Lottie Deno was a vivacious red-head and well educated Southern lady of culture and refinement who sacrificed her social status for survival. Responding to circumstances, she became one of the most famous women of the West as the "Queen of Cards".

Born Carlotta J. Thompkins in Kentucky in 1844, she was the eldest daughter of a wealthy, upper class plantation owner. Lottie attended the finest Episcopal convent school for girls.

Lottie's father didn't want his daughter to be a naive, helpless southern belle; there was more to life than social graces.

Nick Macaluso was born in Bends, Oregon in 1956. At the age of six his family moved to Colorado where his father owned several service stations.

Nick started working for his dad at the tender age of 15. His introduction to poker also came at the age of 15 when he would accompany his dad to watch him play poker at his weekly home poker game.

In 1976, at the age of 20, Nick married and opened his own automotive shop. In 1981 he sold his shop in Colorado and moved to Defloge, Missouri where he bought another automotive shop along with racing stock cars.

With poker's hottest time just around the corner, T.J. Cloutier's newest book couldn't have arrived at a more perfect time. With many major tournaments on the horizon, including the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in July, new players to the big dance should be looking for help in getting through the river of players vying for big money.

A funny thing happened to Liz Lieu on her way to a satisfying life half a world removed from the war-ravaged Vietnam her family fled when she was but a year old.

She discovered she could play cards.

She could play with great skill, getting the most out of looks that have made her the centerpiece in one of those walking, talking cliches. People wanting to know, in so many words, what a girl like her is doing in a place like this, meaning a card room?

Winning money, is what she might reply were she not inclined to smile and let the questions sweep past her.

Most everyone can remember a schoolyard bully from their past. Why was this individual a bully? Because he was big enough and strong enough and possessed the disposition that he could bully weaker individuals. Some things never change and having the tools to be a bully is one of them. When you find yourself with a huge chip advantage in a tournament you need to be the bully. Some players when well ahead in a tournament go into a shell to protect their stack. They believe that they can sit back and wait for premium hands because their stack is deep enough that the blinds won't cripple them.

Hobby and I had taken our girlfriends to Ensenada, Mexico where we entered a two-man backcountry dune buggy race and poker run. We had driven off the beaten path in an attempt to out maneuver the competition, but instead we wound up wrecking our buggy in a remote area. Hiking out we thought our luck had improved when a beat-up pickup truck appeared, but the two Mexicans turned out to be banditos. When Hobby told them they couldn't have his gold Rolex wristwatch one brandished a machete.

Playing poker for money... can be very difficult at times-at times it just seems like you have trouble winning a hand, and you just cannot believe the way the cards fall. You start with two aces in limit hold'em-and if you raise, you win the blinds-or, if you get cute and do not raise, you may lose a stack.

Summer had arrived. I could tell because Linda Mae entered our local poker room wearing sandals, short shorts, a lobster bib, and sunglasses. She vectored over to my chair and insisted that I explain, completely and thoroughly, "outs." I told her an "out" is any card that would make or improve her hand. Each "out" is a 2.2% chance to improve, so the more outs, the better.

Years ago I described something I termed the "Slippery Sandbag." In some games it can be your most profitable poker weapon. It's basically a check-raise without the raise. It's the art of letting an opponent hang himself, the art of deceptive passivity. The art of feigning vulnerability. The art of letting someone else do your betting.

Party where the stars party, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The Palms is the Vegas home for celebrities from around the world. Movie stars, rock stars, sports stars, poker stars all flock to the Palms, its' like a red carpet event every night. The Palms Resort was the brainchild of George Maloof, one of four brothers from the New Mexico Maloof family, the family worth an estimated billion dollars.