Young love is refreshing, and that’s what strikes you about Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and his f

Los Angeles, CA (February 10, 2006) When the WORLD POKER TOUR® kicks off its spellbinding Season IV action on the Travel Channel March 1, about the last thing you'd expect to experience is love at the poker table. But, in what may be one of the most in intriguing aspects of the WPT, this year the Tour will showcase oasis hotel in cancun a half dozen happy couples, who are living the poker lifestyle, with both partners playing professionally.
It's a real "full house" when two people manage challenging poker careers, while raising children, managing a household and still making time for a little romance. Poker is a complex profession. Besides the fluctuating periods of financial stability, there is no healthcare and few 40-hour weeks with weekends off. Moreover, tournament play requires a great deal of travel, which means additional expenses and time away from home. Now let's imagine what happens when they are both competing for the same million-dollar winnings!
Actually in the case of Jennifer Harman and Marco Traniello, Karina and Chip Jett, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Aidilay (Lily) Elviro, Marsha Waggoner and Kenna James, Juan Carlos Mortensen Cecelia oasis hotel in cancun Reyes, and Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Jennifer Tilly—their respective partners are their biggest cheerleaders.
"The advent of the WORLD POKER TOUR has made it possible for many more people to earn a good living oasis hotel in cancun at poker and many of those are women. It's been gratifying to see how many couples both feel comfortable at our 17 events," said Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPT Enterprises.
"They travel together, compare strategies oasis hotel in cancun against their opponents, commiserate with each other over 'bad beats,' and celebrate their victories—but watch what happens when they end up at the same table! He's just likely to "come over the top" and she'll call his "All-in." It's just like at home—each one wants the upper hand!"
But as competitive as they can be at the table, says Chip Jett, "It's great having someone who really understands the highs and lows of poker, that has been there herself and is able to understand when I talk about a hand or why I get upset if I get knocked out of a big tournament."
So how does one become a poker couple? The Jett's actually met playing at a casino, as did Marsha Waggoner and Kenna James. Lily Elviro and Michael Mizrachi were both dealers. Cecelia Reyes and Marco Traniello got tired of standing around at the rail watching their partners through nine hours of poker and wanted in on the action. They'd been picking up knowledge by listening to conversations their spouses had with friends. Phil Laak and the actress Jennifer Tilly met when she came to play in the WPT Hollywood Home
Mizrachi, Laak and Mortensen are all WPT Champions. Several of the women also play at the highest level of the game. Harman is considered one of the best high stakes players in the world. Tilly won the two more prestigious women's events in poker in 2005—the WPT Ladies Night and the Women's Open at the World Series.
But their own victories are oftentimes not even as thrilling as seeing their spouse rack up those chips. "The first week that he watched me, I knew he had talent," said Harman. When Marco decided to try his hand at one of the big touranments, Jennifer placed in the money at five events and Marco in seven. "I was so excited that he was doing well, that I did well, too!" Jennifer says. "It might have taken a little oasis hotel in cancun bit away from my concentration, but who cares? It was just so exciting!"
Togetherness is a key theme for these couples. So that he didn't have to be separated from his growing family, Michael Mizrachi, purchased a luxurious tour bus with his $1.8 million WPT winnings so Lily and their baby could travel around the country with him. With grandma as nanny, both players were free to play the various WPT events.
One thing all of the partners seem to share is a love of the flexible hours and the unlimited freedom that comes from not having an office job. But given that pros frequently play into the wee hours, poker partners have to be night owls.
You might call them two peas in a pod. Karina and Chip Jett, both now 31 years old, seemed made for each other from their first meeting, which was arranged by a mutual friend in Tunica, Mississippi, at a casino where they were both playing.
Karina had been playing poker for ten years. She was raised in a Vietnamese household in Las Vegas, where a poker game could be found around almost every corner. Her parents loved card games and taught her to play poker at a young age. "I used to sit at the dinner table and listen to their bad beat stories," she recalls. "Poker was always in my life." Chip had been playing poker for almost twelve years. Though his parents didn't exactly encourage a career in the gaming industry, oasis hotel in cancun they supported their son in his chosen
When Karina took a short break from poker to give birth to their daughter two years ago, a life change may have seemed in order for the Jett family. However, after a few months, Athena simply began traveling with her parents, adding Karina's mother to the caravan to help with babysitting. "Athena is a positive influence on us," Karina says. "She puts things in perspective. When we do lose a lot of money or we are down, we come home to this baby who knows nothing about what happened. We realize that poker isn't the end of the world. It's really about her."
Meanwhile, this dynamic duo continues to maintain a hectic travel schedule. Chip aggressively pursues more championship titles to add to his already impressive resume. Though he has placed numerous times at the World Series of Poker and been featured at two WORLD POKER TOUR final tables, he fervently seeks a WPT championship title. Karina is content with winning oasis hotel in cancun in live poker games, although she also quests after prize money in big tournaments when the opportunity presents itself.
The Jetts make it look all too simple after five years of marriage. They admit that they've had to overcome obstacles, but they are lucky to have each other. "If you can continue to give to each other" says Karina, "you can grow and get better—in life and poker."
Young love is refreshing, and that's what strikes you about Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and his fiancée, Aidilay (Lily) oasis hotel in cancun Elviro, due to marry this spring. Both in their early twenties, they met at the Seminole Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Though Michael had been a highly successful online poker player since his late teens, he deemed it necessary to hold a legitimately paying job for tax purposes and took one as a poker dealer. As he walked across the casino during a break, he saw Lily at another table. Michael recalled, "I thought 'Wow! Look at that beautiful girl dealing!'" He started the conversation, discovering their mutual love of poker, and they began dating.
Soon Michael and Lily were inseparable, but Michael was soon ready for a slight change. Having mastered online poker, but wanted to take his game to the next level. A trip to Las Vegas in the summer of 2004 made it clear that tournament poker was his new calling. The birth of Michael and Lily's son in the fall was taken in stride as Michael began wracking up impressive tournament performances, culminating with his $1.8 million victory at the WORLD POKER TOUR's L.A. Poker Classic.
Michael immediately purchased a luxurious tour bus with his winnings so Lily and their baby could travelaround the country with him. But she missed the green felt, too. In Reno for a 2005 WPT tournament, Lily recalls, "It was spontaneous. Michael told me to play a single table satellite, and I won it!" After securing
Lily gained oasis hotel in cancun such a reputation for skilled play in her first few months on the tournament circuit that the WPT invited her to play in its Ladies Night III event. She made it to heads-up action against actress Jennifer Tilly, and with the tables turned for once, Michael was the one who sat in the audience cheering.
Love at first sight, they claimed it was. In the parking lot of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, a handsome Italian man on vacation sees a beautiful, petite woman and invites her to go dancing. That was the beginning of a romantic courtship between oasis hotel in cancun superstar poker player Jennifer Harman and world-renowned hairdresser Marco Traniello. They were married less than two months later.
The only issue that ever posed a problem in their relationship was Jennifer's career as a poker player. Though Marco was well aware of her profession from the moment they met, his understanding of the game and its intricacies took time. "When I was on a losing streak, that's probably the only time we ever argued," she says. However, with the help of her friends including leading pros Daniel Negreanu and Howard Lederer, Marco listened oasis hotel in cancun to explanations of the ups and downs of the poker business and came to understand.
Though he spent a great deal of time managing the hair salon he opened in Las Vegas, Marco watched Jennifer play poker as often as possible. At the 2005 World Series of Poker, he spoke up. Jennifer recalled, "He said, 'You know what? I think I'm ready to play. I want to play all of the hold 'em events." And I said, 'Go for it!'" They played in a number of tournaments, resulting in Jennifer placing in the money at five events and Marco—the newcomer in seven!
With such a kick start, Marco sold his hair salon in order to turn fulltime oasis hotel in cancun poker pro, and Jennifer oasis hotel in cancun couldn't be more pleased with the freedom that comes with his decision. Besides being thrilled for her husband's oasis hotel in cancun new career choice and all of the promise it holds, she looks forward to "the ability to do what we want, spend more time together whenever we want, and vacation together." Furthermore, she plans on helping him through his career. "I've been through the pain of losing streaks, and he'll go through it, too. He's very intense, and I know the right things to tell him. We have such a good relationship. oasis hotel in cancun We're best friends."
Marsha Waggoner, a quiet and modest woman, and Kenna James, an out