You're in the big blind. You look at the flop and then down at your cards and voila, you have an open ended straight draw. Should you continue with the hand? How about if there is any kind of action?

Today I will give you a test. Look at the first chart below and decide how many of the starting hands combined with the given flops you would play. Would you play them for a single bet? Write down answers before you continue and look at the second chart.

Fasten your seatbelts - this column's going international!

First stop is the United Kingdom, and we're tackling Scotland and the northern regions of England.

Caesars Palace opened its doors to the public in 1966 and was immediately accepted as the most luxurious place in Las Vegas. Las Vegas' original entrepreneur, Jay Sarno, borrowed $10 million from the teamster's pension fund and began construction of the resort in 1962. His goal was to produce a Las Vegas hotel/casino that would provide guests with the experience of visiting the home of a king.

Hobby and I were in a heap of trouble. Being the good citizens that we are, we cooperated with the LAPD to entice Pete Francone, a top level hood, onto Lazybuns to connect him with a multi-million dollar crime. When he boarded I gave him a priceless stolen locket. He had planted it in my jacket the night before during a poker game when he thought the Feds might catch him with it. We planned Francone would be nabbed by the cops when he left the yacht. Instead, he had four armed frogmen sneak aboard to take command.

Erick Lindgren is not your daddy's kind of poker player. Not yet 30, he's a product of what's happening now in the poker world, playing the game of life as though he had been dealt pocket aces in a heads-up encounter, handling the routine of news media interviews smoothly, with enough pizzazz in his responses to explain his reputation as one of poker's rising young personalities.

In part one, I discussed why tournament players might initially fail in a live game. Part two expands on the differences in strategy.

I was the chip leader by a small margin when we eliminated a player in 7th place in a 45-player tournament. I then made a critical mistake that cost me from making any real money in the tournament. The blinds had just increased to a sizeable amount. The top four positions paid, so everyone at the table agreed to a deal giving 5th and 6th place their money back out of 1st and 2nd. The table was playing very, very tight as no one wanted to be the first person out of the money. I had taken advantage of this to build my stack from below average to take the chip lead.

There ought to be a law with some of these bad undisciplined people in general, and bad poker player people in particular. I am deadly serious this time. If you listen to these so-called experts on their advice that bad players make for easy money, you have not been watching or playing very much. Even when the main event has the blessing of prime time television, it is usually rewarded with; you guessed it, a bunch of bad beats and ridiculous play usually rewarded in a prime time come from behind victory.

Robert Daily was born in Dallas, Texas in 1943. He graduated from Bryan Adams High School in 1961 and followed that up by earning a BBA degree in accounting from the University of Arkansas. Robert enlisted in the United States Army in 1966. He spent the majority of his tour of duty as a pilot in Southeast Asia and was honorably discharged in 1969.

Damon Runyon is a distinguished writer for his talented perception and portrayal of an America not commonly given to glory. In the years between World Wars, he wrote of bettors, bootleggers and Broadway.

After the scandals of political corruption and payoffs of the 1920s, the Stock Market collapse in1929, and ensuing Great Depression "30s, Runyon's tales of gamblers and gangsters who endeavored to beat the odds found a sympathetic audience.