My name is Hank Hatton. I'm a freelance journalist headquartered in Las Vegas. My specialty is human interest stories.

It's an indisputable fact that when it comes to gaming, there are more losers than winners in the casinos in Las Vegas. No matter what the game-slots, blackjack, craps or the other gimmick table games, you are playing against the house-and they have the edge.

It was Megan and Danny's first morning of a seven day Atlantic cruise to the Portuguese island of Funchal-the gateway to the Mediterranean. The trip was part of the first place prize Danny won at an invitationa Texas hold 'em tournament at the Mirage.

They were having breakfast when Danny noticed an announcement in the ship's daily newspaper.

Listen to this, Danny said, "Poker tournament. Learn how to play Texas Hold 'em on our new electronic poker table. Sign-up begins at 10:30 a.m. in the casino. Entry fee $50. Sounds like something to do."

Barney Underwood is not an ordinary railbird-he's a tell catcher. He detects tells and passes them on to other players for a percentage of their win.

T he priest was playing cards with the man propped up in the hospital bed. The man took the discard from the pile and declared, "Gin!"

"You wouldn't be manipulating the cards on me would you, Frank?" the priest asked as he mucked his cards on the portable bedside table.

"You mean like this?"

The man in bed gave the cards a professional shuffle and proceeded to deal the four aces off the top of the deck.

"Exactly," the priest said.

]MY name is Hank Hatton. I'm a freelance journalist headquartered in Las Vegas. My specialty is human-interest stories.

About a year ago, I was waiting for my friend Gary Kovak to join me for lunch at a small Chinese restaurant on the edge of Vegas' Chinatown. Gary is the guy who keeps the stats of the various tournaments around town for one of the poker magazines. It provides him with a unique insight as to who the consistent winners are.

I was at the final table at the Mirage's Sunday afternoon No Limit Hold'em Tournament with the green eyed, redheaded lady I met at the registration desk. She was on a rush and busted two of the young Internet gunslingers early on. That left seven of us going for the five money slots.

The blinds were eating into my stack and I knew I had to make something happen and I figured it would probably be with the redheaded lady. Fortunately, I picked-up her second tell that prevented her from busting me out.

I had just made the five o'clock deadline to sign-up for the Sunday No Limit Hold'em Tournament at the Mirage when a voice behind me asked, "Can you hold these for a minute?"

Turning, I was handed three racks of $5 chips by a very attractive green eyed redhead. She was wearing an emerald green silk blouse, black tailored slacks, white jogging shoes and a cameo broach on a gold chain around her neck.

"I need to get into my purse for the buy-in." she said.

Railbirds who do not play Texas Hold'em may wonder why players, who call the first round of betting, place an object on their hole cards. The answer is - it indicates that their hand is in action. These objects range from playing chips, gold and silver coins, to an infinite variety of personal good luck charms. For Jimmy Chu, his good luck charm on this evening was half of an ancient Chinese coin with the tail of a dragon on one side.

Danny, Megan, Earl, Maude and the Rookie were seated at a table at the rear of the Carnegie Deli, steps away from the Mirage poker room.

"Well," Earl asked the Rookie. "Are you sure you're ready to give it a try? No limit Hold'Em is a rough game."

The Rookie nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Uncle Earl."

Danny leaned across the table, "Tell me again why you think so?"

"Been studying the game," the Rookie said. "Reading books. Running hands on the computer. Plus, I've been winning pretty regularly at the games in school."

"What's your major?"

"Computer science."