Feb 13
My usual journeys to EPT destinations are spent with enthusiasm and preparation for my impending week’s work. Having had my 30th birthday party the night before I left for Deauville, turned a few normalities around. I’d had no sleep and was still in a jovial, partying mode, so to get myself to the airport and to Deauville seemed quite the chore. However I was pleasantly surprised by my journey, which saw me take similar to a private jet with Kara Scott and maybe nine others for a 50-minute journey across the English Channel. I reminded myself when we landed I wasn’t that special and I must keep my feet on the ground.
So, you’re walking down the street. You’ve got your earbuds in, maybe grooving to a little Sly and the Family Stone and thinking about how you wished you had chosen a different pair of underwear to wear that day. Without warning, you trip over a plain brown envelope and fall flat on your face. After the requisite amount of obscenity and personal inventory for injury, you grab the envelope and prepare to throw it in a nearby river. But, first, you think, let’s just check and see what’s inside. Oh, look there. It’s $4,273.60.
They started with 75 players, but in the end, there can only be one winner. After two days and 18 hours of play, the winner in the PokerStars Women Live $1K NLHE event was Kathy Saraf. She and second place finisher Lauren Kling had been playing heads-up for only about half an hour when the key hand came up, the one that would decide the tournament. 
We know these three things about Faraz Jaka. First, he could survive in the wild with a can of tuna and easy access to an able bartender. Second, his name is exceptionally fun to sing to the tune of Frère Jacques. Third, his performance on Day 2 of the PCA earned him the chip lead and the jaw-dropping respect of everyone within eyeshot. At the start of the day, Jaka had 129,500 chips. By the end of the night, he was sitting on 902,500, the runaway chip leader and Day 2 hero.