Im midway through the Labor Day weekend, on the eve of the World Series of Poker Circuit tournament beginning Monday, September 5, 2005, at Harrah's Las Vegas. Monday's event #1 will be a $200 buy-in LIPS no-limit tournament limited to the ladies. Satellites also begin Monday for the WSOP Circuit at Harrah's 10 events. The WSOP Circuit will be stopped at Harrah's on the Las Vegas Strip through September 16th when the final table for the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Championship will be played and filmed for broadcast on the ESPN Sports Network. All of the events are No-limit Hold'em with the buy-ins ranging from $500 for Tuesday's event #3 up to the $2,000 buy-in for events #6 & #7. Events #10 & #11 are Super and Mega satellites for the $10,000 Championship event.

In other news, Jennifer Tilly wins another final table and captures her second title of the summer at the World Poker Tour Ladies Night III at the Bicycle Casino in LA. The actress turned professional poker player is proving her ability to play the game and win tournaments. Jennifer's interest in poker was originally sparked by her chance meeting with Phil "Unabomber" Laak at the Hard Rock's 2004 Pro-Am Celebrity Tournament. Apparently, the Unabomber is one great playing coach. He brought Jennifer along rather quickly; attesting to his ability to teach poker's winning fine points while Jennifer's "quick read" talents allowed her to rapidly grasp and master advanced elements of the game. Her acting experience plays perfectly at the poker table, where the art of deception is an essential element of winning. I was there when she won her 2005 WSOP championship and received the gold 2005 WSOP bracelet. She was the perfect champion for the camera toting media, patiently posing so everyone had an opportunity to get the picture and the story.

I watched Cyndy Violette go at it with Eric Seidel in the ESPN WSOP Series on cable. Both wanted the 2005 WSOP bracelet for their collection. Eric caught a miracle eight for the win when his full house was bigger than Cyndy's full house. This was Eric's 7th bracelet making him a close contender, only three behind the leaders for the record WSOP bracelets. Cyndy got heads up with Eric after going toe to toe with Morgan Machina. Every face off found one of them all-in and doubling thru the other until Cyndy finally got the KO blow, Morgan got chipless and was out. I was there live when the event was played but I have to wait until the broadcast to see what the hole cam sees.