All too often poker players think of poker psychology as the study of one's opposition. More precisely, most assume it involves watching other players for physical tells or predictable betting patterns. In reality, perhaps the most imperative pieces of poker psychology involve controlling your own thoughts and emotions in a way that allows you to continually improve and to play at your very best.

If you had X-ray eyes and could see through the backs of your opponent's cards, you would know exactly what he held. But only Superman had that power. You and I-we are mere mortals. So we'll have to be satisfied with the next best thing: Trying to read our opponent's hole cards.

One of the longest running shows in Las Vegas is Crazy Girls at the Riviera, despite heavy competition not only from other hotel-casinos, but from the town's strip joints.

One of the reasons are the girls themselves-all gorgeous and with a good sense of humor. The show is not only very sexy, but fun as well.

Cheryl, a 5-foot, 6-inch blue-eyed blonde joined the cast in 2005 after moving to Las Vegas from Denver.

Between hands at his Omaha eight-or-better-to-qualify, high-low split (Omaha/8, for short) table, Jeff hied over to my low-limit hold 'em table to ask about his chances of getting a hand with ace-deuce. He had played Omaha/8 for several orbits of the dealer button without receiving an ace-deuce, and couldn't believe his bad luck. "How often should I expect an ace-deuce," he asked.

Surrendering is an option offered blackjack players wherein one can surrender his hand and lose only half of the original bet. There is not an equivalent option in poker. When you are heads up on the end and the action is on you and you know that your hand can not possibly win in a show down... to check is to surrender!

In blackjack, you get half your bet back... in poker you lose the entire pot. Heck, that doesn't seem fair! However, there is a solution. You might consider betting to force your opponent to fold and win the whole pot.

Having just returned from the alleged birthplace of Texas hold'em, I am reminded that poker is a privilege, and that casino poker is a right many of us do not have. I've been told that raked poker isn't legal in Texas, but there are still many opportunities to play. I was on a whirlwind trip through this southern Mecca and in addition to the usual tourist spots like Luckenbach (with Waylon, Willie, and the Boys) and Six Flags, I gave a few poker seminars and got to play some bar league poker. It was a lot of fun to play with people who are starved for "real" poker action.

Pokerstars.com guarantee £1 million prize pool for EPT London. The fifth season of the European Poker Tour gets into action in Barcelona in September, but Pokerstars.com, which sponsors and runs the tour, announced that they will add £250,000 to the London event, which takes place at the Grosvenor Victoria casino in early October. They are also guaranteeing the first prize at a staggering £1,000,000.

White light goin' messin' up my mind was a Velvet Underground lyric stuck in my head that had been playing on an endless loop after a horrendous online session at the $1-$2 and $2-$4 nolimit tables. Some days you play atrociously. Other days you don't catch any breaks. A recipe for disaster is when both of those scenarios happen simultaneously.

They are CEREUS. Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, two online gaming sites that have each been embroiled in significant scandals that rocked the online poker community over the past year, will join together on a new poker platform-the CEREUS network.

Part three of this series summarizing the Reno poker scene continues with seven reviews from the Reno and Sparks rooms.