Today's lesson is based on one of Mike's historic Tuesday Session lectures. It deals with treating poker as a business. Many people approach poker like fishing or golfing. They play for fun. Others strive to make a living from it. If you're playing to make money, then it's time to treat poker as a business.

In the last issue we met Michael Hochman and Annie Adlin, two career poker folks who along with Matthew Kaphan are in the process of making a dream come true. TV people have been trying their hand at poker shows for a number of years and now these terrific poker people are trying their hand at doing at TV.

The TV show PokerBeat came from the birth of an idea to full-blown production over the course of two years.

If you see Leo C., tell the big guy that this column is dedicated to him. His comment to me was the inspiration. Seven-card stud once was the top choice of poker players. During the last ten years, Texas hold'em has far surpassed it as the preference of most players. Until three years ago, 7-card stud was my game. My co-author, Dan Abrams, and Chris C. (code name: Shadow), a bright child psychologist/poker semi-pro, convinced me to try hold'em; and it quickly became my choice too. Yes, the games are similar in some respects.

It has become exceedingly difficult to concentrate on poker related issues when so many life-altering incidences invade my mental psyche. The unfortunate catastrophe in the gulf region is the ultimate reminder how fragile we human beings are. No matter how we as a country-or we as a people-prepare for these "Mother Nature" occurrences, we clearly are no match for so formidable an opponent.

Autumn -- the start of the poker season, when cards hit the air, flops fly and players try to "bundle up". Three big tournament thunderheads cover the Fall calendar.

The next big event is the "Fall Poker Round-up", Nov. 2nd -12th, at the WILDHORSE Resort & Casino, in Pendleton OR. This is the premier poker rodeo in the Northwest.

Successful bluffing involves, usually, a combination of ingredients to be successful. Ideally, you'd want to have some value to your hand, some possibility that your hand might improve on future cards, timid and tight opponents, and good scare cards. But I'm not going to focus on any of those items in this column. Instead, I'm going to look at something less tangible - something you can't touch - but something that is ultimately very important and something you can actually do something about. I'm going to look at your image in the mind of your opponent.

I was up about three hundred dollars in a no-limit game, one and two dollar blinds. I decided to play a K, 9 of hearts. The flop is Q, 2, 10 of heats. I flopped a King high flush, this should be easy money. A guy bets twenty-five bucks, everyone folds, I call. I'm thinking, I'll call him the entire way and then raise all in at the end. Turn comes another ten and the river is a four. The guy bets and I go all in, just like planned and get called ha, ha, ha.

LindaMae is twenty-something and blonde. Attired in shorts and a tight tank top in summer, she has all the attributes of girldom and then some. She plays low-limit Hold'Em at my local casino and does well at it, picking off bluffs thrown at her by men addled by her good looks. She's not stupid, far from it, but she's hopeless at math, so it's understandable that she asked me why she never flopped a Flush, and so seldom a good Flush draw.

As mentioned two weeks ago, the histories of Indiana and Illinois gambling are intertwined. Many riverboat casinos along Lake Michigan are considered to be Chicago-area tourist attractions, but several reside across the state line, in Indiana. It gets even more confusing when you consider that East Chicago is an Indiana city.

Not as bad as having two Kansas Cities across the state line from each other, but it's getting there. Gambling in Indiana had an auspicious beginning.

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