He Swims With Sharks And Takes a Big Bite

For the third year in a row, a local card shark reached the final table at the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. In 2005, Severn CPA Steve Danneman placed second and won $4.2 million; last year, Rockville insurance agent Rhett Butler finished fifth and won $3.2 million. The streak continues: Yesterday, Reston software engineer Lee Childs came in seventh and took home $705,000.

"It was so great," said Childs, just minutes after he was knocked out of the Texas Hold 'Em tourney at the Rio. "The best day of my life is when I got married, and this is probably the second."

The 35-year-old grad of James Madison University quit his job two months ago (he worked for an educational division of the National Geographic Society) to see if he could make it as a pro poker player. "My wife and I have talked about and prayed about it for months, and we just felt it was the time," he said. His poker résumé? A few years playing online games, a couple of wins at live tournaments, and poker boot camp in Atlantic City this spring. "When I've really dedicated myself to something, I've done well," said the former high school championship wrestler.

The 2007 field of 6,358 players was down from last year's record numbers, because of new laws restricting online gambling -- last year, more than half of the contestants won a tournament seat from Internet sites. This was Childs's first WSOP Main Event; his dad, Bill, staked him the $10,000 entry fee and went along for the ride.

Turned out to be a great investment. When Childs became one of the final nine players early Monday morning, his wife, Jenny, sisters, stepmother and friends dropped everything and flew to Vegas to root him on. Things were great until an opponent's pair of eights beat Childs's king-jack, but no long faces: Childs and his giddy entourage were headed for a major blowout last night somewhere in Sin City. "We're going to celebrate," he promised. "Drinks are definitely on me."

Arianna's Big Draw at the Party: Obama Girl!

New kids in town: Arianna Huffington and Amber Lee Ettinger, a.k.a. Obama Girl.(Getty Images For Huffingtonpost)

Former-congressional-spouse-turned-online-punditry-empress Arianna Huffington has returned to D.C. in typically grand style. On Monday night, at the waterfront Georgetown condo she's rented for the month while one of her daughters interns for Harry Reid, she threw a cocktail party that drew an array of political players, media types, cable-news faces . . . but no star that glittered brighter than Obama Girl.

Otherwise known as Amber Lee Ettinger, the 25-year-old aspiring model-actress who was the lip-syncing star of last month's spoofy outta-nowhere Web video hit "I've Got a Crush on Obama" (2.4 million YouTube hits and counting!) and this week's sequel, "Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl." Shorter than you'd expect (but arguably about as hot) in a tight black jacket and white skirt, the New Yorker found herself the unlikely belle of the ball. Rep. Jan Schakowsky got a photo with her; Sidney Blumenthal put her on his cellphone to talk to his son. And everyone went home and blogged about it.

Was she enjoying her moment? Definitely. Thanks to her new exposure, "I'm meeting with the biggest commercial agent in New York." The woman who popped up in everyone's inbox and batted her eyelashes on every workstation acknowledged it's an odd kind of fame, but maybe the way of the future. "The Internet is the new TV. That's where the new stars are going to be."

And is she really voting for Obama? "For me, it's too early to tell."

Surreal Estate

Sellers: Jim and Sarah Brady

Asking price: $3.75 million

Details: After nearly nine happy years in their Dewey/Rehoboth beach home between the ocean and Silver Lake, the former Reagan press secretary and his gun control crusader wife are downsizing: "We're old, we're retiring, we're getting a smaller place," she said. But presumably someone else will be able to make use of the house's five bedrooms, five full baths and two-car garage -- or at least collect up to $100K a year in rental income, according to local estimates.