There she is at the PCA in the Bahamas, at the NAPT in Vegas and, I’m spotting her again at the EPT in Monte Carlo.  Strawberry blonde hair and green eyes quickly picking up pace. If you’re keeping tally of where the standings are with the players in a tournament, then surely you’ve seen her consistent flurry of emails.  And if you’ve seen her emails, you’ve also undoubtedly noticed her fantastic and keen wit.

By far, one of the most beloved PokerStars employees would be, hands down, Mad Harper.   Originally from South Kensington, London, she now makes her home outside Barcelona, Spain.  To meet her in person, is as thrilling as playing in a tournament, as she is a tour de force of charm, grace, and humor.

Officially Mad Harper is the Media Coordinator for the EPT, and trains all those in other countries who act as mini-Mads before the tournaments end up in their countries.  This season there are 13 PokerStars events, and if you’re feeling lost or lonely, you can always go search for Mad.  (Maybe by nights end, she might tell you where the best Irish pub is, or the place to go disco dance as she says, “Disco dancing is one of my favorite hobbies.”) Everyone knows her name, which is taken from Madeleine.  I remember when I first heard it at the PCA in January 2010, I assumed the name belonged to an angry man, and oh so dour.  When we were introduced and I heard her lilting voice full of enthusiasm shine through the rafters, I knew she would be someone I would never forget.  She is “the women who keeps everything together.” This is what they say about Mad at PokerStars.  She won the award for Staff Person of the Year in the 2008 European Poker Awards.

The beginning of her journey into the poker world was by fluke.  Mad had been working at the “Mail on Sunday” in London and other newspapers including the “Evening Standard” for years until she had it. “I did everything even crime.  I didn’t like that you had friends in for dinner and the papers would ring you up and you would have to leave and go anywhere they told you to. So I moved into public relations.  I taught companies how to talk to journalist and then got haphazardly involved in web design at the very beginning of when web sites were being built. I worked for artists, photographers, restaurants and hotels for what seems forever.”

After moving to Spain, this sunbathing worshipper (who also owns a speed boat) got a call from a friend who was working the first PokerStars EPT in Barcelona in September 2004.  “I literally lived right down the road. There were about 200 players, and four members of staff.  It was really quite fun. There was a marketing director from the U.S. and he said. ‘Oh we have to have this girl at all of the events!’  And because I did web stuff they brought me into look over the web and soon I was going to all of the events and  we also built up the media side of the business.   Now there’s a huge marketing department, events department, public relations department. I‘ve heard that PokerStars now has 1200 employees.”

When asked about her main role Mad adds, “I guess I’m a glorified press officer.  My main job is getting the news at the events, and disseminating it to anyone who needs it including the media and the pros.”  She feeds snippets of interesting and humorous information she hears to broadcasters to give them something to talk about.

So what’s Mad’s favorite hobby besides hanging with her nieces, you may wonder?  “Poker!” she replies with a quick flick of her right finger.  I have seen for myself that this boisterously fun personality is also quite a shark and told her so.  “Oh no - I’m rubbish.” she pleads.  Playing almost every Friday night in “her flat” when she’s home with a group of friends she admits, “It’s not about poker really. We enjoy drinking and the socializing.  Occasionally we have people join us who want to earn all of our money, and usually they don’t get asked back.  We’re not about coming together to fleece each other, we’re all about having a nice and fun night.’

Her career earnings? “Oh please,” she says laughing.  “I’m a big minus.”  Then adds, “The fact is, I know what to do. I just don’t have the patience to do it.  I call when I know I shouldn’t.”  Yeah  Right. I’ve played at media events where she takes a cut of the bounty.

The Life of Riley?  Mad Harper travels all over the world, and she loves when PokerStars starts a new arena to play a tournament in: including Berlin, Kiev and EPT Snowfest in Austria. Mad tends to get there a day before her work begins to enjoy the sights and then once she leaves a tournament, “I sleep 24 hours straight,” she says. 

Her favorite players are Dennis Phillips and she has grown tremendously fond of Fatima De Moreira de Melo of Holland.  “They are worth their weight in gold,” she says.

Its late – it starts to get dark and the players have all left until tomorrow, as she looks back over her day, Mad reflects and says, “I love every thing about this life, and this job.”  Then she just smiles a Mad, mad embracing smile that makes you think of how wrong they got it when that one word began its origin so very long ago.

Sue Carswell is a reporter/researcher for "Vanity Fair."   She is the author of "Paying For Glory," and "Faded Pictures From My Backyard." Carswell is a former senior producer at "Good Morning America," former executive and senior editor at Random House Inc. and Simon & Schuster.  She was a contributing launch editor for "O, The Oprah Magazine." She lives in Manhattan where she is also a ghostwriter and speechwriter.