Lori Fussell enjoyed her fi rst major poker event, winning a jackpot at the Mirage (center photo). She was supported by Poker Academy lead instructors Rick Fuller (left , above) and Rep Porter.
Deal her in
Fussell fi nds latest challenge with poker
When she’s fl ying in her jet, Lori Fussell feels like Wonder Woman.
But as superheroes go, Fussell’s a much bet- ter match for Buckaroo Banzai — the neu- rosurgeon, particle physicist, race car driv- er, rock star (and probably last hope of the human race) from the 1984 cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
Fussell’s accomplishments match ol’ Bucka- roo’s point by point: No. 1, doctorate in en- vironmental engineering; No. 2, mechanical engineer; No. 3, jet pilot; No. 4, competitive adult fi gure skater.
And Fussell does Banzai a couple better with: No. 5, jewelry artist and No. 6, chair of U.S. Figure Skating’s Adult Skating Committee.
Not to mention No. 7 — professional poker player at the 2016 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
Booyah Buckaroo! Although Fussell’s been playing poker for de-
cades, she only recently went up against the pros because, well, she was bored.
To be fair, Fussell was forced off her feet for seven weeks after she ruptured her Achilles tendon in a fl uke off -ice accident following the 2015 U.S. Adult Championships in Salt Lake City, where she won the pre-silver solo dance competition.
It would have been an interminable seven weeks for anyone, let alone someone like Fussell, whose characterization of fi gure skaters in general applies equally well to her- self: “Figure skaters tend to be high achievers who are very competitive.”
Online poker seemed, at fi rst, like a per- fect way to satisfy her competitive instincts during her long recovery.
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” she said, laughing at her naiveté. Not only that, she wasn’t doing very well. “I don’t like losing,” she said brightly, explaining why she signed up for an intensive online course conducted by a three-time World Series of Poker cham- pion.
“It’s a very strategic, mathematical approach that is much more complex than you can imagine,” Fussell explained. “It’s kind of like learning how to become a fi gure skating judge. It was fun and it engaged my compet- itive nature.”
A Poker Academy-sponsored contest for an entry in the World Series of Poker, July 6–8, in Las Vegas, also “engaged her competitive na- ture.” The school asked students to write a se- ries of testimonials explaining how the skills they’d learned from the course had proved useful outside the game.
No, Fussell didn’t win, but she and three oth- er students made it so tough on the judges that the academy sent them all to Vegas as a tag team. Taking turns at the table, the four played deep into the fi rst round, before the luck of the draw sent them home.
“I gained a whole new respect for the physical and cerebral aspect of it,” Fussell said of tour- nament poker. “I had no idea how physically demanding sitting still for 12 hours can be. And you have to pay attention to everything that happens. You can’t blink if you want to do well. It’s not luck, it’s a game of skill and you have to be emotionally prepared for it.”
Fussell said she learned that big-time three- day tournaments aren’t for her. But she found out that one-day competitions, like the one she won at the Mirage after her team was eliminated, just might be.
“I’m not in it for the money, it’s just a fun thing to do that can pay for itself and maybe for dinner afterward,” she said.
— Dave LeMieux
Children attending the Summer Learn to Skate Day Camp at Kendall Ice Arena had a blast in hot and humid Miami in late July. The always- popular summer season got an extra boost from a Groupon promotion, with a total of 55 skaters ranging in age from 7 to 12.
56 OCTOBER 2016
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