I had just returned from a trip to Chicago where I worked with an ad agency that liked a campaign I created a couple years ago. It was a windfall dividend. One week of work netted what I previously earned in a year. My cell phone rang and ID-ed my buddy.

"What's up, Hobby?"

"Hey, Joe. How was Chicago?"

"Frigid, but the business went well. What have you been up to?"

"Just lunkin' along, but I've got a question for you. Do you know a player named Benny Heise?"

"The name's familiar. I think he plays cash games around L.A. Why?"

This question searches very deeply into the essence of human life and perhaps all existence. Maybe all that really exists are feelings, and that is the answer we overlook when we ask: What is the very nature of LOVE, and what and where does it fit into what we identify as feelings?

Several readers and some of my students have asked about the Poker Seminar for Engineers that I will present on May 4 for the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention Center. Yes, it is oriented to why and how engineers can win at Texas hold'em, but the info will be quite useful for nonengineers as well. All are welcome to attend. It will be held from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on Thursday, May 4, at the Long Beach Convention Center. For registration information, visit the SAMPE web site, www.sampe.org, or phone 626/331-0616.

Under what circumstances should you show cards? Man, good question, and I don't have a great answer. Exposing cards can be a great way to manipulate your foes. Showing big cards after big bets may train your enemies to fold to your bluffs. Likewise, showing the odd naked bluff could gain you a loose call later on. Trouble is, you never know exactly what sort of image you're going to need in ten minutes or half an hour; showing your bluffs, for example, may deny you bluffing opportunities later when you need them most.

"That's what it's all about, isn't it? Making the wrong move at the right time." Those of us who are familiar with the dialogue from the movie The Cincinnati Kid will recognize this quote as the response from The Man to Ladyfingers when she says, "You raised tens on a lousy three flush?" in the climactic scene when The Man busts The Kid with a straight flush.

The California Gold Rush in 1848 ignited America's great Westward Movement. Like a yellow magnet, gold drew the risk-takers, dreamers and gamblers to the West. San Francisco was seemingly created overnight to supply and "service" gold hunters. By 1850, the City by the Bay had a population of 25,000 and more than a thousand gambling houses.

Immigrants and settlers followed the gold-hunters, gamblers and gunslingers West. These early citizens were strong, courageous, determined folk. They had to be.

I just received a letter from Stefanie and Madeline Ungar. The ladies said some nice things to me and requested my help in helping them with the creation of the STU UNGAR FOUNDATION, whose mission is mending fractured lives caused by addiction. If you will email me-Oklajohnny@aol.com-and give me your address, I will send you a copy of the letter.

You are also requested to help with creation of the STU UNGAR FOUNDATION. I do wish to take this opportunity to share with you the Mission Statement of the Stu Ungar Foundation:

I have concluded that most people in their zest to help their fellow man fall well short of the intended target. Usually the Good Samaritan people begin by offering an unsolicited piece of advice, such as: "Why don't you get a second job to supplement your..."

No matter how forthright and honest the person may be in their voluntary attempt to help out, it is not really of any real consequence unless there is a qualifying directive to go with it. Here is the difference between two wellintentioned people:

So you may already know that I hope to emerge in the tournament world. Yes, Yes, besides my dreams of being acknowledged, highly esteemed and successful writer another dream in my "dream bank" is to win first place in WSOP or WPT tournaments. The following are my very first experiences playing tourneys...

A common problem that I encounter in ring games is the use and misuse of the missed button. It has really hit home lately when not one player, but two of them, decide that they want to leave the table to go eat dinner. As the rule stands right now a player is allowed to receive two buttons plus 15 minutes before he is picked up. It really needs to be changed. It really is unfair for all of the other players. First off, if I wanted to play shorthanded then I would search for a short handed game.