I'm a Card Thief. Tonight, in an underground card room called The All Inn, I cheated a flock of dead money ducks by slight-of-handing out a check-and fold [7d][2h], and switching in a flop-fitting [6d][4c], hitting the nut straight and leaving my opponents badly beaten. I had stood up to leave when Daffy Duck yelled, "Wait! I folded a pair of black fours! How could you show down the [4c]?"

"You know," says Donald, "I'm sure I folded an [Ad][6d]."

I take one step back. Huey, Dewey, and Louie eye me suspiciously. Daffy says, "Let's check the muck."

"Good idea!" says Donald.

Audie Murphy Combat Soldier, Movie Star, Gambler

Audie Murphy became the most decorated combat soldier in American history before he was old enough to vote. By the end of World War II, he was a legend.

The seventh of ten children, Audie was born in Hunt County, Texas, in 1924. His family, sharecroppers, were considered "poor white trash". His father, who seldom worked, walked out on the family when Audie was twelve.

Where's the diversionary, obligatory, basketball game on television that compliments the poker atmosphere in May? I'm speaking of the beloved Los Angeles Lakers team that usually occupies a significant portion of T.V. screens in the casino throughout the playoff season. Surely, the playoff games on the casino floor were in full effect, judging from the multitude of state of the art flat screen TV's strategically placed on the casino floor sections in California. The unmistakable blur of the fast paced end-to-end "helter skelter" basketball was in evidence, but something was amiss.

Playing by the Rules In this column I am going to try to write a little bit about one of the things that I think is wrong with poker and the way the rules of poker are not always in the best interest of the game of poker. But first let me tell you what I think is the worst thing that has happened to the United States of America-since the revolutionary war!

Most poker players stumble blindly through their hands, lurching from decision to decision without much thought to the way the hand will play out. This is not the way to think of poker, especially no-limit hold'em, where each hand is an evolving combat, and where those who think ahead enjoy a material advantage over their foes. No, the way to think of poker is like chess... chess plus luck.

The stranger bought a rack of white chips and settled into the four seat at my $4-8 HoldEm table on that Thursday afternoon in early spring. He introduced himself, "Mike," he said, "from Odessa." Mike-from-Odessa played mostly in home games and on the Internet and wanted to try his skills in a brick-and-mortar poker room. He had heard about bad-beat jackpots and asked how big ours that day and what did he need to have to qualify, Aces-Full beaten, or what?

I have utmost respect for Roy Cooke, the erudite Senior Columnist for Card Player magazine. And I appreciated his comments when we served sidebyside as panelists at the World Poker Players Conference last November at the Bellagio/Las Vegas. Furthermore, I treasured his advice in his column,"Hold'em StartingHand Basics," in the June 18, 2004 issue of Card Player. He wrote:"The biggest moneylosing mistake . . .

The quantity and quality of poker in the Reno/Tahoe area is on the move. Now, ladies and gentlemen who prefer class with their cards will have a choice of luxury poker pavilions.

Pat Wilmes is a native Californian, born and raised in Orange County. After graduation from La Quinta High School Pat started his own Appliance Sales and Service business. In the early 80's, at the age of 21, he began playing poker in the Gardena area. Pat had some friends in the gaming business that convinced him to move to Southern California to pursue a career in poker. Poker was becoming more and more popular and the idea of a career in the gaming business looked very lucrative.

[Editor's Note: This feature is an adaptation of material that is part of Ms. Eolis' book in progress, Power Poker Dame.]

As the Harrah's 2005 World Series of Poker launches, Ken Lambert, longtime card room manager at the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi (a Harrah's property) is at the helm- overseeing what are sure to be the most spectacular and chronicled poker contests in the history of the game. And the final event, according to Ken, is likely to see nearly seven thousand runners.

Ken Lambert Rides High