Tournament players are often in doubt about whether to re-buy. Mike doesn't advocate tournaments that offer a chance to re-buy, believing it doesn't allow players the same shot at the prize. Despite his advice to management, many tournaments do allow Re-buys. And if you enter these, Mike suggests that you take advantage of the opportunity, although there are some factors you might want to consider before doing so. If you're playing a rare tournament where the winner takes all, or you get to keep your remaining chips when the tournament ends, re-buying is of less importance.

Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. -Benjamin Franklin

The Pentagon's "Doctrine of Achieving Rapid Dominance" postulates that the use of overwhelming decisive force and spectacular displays of firepower will paralyze an adversary's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight. "The Doctrine of Achieving Rapid Dominance" is commonly known as "Shock and Awe."

The first part of this three-part series sang the praises of one of my favorite poker destinations-Reno, Nevada. I promised a summary of all of the poker rooms in the area. Here it is.

I was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and to my surprise my good friend Nick showed up. Over an early dinner at the Venetian's Asia Noodle restaurant we discussed a couple of interesting hands he played.

In my last column I reported that after a good start to the series with several final table places, British players underachieved for the next dozen events or so. It was written just in time to report on Max Pescatori's win in Event No. 24, which secured him his second bracelet.

Winstar Casino, located in Thackerville, OK is currently offering $5 million dollars in cool cash with a guaranteed prize pool as well as a shot at television fame. Celebrities and some of the world's best poker and blackjack players will soon be flocking to the Texoma Region to compete in the WinStar World Champions Series of Poker and Blackjack. Televised satellite tournaments are currently in production and have been picked up by the ABC network.

John "Bono" Bonetti, one of poker's most colorful and memorable figures, passed away June 28 at the age of 80 at his home in Houston after a long battle with cancer.

Although Bonetti did not start playing until he was 55, an age when many players are over the hill, he piled up some 200 tournament cashes totaling more than $4 million over the next 20 years.

A hard-driving, competitive player, Bonetti won two bracelets in deuce-to-seven lowball and a third in pot-limit hold 'em, along with two third-place finishes in the WSOP championship event.

Hobby and I were at the Marina Deli having a sandwich for lunch when an old fellow approached our table. The man was wearing a cap with the embroidery, "Korean War Veteran."

"I heard one of you fellows writes stories about poker."

"That would be Joe." Hobby said, pointing to me. "Have a seat."

"You were in Korea?"

"Sure was, 24th Infantry Division until the freakin' commies captured me in North Korea. That was just before Christmas, 1950. They put us in Camp Hukdong. Damn near froze to death that winter."

I attended the opening of the Class III gaming at Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. It's a milestone for Florida because up until recently they have only had Class II slots, low-limit poker, and Vegas style slots.

Now all of that changed. On June 22, 2008 the first hand of blackjack was dealt to Carmen Electra, Lorraine Bracco, Ron Patterson, and other celebrities, including Gino Torretta, Alonzo Mourning, Cornelius Bennett, Dwayne Wade, Greg Gumble, Henri Crockett, Eddie Jones, Bob Kuechenberg, Nat Moore, O.J. McDuffie, Howard Schnellenberger, and Zack Crockett.

At this year's World Series of Poker, many new faces will experience their ultimate dream by earning a coveted WSOP bracelet. Their name will make headlines in major poker websites and magazines, and they may even get an action shot picture of themselves kissing their bracelet or hugging a pile of money in Poker Player Newspaper.