So there we were... me and my wife and six others parked in a beach house about 50 feet from the Caribbean Sea. Doing the things you're supposed to do - eating too much, snorkeling, and having deep conversations. I mean, as deep as the conversations can get when you're standing in three feet of clear ocean water under the dock (sun protection) drinking a mojito (reality protection).

Two of the people on the trip were Bobby, a dear friend of my wife for over 20 years, and his daughter, Sadie. At dinner the second night, Sadie said to me, "So, are you going to teach us to play Texas Hold'em?" I looked around the table - seven intelligent folks with nothing to do and a big table we could sit around. "I'll bake the cookies if you'll teach," said Bobby.

Easy game.

It just so happened I had a deck of cards with me (you never know when a game of Open Faced Chinese Poker may break out). We used a deck of "Phase 10" cards for chips, each color representing a different chip denomination. And yes, there was a fair amount of "How much is the red one?" initially.

I sat in the center and dealt, coached, and generally had a grand time without playing a single hand. They were eager students and the first game must have lasted 2-3 hours. The next night, Sadie was going for the cards and "chips" even as the last of the dinner dishes were being cleared. With the basic mechanics and simple strategy under their belts, people began to see the complexity and depth to the game. I think we must have played until 11:30pm or so.

So it was the third night, and (to my surprise) everybody played, rather than retreat to their novels and iPads. The first check-raise organically happened, which tickled me no end (I imagined how poker AI developers must have felt the first time their programmed bot discovered the check-raise on its own).

It was the fourth night when things took a turn. Just as dinner was being cleared up, Sadie looked at her phone and said "Oh ." Bobby immediately snapped to her side. Her sister, Laurie, Bobby's younger daughter, was nearing the very end of a moderately difficult pregnancy.

It got very quiet in the house.

"Something's kinda wrong - they're going to the hospital."

I just kept still - it wasn't time for me to have an opinion about much of anything.

After a few minutes, Sadie said, "Might as well play poker - nothing we can do while we wait." That was my cue. I grabbed the cards, put the chips out, and started dealing. Obviously the mood was substantially more somber as Sadie and Bobby checked their phones pretty much constantly.

My wife pulled me aside, "You realize you may be dealing poker all night..."

"I've done it before, for less good reasons."

Bobby: "They're going to go get him out."

Me: "Your big blind, Mike" as I pitched cards.

At some point in the evening, Sadie flopped a set and got all the chips from somebody who'd made top pair. As she gathered in all the card-chips, she smiled and said, "For 30 seconds there, I was actually relaxed and happy."

Which was about all I could have hoped for.

In the very late hours, the word came that the baby had been delivered; both he and mom were doing well. There were sighs, smiles, and perhaps a tear or two around the table. The game broke quickly after that, though Bobby may have baked a batch of celebratory cookies - I don't fully remember.

What I do remember is that I learned that sometimes a poker game is about nothing more than pushing reality off to the side. Giving you something to do while you desperately want to be doing something about a situation over which you have no control.

I was glad that I'd been able to give my friends the flop-turn-river option when the alternative was just frustrated and angst-filled waiting a lot of miles from their loved ones. I was glad for poker right then.

Lee Jones first joined PokerStars in 2003 and has been part of the professional poker world for over 25 years. You can read his occasional Twitter-bites at @leehjones.

Low stakes and big prizes is the tag line of Micro Millions, and yesterday seven more winners got to know personally how true that really is.

Day five of MicroMillions 12 concluded in the early hours of this morning: new winners marvelling at how a couple of bucks (in one case a few cents) became a four figure payday. Six figures, if you count those numbers to the right of the decimal point. And given there are buy-ins for as little as $0.11 we think you should.

So let's take a look at the day's "six-figure" MicroMillions pay-outs.

The biggest winner of the day was FrenszKK of Hungary, who won $7,039.25 (RoI = an almost hilarious 1.8 million per cent) in Event #22, an ultra-deep stacked hold'em event.

Which, by the way, can be added to the list of reason why now is a great time to open a PokerStars account, or to put your micro-bank roll back into service with MicroMillions -- the chance to play deep stacked or any type of event with great structures more familiar to high stakes players.

Six more events make up today's MicroMillions schedule, details of which can be found on the MicroMillions homepage.

Inspired and thinking about starting your own poker career? MicroMillions is the perfect place to start. Click here to get a PokerStars account.

With the 2016 World Series of Poker behind us for now -- the summer portion, anyway -- we turn again to the Super Tuesday, PokerStars' weekly $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament that routinely attracts the best and brightest poker has to offer.

It was another tough field this week comprising the 322 players entering the event, and after a little over 12 hours Canada's gilleschro managed to collect all of the chips and a $61,791.80 first prize.

That field meant a prize pool of $322,000 (besting the $300K guarantee), ultimately split between the top 54 finishers.

It took about nine hours to get down to two players, after which razluca (18th), Fitness_g (17th), and THEMOS17 (16th) each hit the rail to earn $2,898. PoluKalos (15th), Pachila25 (14th), and slayerv1fan (13th) were the next out, picking up $3,542 apiece. Then greengrass67 (12th), bedias (11th), and deivid29 (10th) were successively knocked out, with each of those players claiming $4,186 from the prize pool.

With Mad1Lee the chip leader sitting with just under 1.8 million, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: EpicEpicEpic (Netherlands) -- 818,709
Seat 2: João "jricardosc" Fernandes (Brazil) -- 393,203
Seat 3: K.T.A.-1985 (Czech Republic) -- 1,133,157
Seat 4: gilleschro (Canada) -- 308,083 
Seat 5: Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi (Mexico) -- 1,697,980 
Seat 6: Black88 (Russia) -- 709,350 
Seat 7: F P C (Brazil) -- 569,694
Seat 8: Mad1Lee (Russia) -- 1,793,314 
Seat 9: Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky (Canada) -- 626,510  

Shortly after the final table began, the blinds were 12,500/25,000 when a four-way hand arose. 

With 222,500 in the middle and a flop of [Kd][4c][Ac], it checked around to Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi on the button who bet 75,000, and only F P C called from the big blind. The turn then brought the [3s] and a check from F P C, and when Nardi bet 135,000, F P C check-raised all-in for 496,194 and Nardi called right away.

Nardi had ace-three for two pair while F P C was drawing to a flush with a couple of clubs. The river was the [8h], and F P C was out in ninth.

A little while later João "jricardosc" Fernandes was nearly knocked out after getting all-in with [Ah][Ac] on a [8h][Th][6c] flop versus K.T.A.-1985 who had a set with [6s][6d]. But the river brought a saving ace for Fernandes, and his tournament life was extended.

Alas for Fernandes, he'd pick up aces again after that and get them cracked by Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi who rivered a flush although Fernandes was able to avoid elimination.

But the very next hand saw Mad1Lee raise from middle position, Fernandes jam from the button with his last 600,000 or so, and after the blinds got out Mad1Lee called right away.

Fernandes had [Ac][Qc] but this time Mad1Lee was the one with [Ac][Ad]. The board ran out [8h][Ah][5s][5h][Kd], and Fernandes hit the rail in eighth.

Not long after that hand, EpicEpicEpic pen-pushed all-in for 399,709 from the button with [Ac][9s], K.T.A.-1985 called from the small blind with [8c][8s], and after a [9d][Qs][7h][8d][7d] runout EpicEpicEpic was out out out in seventh.

The final half-dozen continued onward, then with the blinds at 15,000/30,000 it was Mad1Lee raising to 75,000 from under the gun. It folded to K.T.A.-1985 in the cutoff who called the raise, then when the action reached Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi in the small blind he decided to shove all-in for more than 950,000.

Black88 was in the big blind with 784,400 and after some thought decided to call all-in, and the other two players skedaddled. Black88 turned over [Ac][Kh] and Nardi [Js][Jc], and five cards later -- [Qh][6s][2h][Qd][6h] -- Nardi's jacks were still best and Black88 was out in sixth.

A little while later K.T.A.-1985 opened from UTG for 85,200, then Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi reraise-shoved for 422,185 from the button. It folded to Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky in the big blind who reraise-pushed, and K.T.A.-1985 stepped aside.

Wilinofsky turned over [Ah][Kh] and was ahead of Nardi's [As][Qc], and the [Tc][Ad][Ks] flop kept Wilinofsky in front with two pair to one. The turn, however, was the [Jh] to make Broadway for Nardi. 

Then came the river... the [Kc]! Talk about a dirty river for D1rtyR1v3r -- it made a full house for Wilinofsky, and meant a fifth-place finish for Nardi.

On the very next hand, Mad1Lee limped in from the button for 40,000, Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky called from the small blind, then K.T.A.-1985 raised to 160,000 from the big blind. Mad1Lee chose to call the raise, as did Wilnofsky, and the flop came [7c][3d][3c].

It checked all of the way around, then after the [6c] turn card it checked to K.T.A.-1985 who fired a bet of 208,320. Mad1Lee called, Wilinofsky folded, then the [Ts] completed the board.

K.T.A.-1985 hesitated a moment, then pushed all-in for more than 3 million. Mad1Lee had but 1,339,403 behind, and had to think for a short while before calling and showing [Qc][9c]. Alas for Mad1Lee, K.T.A.-1985 had [Ac][2c] for a better flush, and Mad1Lee was out in fourth.

The final three continued forward, then in the first hand of a new level (30,000/60,000/6,000), gilleschro limped in from the small blind, Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky made it 180,000 from the big blind, gilleschro shoved, and Wilinofsky called right away to put his stack of not quite 1.5 million at risk.

Wilinofsky had [7d][7s] and was hoping the pair would hold versus gilleschro's [Ac][Js]. But the [Jh][Kd][4h] flop gave the latter a better pair, and after the [5c] turn and [3s] river, Wilinofsky's run had ended in third.

With that pot gilleschro had the edge to start heads-up play with 5,328,857 to K.T.A.-1985's 2,721,143.

The pair battle to the 12-hour break, at which point gilleschro had chipped up close to 6.5 million and K.T.A.-1985 had slipped to less than 1.6 million. 

About 10 minutes after that, K.T.A.-1985 won a big pot to nudge into the chip lead. gilleschro grabbed the advantage back, but then K.T.A.-1985 won a series of pots to push up close to 7 million as gilleschro fell to about 1.1 million.

But gilleschro was able to double through once to climb out of the danger zone, then a couple of hands later doubled up again in a hand that saw gilleschro river a king-high straight with king-queen while K.T.A.-1985 made a queen-high straight with queen-six. With that hand gilleschro was up over 5 million again and back in front.

They'd been battling heads-up for more than an hour when the final hand at last took place just a bit beyond the 12-hour mark for the tournament. K.T.A.-1985 managed to grab the lead back briefly, then lost it again before the final hand took place.

The blinds were 45,000/90,000 when gilleschro raised to 200,700 from the button and K.T.A.-1985 called. Both checked the [7s][Qd][4c] flop, then after the [Kh] turn K.T.A.-1985 led for 270,000 and gilleschro called.

The river as the [9c], and K.T.A.-1985 bet again, this time 540,000. gilleschro responded with an all-in push, and K.T.A.-1985 went into the tank while thinking about whether or not to risk the 2,988,134 left behind.

Finally K.T.A.-1985 called, showing [Ks][5d] for top pair of kings. But gilleschro had [Qc][Qh] for a set of queens to win the pot and the tournament.

Congratulations to gilleschro for besting another tough Super Tuesday field to win this week's first prize of nearly $62K.

7/19/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 322
Prize pool: $322,000
Places paid: 54

1. gilleschro (Canada) $61,791.80
2. K.T.A.-1985 (Czech Republic) $45,885.00
3. Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky (Canada) $33,810.00
4. Mad1Lee (Russia) $25,760.00
5. Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi (Mexico) $18,032.00
6. Black88 (Russia) $13,685.00
7. EpicEpicEpic (Netherlands) $10,465.00
8. João "jricardosc" Fernandes (Brazil) $7,245.00
9. F P C (Brazil) $5,345.20

I suppose if a bluff has a second cousin twice removed, it's probably the bad beat. Both are born out of hope rather than intention, and while both leave you staring in amazement, it's usually for entirely different reasons.

That amazement has been the standard working environment of the people behind PokerStars.tv lately, who have been sifting through their coverage picking out the top five bad beats.

Jason Mercier on the receiving end

For us neutrals they make for some great poker television. For those involved - the likes of Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier and Phil Hellmuth, they're more of an excruciating reminder of how fickle the poker Gods can be.

Still, their loss -financial and sanity wise - is our gain, as the video, available on PokerStars.tv and our YouTube channel, demonstrates.

You no doubt have your own bad beats, after all, after hand rankings they're the first thing you learn (and have to listen to), as a new player. Still, at least the video shows they can be enjoyable.

Do you agree with our selections? Or have we missed anything? Tweet your suggestions to us at: @PokerStarsBlog.

With the World Series of Poker over for another year, bar the shouting, the final table later this year and the small matter of several million left to award of course, our attention can now turn properly to MicroMillions.

And thank goodness.

For here you see poker at its best. Not just performed by those from which we expect a high standard, but also those diving head first into tournament poker, to turn a few cents into a four or five figure win.

Actually even reading that doesn't really explain just how great a return on investment MicroMillions offers any player, and goes someway to explaining why pros have their eye on MM wins just as much as the rookie looking to build a bank roll.

Here's the roll call of winners so far.

A few things to take from that.

Firstly, the biggest prize so far came on the first day, from the first event in fact, won by Thozurdiver of Germany. Let me apologise now for what will become a well-worn phrase by the end of the Series a week on Sunday but, "that's not bad for $5.50".

We can tell you how "not bad" that is, making for a Return of Investment of about 262,000 per cent.

But then if we're comparing events on RoI alone it gets much better.

Leading in that category so far is seuronaldo10 from Brazil. He turned 11 cents into a win worth $1,857.75 (MicroMillions is also the only series where the cents after the decimal point actually count). That makes for a RoI of 1.66 million per cent. Just for fun, a similar RoI in the WSOP Main Event would make for a first prize somewhere in the region of $166 million.

But the stand out result as far as PokerStars is concerned is not about numbers, but about names, and a win for Team Online's Tyler "frosty012" Frost.

Tyler "frosty012" Frost at work

Frost earned $2,466.09 (RoI 112,000... just saying) in Event #17 last night, a PLO Hi/Lo 6-max, ahead of a field of 11,673.

Pot limit Omaha, with a Hi/Lo element, and played six-handed is not exactly everyone's natural game, and that goes for Frost too. But you sense all that might now change.

This is just the start of the MicroMillions season, which includes 90 events until it concludes with the $22 Main Event (I know, in the Micro stakes world a king's ransom) on Sunday July 31.

In between the start and finish millions of guaranteed prize money will be dished out, although as prize pools are already showing, those guarantees are being smashed one by one.

Action continues today with six more events, detailed on the MicroMillions homepage. That's where you'll also find all the results so far, along with statistics from this latest series.

What's more PokerSchoolOnline is giving away hundreds of seats to MicroMillions tournaments, including the $1M GTD Main Event. Not only that there's change to win exclusive School Pass tickets! Details of all of that can be found on the PokerSchoolOnline homepage.

We'll have all those results on the PokerStars Blog tomorrow. In the meantime, good luck at the MicroMillions tables.

Inspired and thinking about starting your own poker career? MicroMillions is the perfect place to start. Click here to get a PokerStars account.