Sometimes I like to call people idiots. Not to their face, because that might make them mad. Not behind their backs, because that would be beneath my dignity. So, I settle for calling them idiots in my imagination.

I'm usually angry when this happens, but I get over it quickly, and then I regret hurting their imaginary feelings. Like today. Right now I'm mad because some otherwise- intelligent experts keep diminishing the importance of psychology in poker. They say image doesn't matter much.

"D" is for Dealer The Ugly Man, in a wild rage, yells, "I know you have one! Give me your invitation to the House of Cards or I'll kill you." When I tell him I can't! he pulls out a knife and plunges it into my chest.

My torn-in-half "Lucky Deck," held in my shirt pocket, stops the knife. The Ugly Man curses, pulls out the knife, and raises it again.

TWACK!

The Ugly Man collapses.

The tire iron that has knocked my assailant down is held by the girl from the poker game, the young blond eye-candy Gyp hired to serve drinks.

What is it about poker that's so compelling? With so many fascinating things to do in this world, why do we invest so much time, energy, (money!), effort and obsessive attention in poker? Just what is it about this game that makes it so spellbinding?

It's not like we can take it or leave it: 'I've been playing poker three times a week for thirty years, but I can quit any time I want.' Yeah, right.

Dwight D. Eisenhower learned to play poker from an old frontiersman when he was a boy in Abilene, Kansas. Born in 1890, the small town where he grew up had been a notorious wide-open cattle town just a generation earlier.

Young Ike befriended one old-timer who'd been a scout, hunter and professional gambler. He was "my hero-a great teacher," Eisenhower said. On frequent outings, he taught him to hunt, fish, pilot a flatboat, and "the rudiments of poker."

Today we will look at how often a low will get there when the flop comes down with a single or two low cards. We will also look at which low gets there, that is the nut low vs. the 2nd, 3rd or other low. The charts below reflect the simulation results of running each listed rainbow flop 1 million times and analyzing the results. Where possible I chose hands that preclude making a straight. The first chart details the results of a flop containing a single low card.