Byron Liggett

Editor's Note: Here are just about the last words that Byron Liggett wrote on July 4, 2007. Ironically, it is about his personal journey in the world of poker. We thought you might like to read it.

After completing my Master's in U.S. History, I discovered I was not a teacher. I eventually got a job as the PR person for the county planning department in Vancouver, WA.

When Central Valley and South Sacramento folks say they're going to heaven, there's a good chance they're talking about driving to the Jackson Rancheria Casino/Hotel, in Jackson, California.

And heaven's got a handsome and spacious 15-table poker room where players pray and prey while being waited on by angels. Hallelujah! Open less than a year, a lot of players may not yet have visited heaven ... and a few might never get there. But they say everyone who does go, always hates to leave.

GARY , IN -- More powerful than a speeding locomotive, able to fend off hostile attacks and conquer hundreds of opponents using only his hands - it's ZOGMAN!

Dan Zogman, was invincible. He ran a $100 buy-in satellite victory into $227,811 and First Place in the record-setting Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) tournament Monday, July 30, at the Majestic Star Casino, in Gary , Indiana . The 47-year-old Home Depot employee conquered 421 players to claim the championship event.

Vintage Hills, a senior residence in northwest Reno, spreads an in-house limit Texas hold'em game every week. The blinds are 25 and 50 cents. It may be the strongest game at that limit anywhere! The players in this game are all members of The Greatest Generation, the men and women who saved the world from the terrorists of WWII.

Poker is more American than baseball, apple pie, or the 4th of July. We invented it, and it is us!

It doesn't get any more American than a poker game. It's each rugged individual with an investment, seeking to make a profit through wit, wisdom and luck. It's the perfect model of free enterprise capitalism!

The annual "Red River Round-up" Poker Tournament, at the Chickasaw Nation's WINSTAR Casino, in Thackerville, OK, on the border with Texas, is a special title. It means riding into the heart and legend of the American West, where poker has been played since Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp sat at the table, and taking the money.

Historically, the Casino Industry viewed poker with little interest and often with contempt. If a poker room existed in the casino at all it was usually as a convenience for in-house guests, to discourage them from going elsewhere.

Traditional casino management looked only at the immediate bottom line and the poker room doesn't appear as lucrative as the same space filled with slots or pit games. While this may be true, it is the wrong way to view a poker room. The real value of the poker room in a casino is as a marketing tool, not a profit center. Never has that more true than today.

VERONA, NY - The popular Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) pulled into the Turning Stone Casino and once again is playing to a full house. The week-long poker tournament started June 10 concludes June 17.

The Final Table of the Championship will be played May 17th. The Heartland Poker Tour, one of the top three poker productions on TV, will shoot the Final Table for the Fall television season. HPT tournaments are broadcast to more than 50 million homes per week.

Doyle Brunson, the most recognized name in the game, has said, "What separates winners from losers is not the cards the play, but the ones they throw away." Sounds simple enough, but so does hang-gliding.

The first, most important decision in Texas Hold'em is whether or not to play the hand after looking at your first two hole-cards. The most common error the majority of poker players make is they play too many hands.

TULSA, OK -- By every measure the recently concluded 2007 "Scotty Nguyen Challenge" has become a major national poker tournament and coveted title.

From May 17 - 30, tournament events attracted 5,000 participants and more than $1.5 million in prize money, making it the largest and richest poker competition in the Mid-West and Gulf region of the U.S. Prize money winners represented 19 states, including 6 states among the 9 players at the Final Championship table.