Event #54 $1000 NL

Our house has been playing a lot of Dr. Mario on Nintendo64 this summer. The best players in the house play on Level 20, High speed. Even at this most difficult level, a skilled player can navigate her way to the end without much trouble. But when you play that high, there is no room for error. One mistake early on is usually fatal. It takes a sterling effort to overcome any initial hardships.

The most exciting games are the rare ones where you are able to overcome initial adversity, scrapping and clawing to keep your head above water before finally disassembling your tower of viruses and debris and cruising to the finish.

These WSOP $1ks and $1500s do not afford much opportunity for pitfalls. You have to keep winning and winning pots in every level. Even the best players cannot afford to lose any pots of significance or they find themselves at death's doorway. The blinds rise too fast to outlast a run of crappy cards - you simply have to find a way to pick up pots at every juncture of the tournament.

I lost an all-in pot with AKo against AKs early yesterday and found myself down to 500 chips with the blinds at 50-100. But I won two races and then played my ass off, and before I knew it, I had disassembled the tower of debris and found myself with 15k at 100-200-25.

But that wasn't enough. I lost a series of pots in unregrettable spots and busted out.

Two poker hotties of the day since there were two starting days for this event and two gorgeous ladies at my table at different junctures.

This Canadian who was badbeated out far too early:

Glasses are always a tough call. Loosely speaking I am generally against them, but the austere glasses look can be pulled off by the right (usually long-haired) woman.

And then there was this distinctive girl who I have seen around a few times this summer:

I'm assuming she's a pro though I have no idea who she might be. Her striking, unique look seizes attention.