When you play poker sometimes luck is with you and sometimes it’s not. Take this hand played by my friend Scott. We were in a $2-$5 blind no-limit hold’em game at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Scott looked at pocket threes in the small blind. There was a limp and the button raised to $25. Scott and the limper called.

Dear Ace,
My New Year’s resolution was to lose 15 pounds, but I’ve put on 10 since the year started—how can I trim down quick?—Double-Doubling Down
 
Dear Double,

“Don’t tap on the aquarium” is a well-known catchphrase among poker players, originally credited to poker pro Phil Gordon. The basic gist of this saying should be obvious: Don’t scare away the fish. It’s never a good idea to berate, insult, or in any way embarrass bad players at the poker table—even when one of those bad players has just put a horrific beat on you. Perhaps especially then. Sure, it’s bad manners but much more important than that, it’s bad business.
 

Hobby and I were in Palm Springs to close his villa for the season. Actually, his housekeeper and yardman had just about everything squared away by the time we got there. “Mister Hobby, could I make lunch for you and Mister Joe?” Connie asked.
 

Where have all the 7-card stud players gone? Well some of them are still here, and Herman Blumenfeld, who celebrated his 102 birthday this past February still plays regularly at Commerce Casino.
 
Herman might be the oldest 7-card stud player at Commerce. In fact, he might be the oldest regular poker player in any casino you care to name. But it keeps him young, keeps his adrenaline flowing, keeps his mind active, and he still enjoys the game as much as he ever did.

2010 WORLD SERIES OF POKER BEGINS
 

With the 2010 World Series of Poker upon us, Nolan Dalla appeared May 13 on my Internet radio show, Keep Flopping Aces. The show airs live every Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, 6 p.m. Pacific Time, and corresponding times worldwide, on Rounder’s Radio—located at www.roundersradio. com. It can also be downloaded for on-demand listening anytime, so if you missed the show when it originated, you can still hear it whenever you’d like.
 

In this bewildering planet, knowing what’s true and what’s false is everything. In this self-interview, I deal with that powerful truth as applied to poker.
 
Question 1: How do you know what’s true about poker?
 

Win a Poker Player Cruise.

Several cardrooms are running events to give away a Poker Player cruise departing on September 26, 2010 aboard Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas. We will be sailing the Mexican Riviera for Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. Included will be FREE seminars and Q&A’s from Mike “The Mad Genius” Caro, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, Sam “The Mindset Guru” and Paul Wasicka.

For complete cruise information visit www.Poker-Player-Cruises.com

The high-stakes cash game tables were in full swing on Full Tilt during the opening three months of 2010 with Tom “durrrr” Dwan sitting on top of the world. Actually, he was sitting on a big pile of cash while sitting on top of the world. Durrrr logged more than 2,000 individual cash game sessions for a $2 million profit in fewer than 90 days. He won more than $1 million at the HORSE tables at the end of January, but donated all of it back.