The world is a freak show. -Goethe

[This is a work of poker fiction set ten thousand hands in the future. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.]

The final table of 2020's King of Poker tournament will always be remembered as the beginning of The Poker Freak Show. Viral videos like Leave Brittney Alone!, Star Wars Kid, and Don't Tase Me, Bro have, overnight, made their subjects instantly famous. The 30-second video of Ivan Jakes urinating all over the KOP poker table was called The Pissed Off Poker Player. Overnight Jakes became a famous Internet phenomenon.

Charles Williams and the Grand Sierra have joined forces. Williams has once again taken on the position of cardroom manager at the Grand Sierra and is gearing up for the World Poker Challenge-scheduled for February 26-March 15, 2009 with $100,000 added to the event. Buy-ins range from $200-$5,000 for the championship event. The added $100,000 is broken down as follows: $2,000 added to 10 events, $5,000 added to two events, $10,000 added to two events, and $50,000 added to the $3,000 buy-in no-limit event on March 12. Two events per day are scheduled for noon and 4 p.m. along with a 7 p.m.

Tom, a reader from Florida, e-mailed the following question:

Is anything that is legal in poker, all right to do? Or are certain things legal, but unethical or in poor etiquette, and should be avoided?

This got me thinking about some past situations I found myself in. Let's look at a few of them.

1. Anything that is legal is all right to do. Agree or disagree?

2. Playing an online ultra turbo tournament, you take all your time each hand before folding, and play fewer hands than other tables. As a result, your blind comes around more slowly.

I returned from the second Eureka Open Poker Championship and what we lacked in numbers due to the poor economy, we more than made up for in enthusiasm, innovation, play, and fun. The property just completed its face lift and if you haven't had the good fortune to visit, I suggest you put the one hour north of Las Vegas drive on your must-do list.

Like many poker rooms across the US, Cherokee Casino Resort is no stranger to the women of poker. Just as women take main event seats in poker tournaments across the globe, a handful of local ladies have made their names known at Cherokee Casino.

Kim Benzel, Debbie Inman and Deborah Hale are the first female members of Team Cherokee, an elite group of poker players who are quickly climbing the poker ranks on a local and national level.

Psychology is widely used in poker, especially by Mike Caro, who uses it for poker and day-to-day situations too. Today I'm going to cover a few psychological maneuvers.

In addition to their $10,000 no-limit hold 'em championship-to be televised on the World Poker Tour with an expected $6 million prize pool-this year players can also enter three other $10,000 events: pot-limit Omaha, HORSE, and a heads-up championship. HORSE tests a player's all-around skills and features featuring rotating hands of different poker games, while the heads-up championship features a double elimination format, where players compete one-on-one.

I received numerous emails with suggestions about how to wrap up this series of articles. Most requested was a summary of all the rules and how to use them in actual games. Part one lists as many of the rules as space allows. The second part will finish the list and include my suggestions on how to utilize them.

RULE 1. Eliminate all starting hands containing quads.

RULE 2. Eliminate any starting hand beginning with a bandit.

RULE 3. Eliminate all starting hands that begin with a five or six except for 5-6-K-K and 6-7-K-K when both are double suited.

The High Heels Poker Tour Academy (HHPTA), the first all women's poker teaching academy, is scheduled for February 6-8 at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun, with Susie Isaacs. This is the first all women's poker academy and tournament held at Mohegan Sun, and is part of their Winter Chill Tournament Series.

Susie Isaacs is the first woman to win the World Series of Poker ladies championship back-to-back in 1996 and 1997, and in 1998, she placed 10th in the World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in main event.

The American Bankers' Association outlined their issues with UIGEA on their website. Despite repeated requests from members of Congress, Internet gaming sites, and the financial industry itself-the group saddled with the unfunded mandate to manage this situation-neither UIGEA nor the rules written to implement it contain a definition of unlawful Internet gambling.