads in magazines like Maxim, in which the US version censored his nipples, while the U.K. edition did not, which this Brit. found amusing (see photo below -- NSFW.)
We stayed in touch for a short time, then lost contact. A couple of years rolled by and I found myself in Las Vegas, filming with some game-protection experts. Out of the blue Zembic's name came up, since he's also one of the best sleight-of-hand masters in the world and had been involved in cheating teams in the past (which you can also read about in Man). Brian and I became reacquainted and I simultaneously first met Anthony Curtis and discovered he'd published the book about him. Small world. Tiny town.
Fast forward over a decade and what's Brian up to now? Well, he now lives in Las Vegas with his ten-year-old daughter Mika, who seems to have inherited her dad's manual dexterity and is a talented pianist (if you watch this clip, note that she's since been invited to play by George Winston himself, who also invited her to one of his concerts). Zembic's basically a stay-at-home dad, although he occasionally ventures out to show premieres* and still indulges in the odd hustle (usually ping pong, at which he's also a master).
Brian's life is repeatedly optioned for movies that never happen (the last we heard Ann Margret was set to play his mother in one film), although there is a character based on him in the appalling 2004 poker movie Lucky You. He lives almost exclusively off a diet of coffee and rotisserie chicken (although he also makes a fine stew and dumplings, to which Anthony Curtis can attest). Oh, and he still has the breasts, although he's said he'd have them removed if they resulted in Mika taking any flak at school. Since we know Mika's more than capable of looking after herself, however, we doubt they'll be coming out anytime soon. By the way, should you happen to run into Zembic ever, you'd never know; he dresses almost exclusively in baggy sweatshirts/pants and a baseball cap, giving no clue as to what lurks beneath.
*We attended the opening of Viva Elvis, which was struck by a technical hitch and they had to drop the black curtain during the opening number. Some 15 minutes or more went by before anyone explained what was going on, during which time we became aware of some activity behind us in the theater. We figured it was some wandering Cirque performers entertaining the audience, as they are wont to do even when nothing's gone wrong, but it turned out to be none other than Brian Zembic, who had gotten out of his seat and started telling jokes and doing card tricks for anyone in his vicinity who cared to watch. Only Brian would attempt to upstage Elvis at his own show premiere.
