Recently I had to make a decision purely based on what I felt was right. It fell within a gray area, but in my mind, it was a no-brainer. Two issues were at hand. They were both about accommodating players with special needs.

At the California Poker Players Conference (CPPC), held on October 20 - 21 at Hollywood Park Casino, Inglewood, California, I gave a talk entitled Poker is NOT Gambling-Ask Mark Twain.

As part of my talk, I discussed two different definitions of the word "gambling." What exactly is it? Personally, I like Stan Sludikoff's definition: "Gambling is betting when the odds are against you."

In 1995 Patrick Marber's play Dealer's Choice opened in London to critical acclaim. Among the cast in the original production was Ross Boatman, a British TV actor who is now a professional poker player and a member of the famous Hendon Mob, who are sponsored by Full Tilt Poker.

Since its mid-nineties debut, the play reached audiences all over the world, but has now returned to the West End in London with Boatman once again a member of the cast.

When I first played hold 'em, I kept hoping to pick up a pair of aces. It never happened. So, I studied Mike's math and discovered that I could only expect to start with aces once every 221 deals. At about 30 hands each hour, for every 7 hours and 22 minutes at the table, you'll only average one starting pair of aces.

A scare card is one that when delivered to the board could significantly help an opponent's holding, such as a third suited card to make a flush, or a card that makes a pair on the board and could result in a full house.

I've always felt that it was better to attempt to use a scare card to your own advantage than to freeze up due to fear of how your opponent might have improved.

Remember, if the card looks scary to you, it probably looks scary to your opponent as well.

Recently, I have been telling you that the real currency of playing poker is risking.

Any time you bet or raise in this game, your hand has two ways of winning the pot. You can have the best at the showdown or your opponent might fold. If he does, you take the pot right there. That's called fold equity.

It's one reason why aggression is such a key factor to winning at poker. That extra edge that accrues when your opponent mucks his hand, is what fold equity is all about, which is why it's almost always better to make a bet than to call one.

Let's continue this series of columns in which I get to both ask the questions and answer them. By doing it this way, you'll be happy, because I'm fully prepared to respond. And I'll be happy, because nobody will embarrass me with off-topic questions about boxers or briefs. By the way, the answer to that one is whichever I happen to grab first when I blindly reach into the drawer. I get asked that literally hundredths of times every year.

You're right; I didn't say "hundreds."

In 2005, the book Kill Phil caused quite a stir in the poker community. It advocated a "push or fold" nolimit hold'em tournament strategy that, while sounding simplistic, is remarkably effective. In late 2007 a new volume appeared from most of the same team that brought us Kill Phil. This book, Kill Everyone, provides even more advanced information on playing strategies in nolimit tournaments, as well as suggestions for playing sit- 'n-go tournaments and short handed cash games.

Carol, today I want to give a tip of the hat to a poker player and well-known daredevil Evel Knievel, who has played his last poker hand, made his last jump in this life, and put his name on the waiting list to play a few hands of poker in the big game in the sky.

In my youth-a few years ago-I worshiped a lot of super heroes, Superman, Batman and Robin, The Fantastic Four, Rubber Man, The Lone Ranger, Wild Bill Hickock, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and many others.