Money management is a key factor in playing winning poker, a basic rule that most players live by. Pot odds, implied odds, equity, fold equity, and expected value have become household words and many players are quite adept at the mental gymnastics of calculating complex mathematical equations.

Nevertheless, many enlightened players ignore the return on investment (ROI) factor, when buying into a poker tournament.

Over the many years that I have played poker I have met many interesting people while playing. A few have become friends, while others have just been interesting for one reason or another. I'd like to share with you some of my experiences with these poker people. Mel Judah is a well-known and highly respected poker tournament professional. At one time he was a top hairdresser and the assistant of Vidal Sassoon. An Australian, Mel competes successfully on the circuit of tournaments held all over the world.

In Part 1 of this series I promised a room by room summary of my recent trip to the sunshine state. Here it is.

How many of you are afraid to test your weak hands on the river? Mike says, "A raise costs no more in relative size than a call would if the pot were half as big." If you believe your opponent could be bluffing he urges you to raise, even with a pitiful hand.

Yes, your heart will beat like a jack hammer when you try this, but sometimes you should go for it, because the times you're able to pull it off might just compensate for the times you aren't.

In my real job as a mental health therapist I often scribble notes while counseling individuals. Many people assume that a therapist's notes are overridden with psychological jargon.

Can't you just hear Motown diva and queen of soul, Aretha Franklin, belting out, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me ... give it to me, give it to me?" Respect is a reciprocal thing... give it and you shall receive it. Respect in poker is something that should be given in several ways, which will lead to enhanced results.

There's a huge difference between deep-stack no-limit hold'em and restricted buy-in no-limit games. Many players, especially those who favor deep-stack online games, dislike individuals who buy-in for the minimum, win one big hand, and then move on to the next table. Last weekend I watched a similar scenario in a live game. I was sitting in a $500 minimum buy-in game. The blinds were $5 and $10 and I was under-the-gun with some trash hand. Everyone folded to Sean in middle position. He bought in initially for $7,500 and now had just under $10,000 in his stack.

Careful poker players pay attention to their odds, position, and opponents. However, careless players will seldom pay attention to such things. There was a 1965 Noble Prize winning Physicist by the name of Richard P. Feynman. He wisely said, "I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything..." Feynman would have been a good poker player who knew the questions to ask and knew that even then, there was no certainty.

I may have mentioned Nik Persaud in passing in some of my previous columns, but I think it's about time he had one dedicated to himself. Londoner Nik has been the most consistent player on the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour during its short 18-month existence. At the very first event in Bolton in January 2007 he finished 10th, just missing the televised final table by one place. Later in the inaugural year of the tour, he went deep on two further occasions, resulting in another 10th-place finish (Luton) and a 16th-place exit (Brighton).

Tourney, tourney, tourney!