Jim Gaffigan, one of the most versatile comedians working today, will perform at the Mandalay Bay Theatre Friday, July 25 at 8 p.m. Gaffigan is embarking on a national stand-up tour featuring all-new material. Called Jim Gaffigan: The Sexy Tour, it will travel to more than 20 markets nationwide. As you might guess by the name, this show is for adult audience.

It's the end of the world as we know it-and I feel fine. -REM

One day people are just named Charlie Brown or Homer Simpson, the next day-"Good Grief" and "D'oh!"-their names are suddenly famous. Or infamous. Take, for example, the poker player Edward Theodore Gein, who shares this name with the real life killer who was the basis for the Norman Bates character in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

This strange naming coincidence is stranger still. Both were real life psycho killers.

Beaming, Fred strode up to my chair while I was waiting for a seat in a hold 'em game. He had dumped aces in a tournament, he told me proudly. "Great," I said, "what were the circumstances?"

He had entered our local poker room's weekly no-limit hold 'em tournament, limited to ten tables of ten players, no alternates, no re-buys. They all started with 2,000 in chips, 25-50 blinds, and the blinds increased every 20 minutes.

I recall as a kid watching Grizzly Adams, starring Dan Haggerty. Well, today I had the pleasure of watching a rare video tape that featured Dan Haggerty and Mike Caro, attired as Mississippi Riverboat gamblers. It was a real treat, as well as a learning experience.

Dan was requesting tips on how to be a winning poker player from Mike, who pointed out that in due course good players triumph over poor players. This inspired Dan, giving him hope that Mike could teach him how to be a good player.

Professor Richard A. Landes, noted historian at Boston University and director of the Center for Millennial Studies, has shown that much of what we accept as fact is often forgery. Landes is probably best known for coining the relevant term "Pallywood"-which stands for "Palestinian Hollywood"-describing staged photographic material that is presented as newsworthy fact when it is actually propaganda.

We completed our analysis of all starting hands that do not contain an ace. Now we'll tackle starting hands that contain a single ace. This is the most difficult category for which to form broad generalities. Aces are unique because they help both high and low hands.

We begin with 2,777 unique starting hands. Less than half, 46.2 percent or 1,282 are profitable. Six percent or 167 are marginally profitable while 1,328 or 47.8 percent are not profitable.

I was in a $1 - $2 blinds no-limit hold 'em game last week, and folded under-the-gun, when I watched six players see an un-raised flop of 10 spade 8 heart 8 spade. The big blind, Mrs. Goldman, bet $10, with four other players calling. The turn was the 3 diamond. Mrs. Goldman bet $20, and just Mick, the cutoff, and Aaron, on the button, called. The river was the 3 of clubs. Mrs. Goldman bet $100, and both opponents folded.

Today you get to exercise your imagination. You're young and about to embark on a poker career. Pretend I'm your father and that you, as my daughter or son, may ask me five questions. But since this is a series of columns in which I get to ask the questions-not you-you're going to have to envision that the five questions below are ctually the ones you would have chosen.

Okay, now you know today's rules. Let's do it...

Question 69: Tell the truth-will I find it easy to win at poker?

Anytime you can find an advantage over your opponents in poker, you have that "holy grail" called an edge. In order to gain such edges you first need to know yourself and your opponents. How often do you sit down at a table and don't know anyone? At such times, there are ways to identify each player's strengths and weaknesses. Let's review some basic factors that most regular players know.

1. First of all, it's important to know how aggressive or passive their approach is. Then, you need to combine this with knowing how conservative or loose players are.

The name's familiar to poker fans, the same fans that have been waiting for Daniel Negreanu to release a long-awaited text that defines his style of tournament play. Interestingly, Daniel's title, Power Hold'em Strategy appeared just a couple of weeks before Warwick Dunnett's Poker Wizards (339 pages, paperbound, $19.95) tome arrived featuring the charismatic tourney whiz himself as one of the headlining contributors.