Last night, a 21-year-old named Jeff Madsen won his second World Series of Poker bracelet of the summer. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, poker has been riding one hell of a wave. And even though its popularity might be a bit off these days, Madsen managed to collect more than $1.3 million for winning the two tournaments symbolized by those bracelets.

In case you're wondering, the main event at the WSOP is the No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em tourney, which is the last in a series of 39 tournaments that started at the end of June. It starts next Friday.

Among other things, Madsen cashed in some college savings (he'll be a senior this fall at Cal-Santa Barbara) to buy into a few tournaments in hopes of making it to the WSOP in Las Vegas. Worked out okay for him. Probably not the best plan for your average student. Whatever.

When I was a kid, I had a knack for remembering everything I ever saw or heard. My grandma, among other relatives, would goad me to get on the game shows and make some money. "You're smarter than those people," she'd say. "You ought to win that money."

Maybe. But by the time "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" came along, I was so far out of the mainstream loop that I would never have been able to make it out of the pool. I only watched the show a couple times, and the one qualifying question I remember was "put these 10 U2 albums in the order of their release." I write about music, but I don't care about U2 and would have failed miserably.

Yes, I would be the dork calling my lifeline on the first question when asked to name Britney Spears first single. And then my lifeline would get it wrong, because she wouldn't know the answer, either.

Poker, though, is another story. I've played poker for money a few times, and I've won the pot twice. So, you know, I think I've got what it takes to go all the way. There's all that money out there. And I'm a smart guy. Why the hell not?

Well, for starters, I'm allergic to cigarette smoke. Gives me big headaches. And then there's the fact that the times I won I did it mainly because I was less drunk than the other folks. And, you know, to really make money at poker, you've gotta be on the road all the time. Kinda hard to do that and be a stay-at-home dad.

Wait. I could stay up all night and play poker online. That's the ticket!

(Jon pounds head into desk a few times trying to think up a suitably pithy response to that dingbat notion)

Right. Well, anyway, there's this kid named Jeff Madsen, and he's smart, and he's figured out a way to make lots of money in relatively short order. I bet his grandma is real proud.

And if she's not, well, my grandma can adopt him. It about time one of her grandkids struck it rich.

Jon Worley isn't trying to make fun of his grandma, even though she's been watching "Wheel of Fortune" for decades.