On Monday, Sun colleague Milton Kent will be filling in here at O, by the way as I, your faithful correspondent, take a brief hiatus. Actually, you'll still be hearing from me now and then as I journey into the desert wilderness of 24-hour buffets and Elvis impersonators where they're holding the World Series of Poker.

No, I'm not playing. Rather, we usually have a robust contingent of Maryland players in Las Vegas for the annual poker spectacle and for the last few years, I've followed their exploits for the paper. In 2005, Severn accountant Steve Dannenman finished second and won $4.25 million (which he split with a friend who put up half the $10,000 buy-in) and last year, Rockville insurance agent Rhett Butler finished fifth and collected $3.2 million. Considering thousands of players enter the Texas Hold'em World Championship, that's quite a record for the local card sharks, and I'll be there again, at least for the first three days of the opening round, keeping track.

So please welcome Milton on Monday, watch for my intermittent reports, and I'll see you here again regularly on July 11.